Thanksgiving weekend 2007 I walked into my local Audi dealer and ordered an S5. No discussion with the salesman, no test drive, no bull****. The owner of the dealership is a friend of the family, and as such I received an un-requested discount off of MSRP. I was told the car would be in around March, no problem, as it would give me time to sell my GTI and I probably wouldn't drive it in the winter anyway. As the weeks ticked away, Audi's supply problems with the A5/S5 became readily apparent, and with absolutely no word from the dealer or the manufacturer whatsoever, I readjusted my expectations to having the car for the beginning of (Maine) summer. For the S5's Audi was allocating cars once a month, from allocation time it was three months until the dealer saw the car. I kept waiting, the hope for the beginning of summer turned into the hope for 4th of July, then the hope that it would see summer at all, then finally the that the car I ordered in 2007 would be delivered before the 2009.

During this entire time, there was no communication from Audi or the dealer, I went in once a month and received the same "I have nothing to tell you" every single time. Audi's allocation system is based on dealer volume, and as a small dealer, my dealer was set to receive 3 cars in 2008. That we knew, but we didn't know when the 3rd car (my spot) would be allocated. As people who ordered cars in mid 2008 started to get allocated (at larger dealers), I became increasingly frustrated. At the end of July hedged my bets, and found a dealer on long island with a configurable allocation set to be delivered at the end of October and placed another deposit. At the end of August I went in to the Maine dealer, told the owner it wasn't personal, then got pissed. I told him I wanted a phone call from him or the Audi district rep telling me something, I didn't care what it was, but I wanted a phone call. I never received that call.

End of September I got received a VIN # from the dealer on Long Island and verification the car was on a boat. Thursday I got a call that the car was in early. Hopped on a flight Saturday morning and drove it back yesterday.

The dealer in Maine has still not received an allocation.

No giant plastic covers here

Also installed a milltek non-resonated catback exhaust. I am very happy with the sound of this exhaust, I though the non-res may be a little too loud (wanted to tone it down from the other cars) but it is perfect. Making me smile all over again. Only problem was one of the tips was bent in shipping, but I just worked it out a took a credit from Stratmosphere, no biggie.

Install here
http://forums.vwvortex.com/zerothread?id=4088462

Short clip here
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=86PGMSi0760

Better pictures this weekend.

Could I bother you to post something that would be meaningful to an Audi tech for the DRL changes?

Again, well done. Five beer out of a possible five.

Modified by GLI_Man at 7:52 PM 10-24-2008

They need to change a bit (from 1 to 0) in the central electronics module. Most VAG versions have it as a checkbox with a description-

Module address 09 (Central Electronics)
Submodule 0 (Master Cent. Elec. box, rather than a slave module)
Byte 3 (fourth from the left)
Bit 7 (first bit from the left in the binary representation, bottom check box in the VAG-COM long coding helper).

On another note, the exhaust was hitting the stamped crossmember and although I would venture to say that given it's place and design, it wouldn't matter to run without it, I just shimmed it down a bit on one side be putting thick washers between the body and the corssmember. Took care of the interference.

Definitely needs a dead pedal, will have to wait for the rs5 I guess.

Modified by rs4-380 at 12:08 AM 1-31-2009

Quote, originally posted by Tommy@Rival »

Here are a few pics of my Sprint blue S5 I'm building

I'm in love.

"Aerodynamics are for people who can't build engines." -Enzo Ferrari

The remote display is mounted on top of the mirror, I made a small cutout in the mirror wire cover and ran the wire inside that that to the headliner, where it runs across the drivers side tucked into the headliner.

The wire then transitions to the a-pillar were it tucks underneath the airbag cover to make it to the weatherstriping, it then is tucked inside the weatherstriping to run down to the fusebox.

The hardwire module is tucked into the fursbox. Instead of using fuse taps or something along those lines I just modified a spade terminal and plugged right into the ignition on bus (the black bus) in an empty spot. As the hardwire module itself is fused and the draw is minimal, this should be fine. For what it's worth, the red bus is constant 12v if you have something that requires it.

I ran wires to the ashtray area and used a remote speaker module to control the power and volume of the unit (you can also mute from here). This provides full control and is at a very convenient place for quick access, a big benefit is that with the cover closed, you can not tell anything is in there. I did have to dremel out the bottom in order to fit the unit in so the door would close.

Having the display and control of the unit up front, let me put the actual detector on the back parcel shelf. I squared the unit with some high density foam and wrapped it with some textured material. It's not concealed, but unless someone really knew what they were looking for, they would never know it was a radar detector. It also helps that it's in the back window where most people would never think to look. If I am in a place that is questionable, the detector just unplugs and spins off the stud for safe keeping.

(dirty window)

End result is that I can turn the detector on and off at any point without having to go through the hassle of getting it out and setting it up. In addition, I don't have this "thing: hanging from the windshield constantly.

And because I am sure you are wondering, I have seen no real measurable performance loss with the unit mounted where it is.

Modified by rs4-380 at 12:32 PM 2-14-2009

Very Nice Car

Quote, originally posted by Mane »

I love you because you Americans are really understands a car to make nice Very Nice Car

I'm confused Do you like it or not?

Just the way I would do it, perfect!

Neuspeed P-flo intake, Smoked side markers, Open Fogs, Koni Coil-overs

Quote, originally posted by S5 »

That aftermarket exhaust is terrible!

Care to explain?

Lowered it today. Considering there are no manuals yet and most owners aren't exactly diy'ers it took me all day because I had to make stuff up as I went along.

I am happy with it. I chose the mildest drop because 1, I didn't think it needed to go down much in terms of appearance, and 2, I didn't want to sacrifice driveability. The ride is a it harsher , but barely noticeable and still very comfortable, and the stance is where I want it.

Finished late, so this is all I've got, hope to get some more soon when work settles down and the weather cooperates.

Also, I took pictures for a write up, to come later.

http://forums.vwvortex.com/zerothread?id=4331031

I'm stealing 5 of these for my car...

Quote, originally posted by Tommy@Rival »

Here are a few pics of my Sprint blue S5 I'm building

Nice! I gotta get rid of the stock wheels on mine this summer and put some 19s or 20s for sure!

www.MYSTERYENTERTAINMENT.com

Also, I have been having problems with the passenger side of the exhaust sagging on one side. The pipes are a slip fit, and that joint is essentially what keeps then centered. The miltek clamp was not providing enough grip to keep the rear pipe from rotating on the mid pipe, causing the outside passenger tip to rotate down. Eventually, the miltek clamp just flat out broke. I replaced it with a parts store SS band clamp that provides alot more clamping area and seems to have cured the issue.