Hey RJ!

Is Simon! What;s up.

 

how did the visit go?

 

Here was my review that I posted over on M3Forum: Sorry, I forgot to post it over here...

Ok, the test drive:
Well when I first got there they had a brand new S5 waiting out front with the key in hand for me to take control. I told the General Manager (Danny Niblett), who is a great guy, that I was really not interested in the S and would rather wait for the RS5 if anything. He said that was fine but still wanted me to take the S5 out and see all of the new controls that Audi is using.

So the S5:

WOW, the cockpit and interior of this car is just freakin amazing! The E-Brake is push button! I do not know why this impressed me so much but I thought it was really cool! All of the navigation, back up camera and display controls were just so well placed and in easy reach of both my eyes and fingers. The powertrain and braking on this car is what really left me wanting more, brakes are small and the power from that V8 did not do it for me. Mind you I was the first person (other than Danny) who had driven this car, it had 2 miles on the odo, so I could not really open it up too much but did take it up to about 5K and was completely unimpressed. The rest of the car was very nice though, all of the fit and finish of both the exterior and interior was very pleasing to the senses. It is a really nice car but just not for me.

Now for what you are all waiting for, the RS4:

UNREAL. Now mind you that David and I had already sat in the car, so I knew exactly what the interior looked like so I was not as consumed by this as I was with the S5. However, it is head to toe better looking than our E46's and put together on a whole nother level. The Nav/SAT/Display is really, really nice with 2 MS ports for music behind the screen! How cool! The seats (Recaro) are very nice and hold you in very well, the leather is just plush as plush gets and the steering wheel is just a perfect size. So we start it up........grrrrrrrrrr, the V8 comes to life! I get out of the car so I can hear that sweet Milltek rumble and am absolutely trembling at the sound of the motor as it warms up at ~1k or so. It then comes to a calm, subtle idle back at ~800 and almost becomes silent, just loud enough but classy! So we get in the car, check how much fuel we have and head out onto the backroads! Whooo hoooo!!! This car is just a rocket in first gear!! Windows down, accelerating through the powerband and scaring about each and every person on the road with the scream of this V8, including the salesman Danny put me with who was dripping sweat by the end of our drive! People heard this car coming from about 1/4 mile away, it just screams! Second gear was a bit of a disappointment, seemed like it ran out of gear here too quickly, but once you hit 3rd.....whooooo hooooo!!!!! Got up to about ~120 before I knew it and quickly pounced on the 360mm brakes with massive calipers that brought it to a "legal" speed in a heartbeat. Steering feel was amazing and a slight twitch of your hands made the car respond, very sensitive and great road feel. The only thing that I really did not like about the car was that it did feel a bit heavy, just more like a sedan than I like. Even the S5 had more of a sports car feel while on the road, it was short of my expectations in this regard. All in all, this is an amazing car that will smoke our E46 in a heartbeat on a racing circuit or on the highway. It is extremely well put together and a beautiful piece of machinery formed by the Audi guys. I give it 2 thumbs up!

Now, what am I going to do?:
Well Danny emailed me this morning with some starting numbers on the car and I think we are going to have to talk further if he really wants to make a sale. He wants to get $65,745 for it right now and I think that is a little high for a one year old car that stickered at 70K. I would be open to discussing this with him further if I can get a good deal but think that my heart is really set on waiting to get the RS4 performance in the 5 body/interior/controls (DSG?). Either way, I think my next car is going to be an Audi and was really pleased with my experience driving both of these cars, I just want a combination of the two! Danny said we are looking at late Spring 2008 for the RS5 but they currently have no deposits in on them and that I would be first on the list. He expects them to get their first allocation/build to be scheduled within the next 3-6 months, this is what I think I am headed for!

Hope you guys enjoyed reading my reviews of both of these cars.

 

I bought my S4 from HBL Audi Porsche. I also bought mine from Joseph Jay. Not your typical sleezy car salesman. At the time of my s4 purchase Joseph owned a VW R32 and wife owned Avant A6, so I knew from the start that he was an avid vW/Audi lover.

got my S4 at 47,000 from Joseph. very friendly and was not pushy at all.

I walked into HBL thinking I'd pick up an A4 but he threw me his one line sales pitch for s4 'i'm not trying to sell you this s4 but you just have to hear the engine...here's the key' 10 minutes later i was signing my name on my check book.

 

I had a great exp with Philip at their Aston Martin dealership. Same as Raj, he just handed me the key and off I go with my wife for a test drive in a Vantage. Eventually decided on a Porsche and also a good experience. From your experience seems like the Audi guys need a refresher course in customer satisfaction!!

 

I am having a lot of problems with HBL. May you please PM me the email address of the Penske guys you wrote to? Thanks!

 

It's not suprising that you're treated that way. They get a ton of customers in that area that walk in and buy cars off the showroom floor. It's just the nature of the type of customers in that area....lots of old lawyer rich guys. They move a ton of cars out of that dealership.

I went their once, in my 996tt to look at s4s, and I had to walk around the dealership to try to get someone to talk to me. All the sales guys were standing around talking to each other. I've heard their service dept. is good, but I would never buy a car from those ******s.

 

i am from nova area and when we got our cayenne S, i dealt with them since i am the only one who can speak english. (bought it last year around june)
couple months ago when i went there to check out RS4, they asked me if i want to test drive S4 (i know it's totally different but still). i am really young too! (20)

i've yet to have any bad experience with them but i dont recommend alexandria.
they treated us like crap when we were shopping around for cayenne s.
i think tischer will be your better choice, which is about 20 mins from HBL.
i will be checking out cayman s in 3 weeks and i will go to HBL first and see what happens.
if things dont go well, time to go to tischer!

 

Talk to Jimmy. Great guy!

 

Interesting to read your observations on S5 and RS4. Last week I walked into a dealership thinking I was going to buy the RS4 (they had a 2008 with titanium package on the lot). They also had a black S5. I test drove both cars (back to back twice each without the dealer inside). At the end of the day I was not impressed with the power RS4 had. I guess I was expecting more. I certainly did not feel the additional 70hp that is has over S5. S5 actually felt more agile and responsive. I certainly could not justify the extra $15k over S5.

 

I consider their service department even worse. HBL is undoubtedly the worst car dealer for any make in the nothern virginia area. This is in large part why my current and last 2 cars are BMWs. Just wait until you have to get a service appointment. Unless your balance sheet lists an oil well and your DD is a S65, forget about timely returned calls or any level of respect from those mfers.

 

i am going back to them for collision work...hm...

 

I wish I had seen is thread prior to purchasing a car from them. It's been an absolute how not to deal with a customer experience. As bad as it is right now I'm considering all options from returning the car to letting my lawyer handle them.

Do not buy a car from them would be my advice. I'm already considering how to dump this car and get something else just to not have to ever deal with them again.

I'll be contacting their Penske management tomorrow about their service department.