Delivery day!

After several weeks of anxious waiting, my delivery date finally arrived.

We woke up this morning at the Hotel Rappensberger and met our chauffeur just before 9 a.m. He invited us to take a seat in a black A8L sedan and we took the short 10 minute drive to the Audi Forum.

We were greeted by Miriam, who would be assisting us through our delivery processing. She gave us a brief overview of how things would go during the day and brought us upstairs to the waiting area. We were introduced to another American couple, who was picking up an A7, and I have to say I was a little jealous. They were very nice, Dieter and Petra, from San Francisco, moved from Germany to the U.S. 40 years ago. Of course they spoke fluent German, so Miriam had a much easier time walking them through their delivery process. I overheard her say to them that it was difficult to switch between English and German.

A side comment here, most of the people at the Audi forum spoke English, albeit some better than others. But without fail, they were all friendly and if they didn't speak English, they found someone who did.

The delivery process was fast. We signed a few papers and got a quick briefing on the insurance, the title and the other paperwork. Since I had already made my appointment with the shipping point, we didn't have to do that, but otherwise, that would have been taken care of at that time.

All the vehicles that are being delivered that day are driven into the Forum building just prior to official delivery. They are parked on the ground floor. As you wait upstairs, you can look down onto the floor and watch as your car is driven in and parked. Then it's just a matter of waiting your turn. When they do a final inspection and preparation, you are called down to your car. The first thing they do is have a photographer take a picture of you beside your car. After that, an Audi representative walks you through all the features of the car. This was fairly simple for me, as it is nearly identical to my A4. We paired my cell phone to the car and within 15 minutes we were ready to go. Once you've signed the last piece of paper, they hand you the keys and you drive the car out the door onto the piazza, a large open area outside the Forum.

Once again, I have to compliment Audi on their professionalism. Everything about this process is first class. Miriam told us that 95 percent of the deliveries are to Germans or other Europeans. Very few Americans take advantage of the program.

A couple of other things. Because the rear view camera is still awaiting its precious electronic guts, they provided us with an Audi umbrella. A small, but thoughtful consolation. We were also presented with a very nice aluminum Audi Forum keyring. Very cool. My Q5 has the navigation system, but since it's loaded with North American maps, it doesn't work in Europe. So Audi provides a Garmin navigation system at no charge. All we have to do is return it when we turn in the car.

By the time everything was finished with the delivery, it was approximately 10:30. Our factory tour was scheduled to begin at 11:30. So since we had an hour or so to kill, my daughter and I went over to the Market Restaurant in the Forum. Since we were picking up a car that day, we were issued a brown wristband, which allowed us to eat and drink there all day for free. Since we'd had breakfast at the hotel, we went in and grabbed some fruit and a drink. After our little snack, we headed across the piazza to the factory building to begin our tour.

The tour began promptly at the appointed time. We were ushered into a room where we were given a briefing on Audi's manufacturing plants in Europe and a video presentation about "what it takes to become an Audi."

At the conclusion of the presentation, we were issued headsets, which allowed the tour guide to be heard over the noise of the factory.

If you take the tour (and you should), be prepared to walk, and walk, and walk. The two-hour tour covers 2.5 km, but you see quite a bit on the tour.

The Ingolstadt plant builds the A3, A4, A5 and Q5. We were able to see each type in various stages of construction. Oh, by the way, no photos of the factory. They are strictly forbidden on the tour.

The first stop on the tour was the stamping facility. Here the raw materials are put through a series of hydraulic presses which pound out the shapes of all the metal panels used in the car. All the stamping work for the cars is done in house. They receive pre-shaped and cut flat steel from the supplier as raw material.

From there, we went to the welding area, where the stamped panels are welded together into a body. Nearly all of the work is done by robots. It's fascinating to see the machines work. We walk through the assembly area and see how bodies come together. The last step before painting is the application of the VIN to the body.

The tour does not include the paint shop, but they do show you a video describing the process. I would have rather seen it in person.

From there, you walk up and down the final assembly lines, where the bodies are married to the chassis and the primary interior parts are installed. By contrast, robots are replaced with humans, which do most of the install work. They have numerous mechanical tools and assists to help them put the right parts in the right place. Again, I found it fascinating to see how it all went together. We walked down between the A4 and Q5 lines, so we could see both models being assembled on either side.

The tour ended walking back through the final inspection point, in this case A3s, where the cars are given their final tests before being prepped for shipping. There was one funny point that I wonder if anyone else caught. Most of the inspections, including the short test drive, are conducted by younger guys. However, I noticed that when an S5 came off the line into the inspection area, the younger guy was waved off and an older guy got in the car to give it's final inspection and road test. I guess that's the privilege that comes with seniority.

The production goal for today was 800 vehicles. They were 10 behind schedule when we did our tour.

How long does it take to build a car? Well I asked, and was told about 30 hours from stamping to final inspection, with about 15 of those hours taken by the painting process.

At the conclusion of the tour, we went over to the restaurant and had a very nice and tasty lunch. They have a tremendous selection of fresh salads, fruits, breads and ice cream. Also, they have a grill and a stir fry station. If you leave hungry, it's your fault. The food was excellent and we ate outside so we could see all the cars coming and going.

My overall grade on the European Delivery process is a strong "A." Every part of the process is professional and first class. I have not been disappointed one bit by this and I'm so glad I did it. We now have a week with my new car and we wasted no time getting it out on the Autobahn and trying to run with the big boys. I'm going to need a couple of days of driving to get used to the speeds. They sure drive fast here. But I'm hopeful we can have a safe week of sightseeing.

I will post pictures tomorrow, when I have more time.