Differences Between Euro Spec and US Spec

[UCFast]

I've been following the B9 for a while, like all of you have, and I'm starting to pick up on some of the differences between the Euro spec and the US spec versions.

Everyone already knows about the headlight differences, which aren't a surprise due to the different regulations in Europe vs. the US.

But what I've found most interesting and annoying are the smaller differences.

First, no alcantara on the doors. This was one of the things in the preview videos I watched that looked the most luxurious. When I didn't see it on the Premium and Premium Plus cars, I thought it might be exclusive to Prestige models. Nope. As far as I can tell, it's simply not available in the US spec. Any ideas as to why?

Second, no alcantara on s-line seats. Again, as with the doors, I was excited about this only to see it not available in the US spec A4. I know they've had it on seat options in past iterations and other Audis, so I'm not sure why they'd have it on the Euro spec seats but not the US spec seats. I live in Florida, so having something like that in the seating area of the leather sport seats would be much appreciated from a climate perspective. I've driven a First Edition with the cooling seats and they were pretty meh... I'd rather prefer the alcantara to keep my back and butt cool.

Third, flat bottom steering wheel is restricted to the First Edition package. On the Euro spec not only does it seem that it's part of several option packages, they put the "s-line" badge on the flat portion of the wheel as well. This is something that is absent from the US spec flat bottom wheel. I know not everyone cares about flat bottom wheels, but I love the look of them was was bummed to see it was only available as part of the First Edition package. I wonder why?

Those were the three that jumped out at me, have you noticed any other differences while looking at reviews for the Euro spec vs the US spec?

[AudiA4b6US]

There is no Euro spec seat, it's lots of them with all kinds of different covers. Alcantara was never an option in the US A4, only in the S4. And the doors go with the seats, Alcantara on the seats = Alcantara on the doors.

S-Line logo on the steering wheel on comes with S-Line interior (black headliner, aluminum trim inside, sport seats with S-Line logo). The US only gets S-Line exterior (bumpers, side skirts, door sills), that's why there is no logo on the steering wheel or the seats. Flat bottom is First Edition only and probably the S4 later also. Since it's sold in the US it should be possible to retrofit, although at pretty high costs (wheel about $800 plus airbag if needed). Not the S-Line version though with logo and perforated leather, only the non-S-Line version without logo and with standard leather.

There are tons of other differences and lots of options not available in the US. Most are minor (emergency triangle in trunk lid, phone box) others would be nice to have like adaptive dampers with sport suspension, matrix LED headlights, more wheel options. It's disappointing that everything is packages here vs. a la carte ordering in Europe/Germany. It's not even cheaper for the customer (a fully loaded A4 Prestige is about $55, an a la carte A4 Sport with the same options is about 57k Euros in Germany - both plus sales tax). So it must be just cheaper for Audi to bring only packages over to the US.

[Mitchfin]

There is no Euro spec seat, it's lots of them with all kinds of different covers. Alcantara was never an option in the US A4, only in the S4. And the doors go with the seats, Alcantara on the seats = Alcantara on the doors.

S-Line logo on the steering wheel on comes with S-Line interior (black headliner, aluminum trim inside, sport seats with S-Line logo). The US only gets S-Line exterior (bumpers, side skirts, door sills), that's why there is no logo on the steering wheel or the seats. Flat bottom is First Edition only and probably the S4 later also. Since it's sold in the US it should be possible to retrofit, although at pretty high costs (wheel about $800 plus airbag if needed). Not the S-Line version though with logo and perforated leather, only the non-S-Line version without logo and with standard leather.

There are tons of other differences and lots of options not available in the US. Most are minor (emergency triangle in trunk lid, phone box) others would be nice to have like adaptive dampers with sport suspension, matrix LED headlights, more wheel options. It's disappointing that everything is packages here vs. a la carte ordering in Europe/Germany. It's not even cheaper for the customer (a fully loaded A4 Prestige is about $55, an a la carte A4 Sport with the same options is about 57k Euros in Germany - both plus sales tax). So it must be just cheaper for Audi to bring only packages over to the US.

Actually not entirely true, early B8 A4s with the S-line package had alcantara seats. Also, if you go to any non US Audi website the flat bottom B9 steering wheel is an al a carte option (only 225 British Pounds), I wish that we got more of these options for add ons. I'm not a big alcantara fan but I wish I could have gotten nappa leather as an option on my B9, normal leather kinda feels like the fake stuff. I'm a details guy so little things like expended door leather and stitching get me :)

[UCFast]

...Alcantara was never an option in the US A4, only in the S4. And the doors go with the seats, Alcantara on the seats = Alcantara on the doors.

The Euro spec has alcantara on the doors but not on the sport seats, so what you said might not be true on Europe anymore. Unless I'm misunderstanding what you meant.

[AudiA4b6US]

I guess you are both right and I stand corrected, I skipped the whole B8 era. The flat bottom steering wheel might be reasonably priced as option but buying one to retrofit will be significantly more expensive.

[UCFast]

I guess you are both right and I stand correct, I skipped the whole B8 era. The flat bottom steering wheel might be reasonably priced as option but buying one to retrofit will be significantly more expensive.

I'm not retrofitting anything on a lease. :P

I wish they still had the s-line interior package, oh well. :(

[Mitchfin]

I wish they would just give us the same fittings as the Europeans! When I was ingermany last summer I had a new TT rental and the seats and leather choice for the dash was sublime.

[dracolnyte]

the dynamic turn rear lights went retard when it came over here

[name.goes.here]

There are tons of other differences and lots of options not available in the US. Most are minor (emergency triangle in trunk lid, phone box) others would be nice to have like adaptive dampers with sport suspension, matrix LED headlights, more wheel options. It's disappointing that everything is packages here vs. a la carte ordering in Europe/Germany. It's not even cheaper for the customer (a fully loaded A4 Prestige is about $55, an a la carte A4 Sport with the same options is about 57k Euros in Germany - both plus sales tax). So it must be just cheaper for Audi to bring only packages over to the US.

Not necessarily cheaper, it is just that the average American car consumer (read = non-enthusiast) wants to be in-and-out of the dealer as soon as possible, and spend as little time thinking about options and features and could care less about customizing a car to their own individual preferences. Unlike in Eurpoe, the American car-buying model is, unfortunately, set up to serve the masses as opposed to the individual buyers. Bundle the features in a few packages, let the buyer choose what works best from them, and be done. Furthermore, the typical American car consumer is clueless as to just how many differences there are (aside from steering wheel placement) between the Euro spec. cars and ones sold domestically. Sure, the dealer can order a car for the consumer which may be able to add some features not part of the packages, but even the dealer would rather sell a car off the lot.

[Flat]

just for information. In Europe we have country specific models. For example, all german models/equipments/equipment packages are not available here in Finland and vice versa.

[Banan]

The Euro spec has alcantara on the doors but not on the sport seats, so what you said might not be true on Europe anymore. Unless I'm misunderstanding what you meant.

I have sport seats on my euro spec with alcantara on both the seats and doors.

@flat: we can order everything the germans can even thou the packages differs.

[Flat]

no, for example ,germans have more choices to steering wheels....

[Banan]

Maybe it's different in Finland then, we have 4 wheels to choose from here in Sweden, as do the Germans according to their website. 3 round one's and 1 flat bottom.

[UCFast]

Maybe it's different in Finland then, we have 4 wheels to choose from here in Sweden, as do the Germans according to their website. 3 round one's and 1 flat bottom.

I just wanted the flat bottom steering wheel and alcantara on the doors/seats. :(

[skis4hire]

a fully loaded A4 Prestige is about $55, an a la carte A4 Sport with the same options is about 57k Euros in Germany - both plus sales tax). So it must be just cheaper for Audi to bring only packages over to the US.

I haven't found this to be true on previous models so I was curious about the B9.
I compared the US Spec A4 Prestige fully loaded ($54.5K USD), to the German a la carte config ( see: http://www.audi.de/AES7YA3N) and came out to 63.1K Euro which is about $71,000 USD.

The german config really nickle and dimes you. Cruise control is 300 Euro. Full Leather is 1800 Euro. The base price for the design spec 252hp 2.0T is 45,750 Euro and you have to add 17K+ Euro in features like Side assist, park assist, headsup display, lane departure, etc. to match the US Spec Prestige.

The Engine selection is a big deal. Their lowest model engine is 1.4 TFSI 150HP base price 32K Euro. For 6k Euro more than the 252hp 2.0T you can get a 270HP 3.0 TDI though :) 0-60 is slower on the TDI but you get 440 lb-ft of torque from 1500-3000 rpm

I'm not clear on why the price disparity other than the US market is a larger market/more competitive? US sales last year were 15 million while in Germany they were 3 million.

EDIT: Looks like a large factor is the 19% VAT included in the german configuration price:
https://www.quora.com/Why-are-German...than-in-the-US
The remaining difference is likely due to volume/competition.

[audinator]

Really wish we could get more alcantara in these B9's


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Banan]

The Engine selection is a big deal. Their lowest model engine is 1.4 TFSI 150HP base price 32K Euro. For 6k Euro more than the 252hp 2.0T you can get a 270HP 3.0 TDI though :) 0-60 is slower on the TDI but you get 440 lb-ft of torque from 1500-3000 rpm

The 272TDI is actually .5 sec faster than the 252TFSI in the sedan and .6sec faster in the Avant

I'm not clear on why the price disparity other than the US market is a larger market/more competitive? US sales last year were 15 million while in Germany they were 3 million.

I think you should compare EU sales versus US sales instead of only Germany. Distances are similar within EU border as in US. But US is probably a bigger market anyway. The price is right over there =)

[dbuxton13]

US sales last year were 15 million while in Germany they were 3 million.

The actual numbers for 2015 were 17.5 million in the U.S., and 3.2 million in Germany (12.6M for all of Europe). But that is for *all* cars sold. If you look at only Audi sales, it gets interesting:

U.S.--202,202
Germany--269,047
Europe--800,000 (estimated)
Worldwide--1.8M

Also, 29K A4s were sold in the US in 2015, with only a fraction of those being S4 models. Lol at anyone who says the S4 is a car "for the masses."