1 week in...

Happy Grumpz

Happy Grumpz

Registered User
Joined
Jun 2, 2016
Messages
568
Reaction score
710
Points
93
Location
Tyne & Wear
Website
www.mahalkitaphotography.com
Well, 1 week in on my A4 and I'm absolutely loving it.

It's light and day compared to my A3 saloon (which was a really nice car).

I do a fair few miles, around 25k a year so my car has to be a nice place to be.

Comfort wise you couldn't ask for anything more, even with sports suspension and 19" alloys it feels a little bit softer than my A3.

Head up Display, by far the best ever feature that I never realised I needed :sunglasses:

VC and tech pack are just unreal, the centre screen on my A3 was very low res which I was always disappointed with, the screen in the the A4 with tech pack is just beautiful. I love the way I can send destinations to the car from google maps, for me this is huge as it makes my appointments really easy as I can pre send the week's work/hotels to the car so no messing around typing in addresses. I've sent speed camera's to the car and have alerts setup for Gatso and Mobile camera's, the hardest part on this was changing it so they still show when the maps zooms out. Not overly complicated and certainly worth the effort.

MPG is much better than I thought it would be, on a motorway run it's returning around 50pmg and around the doors it's around 40mpg. For a auto quattro that's not bad at all IMO.

The one feature I find totally useless... High Beam Assist... Why oh why do I have to turn this on every time!

The way it all lights up on a night, this was a pleasant surprise as I thought you'd only get that with the extended LED pack.

Can't wait to take it for a really long run next week :racer:
 
  • Like
Reactions: cuke2u, Sandra, Fridarey and 2 others
Just a quick question regarding speed camera databases, where and how did you do it?

Glad you like your motor, I'm in the same boat ...... 5 days in and the smile just keeps getting bigger.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Sandra and Happy Grumpz
Great review, Grump!

Much the same as you I'm on similar mileage and 3 weeks in all is smiles. I'm wrestling with the google send-to-car at the moment but once that's sorted all will be good.

Also: it's SO quiet.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Happy Grumpz
taylorc said:
Just a quick question regarding speed camera databases, where and how did you do it?
Click to expand...

It's not too complicated...

1. Create an account at http://www.pocketgpsworld.com/ and subscribe to the speed camera database (it's £20 a year).
2. Download the file for a Garmin POILoader and select UK - Consolidated by type.
3. Unzip the files into a folder on your desktop then download the images from post 68 in this thread http://www.audi-sport.net/xf/threads/speed-camera-poi.248853/page-2
4. login to to your MyAudi account and go to Audi Connect.
5. Go to 'My Audi Special Destinations'
6. Click 'Add personal POI' upload one of the CSV files that you've saved, and upload the image file.
7. Repeat for all 5 files and then tick them all and select send to car.
8. Inside your car do a map update and you'll see the personal POI's as a separate update, select this and install.
9. From the map settings you need to select the POI's to display on the map.

That part is pretty simple. If you want to adjust the zoom level then you're best off reading the whole thread in step 3.

Good luck :sunglasses:
 
  • Like
Reactions: taylorc
Fridarey said:
Great review, Grump!

Much the same as you I'm on similar mileage and 3 weeks in all is smiles. I'm wrestling with the google send-to-car at the moment but once that's sorted all will be good.

Also: it's SO quiet.
Click to expand...

Ahhh yes, it really is quite.

As far as the send to car goes, I just made sure all my email addresses for google, my audi etc were the same and it seemed to work.

Did you do this step... https://www.google.co.uk/maps/sendtocar?source=tldsi&hl=en make sure your account/device ID is your email for myaudi
 
@Happy Grumpz im so happy to hear you enjoying the car. Long may it continue. :) x
 
  • Like
Reactions: Happy Grumpz
Happy Grumpz said:
It's not too complicated...

1. Create an account at http://www.pocketgpsworld.com/ and subscribe to the speed camera database (it's £20 a year).
2. Download the file for a Garmin POILoader and select UK - Consolidated by type.
3. Unzip the files into a folder on your desktop then download the images from post 68 in this thread http://www.audi-sport.net/xf/threads/speed-camera-poi.248853/page-2
4. login to to your MyAudi account and go to Audi Connect.
5. Go to 'My Audi Special Destinations'
6. Click 'Add personal POI' upload one of the CSV files that you've saved, and upload the image file.
7. Repeat for all 5 files and then tick them all and select send to car.
8. Inside your car do a map update and you'll see the personal POI's as a separate update, select this and install.
9. From the map settings you need to select the POI's to display on the map.

That part is pretty simple. If you want to adjust the zoom level then you're best off reading the whole thread in step 3.

Good luck :sunglasses:
Click to expand...
Or you could save yourself 20 quid and stay within the limit.
 
  • Like
Reactions: RaZ A4
Thanks Grump....

I find that with the Google Send To Car feature that its easier to use the share button in Google Maps (iOS) and share the destination with the Audi MMI Connect App, this then automatically drops the destination into myAudi destination.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Smileysam
taylorc said:
Thanks Grump....

I find that with the Google Send To Car feature that its easier to use the share button in Google Maps (iOS) and share the destination with the Audi MMI Connect App, this then automatically drops the destination into myAudi destination.
Click to expand...

Ahhh ok. I've never tried it from an IOS device, I've only ever done it from a PC/laptop.
 
audi upgrades
Great review Grumpz and much the same as I feel.
Standard suspension on 17s and it is even quieter than you say, and smoother! I have only hill hold and metallic as options so can't comment on the HUD or VC but it is such a complete car already. Google maps and google search are awesome. The seats are so much better than my last A6 too. Hill hold is seamless. As is the gearbox. Normal driving and I cannot detect a gearchange. Plus I love the drive select and intellegent coasting where you can force it to coast, or not with the flick of a paddle. Every swich is weighted properly. Even the handling is so much better than previous Audis. The automatic boot cover is a great touch too. I was advised I didn't need the B&O sound, they are correct, the standard Audi sound system is really good.

I was told by the Main Stealer that my 3 litre would be as economical as the 2.0 and it is, so far over 2200 miles on fuely it's 48.6mpg.

If I have a criticism it is the positioning of the fog light warning light, and the rear wiper LED! That's it.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Happy Grumpz
How do you get it to coast using the paddles?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Pull the shift up when you’re off the throttle, not sure if this is only an S-Tronic thing though...
 
Just press it, depending on ds mode it’ll coast anyway but you can force it this way
 
  • Like
Reactions: blackb9er
blackb9er said:
Nice one, do i need to hold it or just press it?
Click to expand...

You need to hold the right hand upshift paddle for a second or so to force the car to freewheel, think you need to be doing at least 30-40mph for it to work, if you then get too close to the car in front or slow down too much the car will go back to regular drive...
 
  • Like
Reactions: Happy Grumpz
NickGun said:
You need to hold the right hand upshift paddle for a second or so to force the car to freewheel, think you need to be doing at least 30-40mph for it to work, if you then get too close to the car in front or slow down too much the car will go back to regular drive...
Click to expand...

Thanks for the tip, I didn’t know that :sunglasses:
 
Ahh makes sense, I tried it yesterday and just kept going into manual mode, probably wasnt going fast enough.

Question. Does the coast function work based on the sat nav info i.e is it reading the road ahead, or does the car somehow know what the road gradient is and act based on that? Just curious as the gears seem to re-engage when going up a hill or approching a roundabout.
 
blackb9er said:
Ahh makes sense, I tried it yesterday and just kept going into manual mode, probably wasnt going fast enough.

Question. Does the coast function work based on the sat nav info i.e is it reading the road ahead, or does the car somehow know what the road gradient is and act based on that? Just curious as the gears seem to re-engage when going up a hill or approching a roundabout.
Click to expand...

I believe it won't coast uphill and the driver assist will cancel coast when approaching a roundabout or if you get too close to another vehicle.
 
audi upgrades
According to the manual:
"Coasting mode happens when you take your foot off the throttle pedal and will automatically happen if its enabled in the mmi car settings. The gear number will no longer be displayed, ie. D instead of D7.
In certain situations coasting can be instigated in top gear by pulling the + paddle."
 
So im guessing the car can read the road gradient and uses pre sense to determine how close cars are infront but there's still the question of junctions/roundabouts?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
blackb9er said:
So im guessing the car can read the road gradient and uses pre sense to determine how close cars are infront but there's still the question of junctions/roundabouts?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...


I'd assume thats the case, definitely won't coast up hill (as Ive tried when doing a fair rate of knots) and I've seen it disengage coast on approaching roundabouts etc, the hold on the + gear paddle to engage it is handy, motorways especially - used it lots on French Autoroutes and Italian Autostradas last summer.
 
cuke2u said:
According to the manual:
"Coasting mode happens when you take your foot off the throttle pedal and will automatically happen if its enabled in the mmi car settings. The gear number will no longer be displayed, ie. D instead of D7.
In certain situations coasting can be instigated in top gear by pulling the + paddle."
Click to expand...

You don't have to be in top gear to engage it by holding + paddle, irrespective of what the manual says, as I do that regularly and it's not often that its in 7th gear.
 
NickGun said:
You don't have to be in top gear to engage it by holding + paddle, irrespective of what the manual says, as I do that regularly and it's not often that its in 7th gear.
Click to expand...

Could be different for the S-Tronic versus Tiptronic boxes though as ours don't actually have a clutch that can be easily disengaged at any point like yours?
 
Daggerit said:
Could be different for the S-Tronic versus Tiptronic boxes though as ours don't actually have a clutch that can be easily disengaged at any point like yours?
Click to expand...

Quite possibly so, sadly not driven the 8speed Tiptronic so can't confirm, definitely can confirm I'm able to manually engage coast in our 7speed S-tronic in lower gears than 7th though.

Apologies to OP for thread hijack though :flushed:
 
  • Like
Reactions: blackb9er
NickGun said:
You don't have to be in top gear to engage it by holding + paddle, irrespective of what the manual says, as I do that regularly and it's not often that its in 7th gear.
Click to expand...
And my car seems to do it automatically in other gears as well. I had often wondered what the gearbox was doing when the display changed to D only. I also guess it may well be turned off when in sport mode as well...
 
Last edited:
cuke2u said:
And my car does it automatically in other gears as well. I had often wondered what the gearbox was doing when the display changed to D only. I also guess it may well be turned off when in sport mode as well...
Click to expand...

When it's showing just D if you check rev counter it'll be showing 500rpm (well in our diesel anyway) quite like the coast feature to be honest, easy to engage manually or disengage but feel it certainly helps on fuel economy on long runs.
 
Thanks Grump for the review.

I loved my A3 saloon, waiting for my A4 in March! This review has really made me feel like I've made the right choice in the A4, Thank you :)
 
  • Like
Reactions: Happy Grumpz
Happy Grumpz said:
The A3 saloon is a fine car, I absolutely loved mine.

The A4 is in a different league though. What spec have you ordered?
Click to expand...

Agree, one of the best cars I've ever driven. Miss it, A1 isn't my thing at all!

1.4 TFSI, S tronic, S Line in Floret silver, 18" 5 spoke dynamic alloys diamond cut, comfort and sound pack, technology pack, comfort suspension, flat bottom steering wheel and folding door mirrors (with heat)
 
  • Like
Reactions: Happy Grumpz
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Toonsoldier91
1 week review
Replies
1
Views
813
Bristle Hound
Bristle Hound
JRO
S4 Avant - 1 Week
Replies
22
Views
2K
Nham68
N
H
Collected last week.....
Replies
22
Views
2K
skybluedave
skybluedave
A4B9
2 week review
Replies
39
Views
5K
A4B9
A4B9
Keef
GPS Week Number Rollover?
Replies
15
Views
1K
cuke2u
cuke2u
Top
Back