UK A4 1.8T Avant SE specifications

No such thing as 06 models over here, it's an American thing to sell more cars :)

Our cars are 05 untill 12:01am 1/1/2006

Over where?

I wouldn't be so sure! Audi determine what model year a particular car is, and it is part of the VIN. My wife took delivery of her A2 in July

2002 and it has a UK 02 registration plate. However, the car is definitely a 2003 model, according to the VIN.

I took delivery of my RS6 in May 2003, and that is still a 2003 model.

The message from Peter Bell contains these words:

Unlike some cars which can sit in a soggy field for a couple of years before being sold. Fiat did a lot of that a few years ago.

Never buy a car which is 'in stock'! Always come up with a specification which means that the car has to be built to order.

It still was sold as a 2002 model, hence why I said it does not happen over here

Dealers are not allowed to "market" a 2002 car as a 2003 model like they do in the states.

They may say its a revised model or "new shape" but thats about it.

My 2001 A4 1.8T according to America does not even exist, the B6 over there is sold as a 2002.

When we placed the order, we were told that it would be to the 2003 specification. With a 2003 VIN, surely that makes it a 2003 model?

Great idea, but not all of us can afford 1) the price associated with this action or 2) the time involved in waiting for the result. I'm sure you are aware of the discounts on "in stock" cars, and great buys can be had at the right times and places, not to mention actually getting the car in one's possession at the time of purchase. Instant gratification has its own appeal, after all.

How many adverts have you seen where a 2006 model car is advertised in may

2005? Our trade descriptions are alot more stringent then that of America.

What the actual car is, is another matter, the OP said "Can anyone tell me if there has been any changes between the UK '05 and '06 models in SE trim"

How would we know??? if we buy a car in 2005 it comes as a 2005 car. We don't have an 06 model, there is nothing on Audi.co.uk advertising an 06 model and we are currently in 2005.

"06 model lifestyle pack" is a blatent American way of shifting more cars, it doesn't really happen over here, so we would not know.

We might get a special edition model of somthing like a Ford Focus JAZZ, but it is marketed as that and not a 2006 model IIRC

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So, how often does the specification of a particular car model change between 31 December and 1 January?

In the case of my wife's A2, there were significant differences between her car and one delivered delivered a month earlier. That's the difference between the 2002 model year and 2003 model year (as defined by the year identifier in the VIN).

Cars will be being delivered now with a 2006 year identifier in the VIN. What the OP was wanting to know was what difference would there be between such a car, and one with a 2005 year identifier in the VIN. I'm sure you are fully aware of that and that I've just been hooked by your trolling!

There has been an interesting discussion but I still do not know if there have been any changes between an 05 and 06. I would have loved to have the car "built to order" as I have done with my previous BMWs. However, this car was so close to my requirements which meant that I could save quite a bit without significant compromise. It also meant I could get the car without the 4 month wait. I would still want to know if I will be missing out due to specification changes.

Cheers

Mark...

That is exactly what I am trying to say, you buy a car to order and it comes with the spec you order, you don't get an 06 model so to speak, you get a Audi A4 in the guise you require.

If peters wife recieved a 2002 A2 with a VIN of 03 so be it, but you did not buy a 2003 A2 you bought a 2002 A2 and if you bought it new you ordered it the way you wanted it on the Audi website or the dealers. Go into a Audi dealers and ask for a 2006 A4 please, he will look at you like your some kind of retard.

Not so. We went in to order. The salesman said we've just received details of the 2003 model year - this will be the standard specification, and this is the list of available options.

It's just as well he did know this, because some of the changes were quite significant. For instance, the 2002 A2 SE came with aircon as standard - on the 2003 model it became an option!

Not my salesman - I was chatting to him for quite a while only yesterday and, believe me, he is well clued up.

Sorry. That comment of mine was not directed at you but at the poster who referred to 'stock' cars being laid up in fields for several months.

Totally unttrue! You order a 'base' model which has a certain standard specification, and to that base you add certain options to obtain the car that best meets your needs.

The specification of the base model may well change from one 'model year' to the next, and the list of available options may also change at the same point. The time that the change in 'model year' occurs is usually (now) during the summer months. The changes may affect such things as engine power, suspension settings etc. I'm sure that it will be this sort of detail which Mark is interested in. Unfortunately, I don't have those details.

You won't have the details as they don't exist :)

He asked about a 2006 model and a lifestyle pack Audi have added to that model to make it sell better over there.

The reason you don't have the details for him is because nowhere will you find those details, Audi may revise the car by changing the model slightly but it wont be marketed as a different year, it's an American thing I will keep saying it.

Just like the 99.5 Audi revision on the B5, new headlamps, different door handles, new aircon unit etc, it was a revision and was sold like that on the Audi website it wasn't sold as a 99.5, the Americans have always called their cars by year, perhaps you have been reading Audi world too long :) i.e. 67 Chevy

We don't use this term over here, infact I lie, people do call the Ford Escort XR3i "90 Spec" that came with a different body kit < but it was called this in past tense>, otherwise it's just a revision, you can carry on calling it a 2006 Audi A4 but to me it will always be a 2005 Audi A4 until Audi revise it and then it will be a "new shape" or "updated edition".

If you see an advert for a 2006 Audi A4 on Auto Trader in Sept 2005 then I will accept your argument, but until then I am sticking to my guns :))))

Let's just put it down to differences of opinion lol.

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Is it so hard for you to accept that my wife's A2 was delivered in July

2002, with a 2003 identifier in the VIN?

If I use ETKA (the electronic parts catalogue), or ELSA (the electronic workshop manuals) then I have to enter the car details as being a 2003 model. If I enter 2002 then I get the wrong parts and the wrong instructions. Audi describe that car as a 2003 model, so why shouldn't you/I/anyone else?

Because you live in ENGLAND and the model year is identified by the log book supplied by DVLA Swansea, how hard is that to understand?

We have registration plates by year of manufacture and letters that correspond to back this up, is it so hard for YOU to understand this?

We don't live in America.....

Read the op's question again.

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No! The 'registration' year is just that - the date of first registration - nothing to do with model year or year of production. Lots of cars sit around unregistered for a considerable period of time, and then acquire a registration date which is significantly later than the date of production.

As an example, about a year ago, an acqaintance of mine came across about five Audi S3s, all unregistered with less than 20 miles on the clocks. He sold them with '54' plates on them. Does this make them

2004 cars? S3 production ceased in the first half of 2003. Would you try to tell someone with one of these cars that it is 2004 specification?

The model year is to do with the build specification of the car, not the actual calendar year that it was produced or registered.

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I have - he wants to know what differences there are between the 2005 model year specification and the 2006 model year specification. Since

2006 /model year/ specification cars are already on sale, this is a perfectly reasonable and valid question.