B9 A4/S4 - Little Surprises

In my spare wheel well is just a spare wheel! I queried the absence of the sub-woofer with the salesman at handover and he looked at me quizzically and said "It doesn't have one". He said the Audi Sound System just means additional speakers around the cabin. I've yet to put the sound system to the test. In the 2 days I've had the car my wife has been with me each time I've driven it and she doesn't appreciate loud music in confined spaces.
 
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One very nice surprise I had yesterday morning when I collected the car was the chrome tops on the exterior of all the door handles. Its a very nice touch and really sets off the white paint.
 
audi upgrades
maui said:
along the lines of cruise control, has anyone got the camera based traffic sign recognition? Curious to know if that adjusts the cruise control speed as you pass a speed sign? I get mixed info from the web
Click to expand...

The car I tested with the adaptive cruise did automatically change the set speed. Just be careful if you're on a dual carriageway and it can see the speed limit signs on a slip road or something as it'll slam on the brakes! Haha


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maui said:
along the lines of cruise control, has anyone got the camera based traffic sign recognition? Curious to know if that adjusts the cruise control speed as you pass a speed sign? I get mixed info from the web
Click to expand...
Yes it does and is very good. Occasionally it reads the wrong speed from slip roads but otherwise it is excellent. You can use adaptive on any road and it will also slow the car for bends etc using sat nav data.
 
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AndrewMD said:
Nope that menu isn't there, sooooo frustrating!
Click to expand...
I assume that you have a MY16 like me. Reminder signal must be included in MY17 cars, perhaps available in a future MMI update?
 
Could someone with a MY17 car post their MMI firmware version?
 
There is a subwoofer. Just found it. It's under the spare wheel in the boot. It butts up against the battery.

In a MY17 S Line Avant anyway
 
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Inverted said:
There is a subwoofer. Just found it. It's under the spare wheel in the boot. It butts up against the battery.

In a MY17 S Line Avant anyway
Click to expand...
I'll have a look tomorrow morning. Do I need to lift the spare wheel out to see it? I can certainly see nothing other than a spare wheel in there at the moment.
 
Lifted the spare wheel out. Sure enough, there is the battery (I wondered where it was when I was looking at the engine bay) and next to it is a black plastic box of irregular shape with a handwheel that unscrews but didn't seem to do anything. Is that the sub-woofer? And does anybody know what the handwheel does?
 
Well...mine is going back to the dealer just 5 days in!
The problem is twofold.
1. In the MMI screen on startup there is a screen saying something about `Zoom`. Under that there are 2 options...either `OK` or `Dont show me this again. I have repeatedly clicked the `Dont show me this again` but guess what...the next time I start the car its there again.
2. The Sat Nav gives me 3 different destinations for the same post code. They include the correct destination but wont let me select it...nightmare!
 
wideboybloke said:
Lifted the spare wheel out. Sure enough, there is the battery (I wondered where it was when I was looking at the engine bay) and next to it is a black plastic box of irregular shape with a handwheel that unscrews but didn't seem to do anything. Is that the sub-woofer? And does anybody know what the handwheel does?
Click to expand...

Image


Item 18 is the BassBox on the Avant if this helps at all, not sure about the hand wheel sorry.
 
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audi upgrades
The “Play similar music” function if you use an SD slot as your music source.

I’ve ditched my iPod (and for that matter playing music from my iPhone) in favour of putting all my music on an SD card (SanDisk Ultra 128 GB SDXC Class 10 Memory Card - £29 off Amazon). I have about 9,000 songs. I’ve loaded 1,200 onto the Jukebox and have the whole library split into 2 folders with all tracks, and then several playlists. The system cannot cope reading a single folder with 9,000 tracks, but can manage it if you split them in 2.

The point of my post is the “Play similar music” function, shown in the menu that comes up if you select a track from the SD card and move the MMI controller right. The attached picture is the full menu that comes up.

The “Play similar music” and “Play more” (which is play more of this artist or album) functions do not appear if you do the same thing when playing from an iPod or iPhone. No matter how many playlists you set up, there is always going to be a huge amount of music in a library my size that you never listen to. The “Play similar music” function searches through the SD card and creates a smart playlist similar to the song selected (in exactly the same way as an Apple Genius playlist). As a result, I’m listening to music that I wouldn’t have chosen myself and haven’t heard for years. Although the SD card I use isn’t in fact the fastest currently available, it is lightning quick and certainly faster and more responsive than an iPod.

I’ve disabled CarPlay on my iPhone (Settings > General > Restrictions. Set a restrictions passcode, and turn off the CarPlay slider), since it is a bit buggy and the native MMI functionality for telephone, Navigation and voice control is just as good and far more stable.

IMG 7087
 
BeagleKCH said:
I’ve disabled CarPlay on my iPhone (Settings > General > Restrictions. Set a restrictions passcode, and turn off the CarPlay slider), since it is a bit buggy and the native MMI functionality for telephone, Navigation and voice control is just as good and far more stable.View attachment 102366
Click to expand...

You can also disable CarPlay in the MMI settings, then it will also stop prompting anyone else who connects an iPhone.

Like the SD card jukebox, however I tend to subscribe to cloud based music providers as then I can stay current!
 
While looking for the sub-woofer (which, thanks to this thread, it appears I have now found) I discovered the tool kit in the bit of the boot in front of the spare wheel well. All the components are in a moulded tray to keep them in place, but a couple of the shapes are empty. Is your toolkit all present and correct?

It may be that the missing items relate to options on the car that I don't have. On the other hand, I'm wondering if my car has been the victim of 'Nick one from another car to pacify the customer who's complaining about missing items in his car'
 
BeagleKCH said:
The “Play similar music” function if you use an SD slot as your music source.

I’ve ditched my iPod (and for that matter playing music from my iPhone) in favour of putting all my music on an SD card (SanDisk Ultra 128 GB SDXC Class 10 Memory Card - £29 off Amazon). I have about 9,000 songs. I’ve loaded 1,200 onto the Jukebox and have the whole library split into 2 folders with all tracks, and then several playlists. The system cannot cope reading a single folder with 9,000 tracks, but can manage it if you split them in 2.
Click to expand...

What format do the music files need to be in? Does it play iTunes or do they have to be MP3 WAV etc?
 
Found something else today. As mentioned upthread, I read so many reviews and watched so many YouTube videos before collecting my Avant I was unsure whether it had the load through feature whereby you can fold down what is effectively the rear arm rest to carry for example skis without folding down the rear seats. I was fiddling around inside the rear armrest housing this morning and found a catch that I hadn't seen before. When I pressed it, the middle bit of the rear seat folded forward - bingo! Not that I shall ever carry skis, but I do carry flat pack furniture from time to time and other long thin items (Oooh Matron!)
 
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wideboybloke said:
While looking for the sub-woofer (which, thanks to this thread, it appears I have now found) I discovered the tool kit in the bit of the boot in front of the spare wheel well. All the components are in a moulded tray to keep them in place, but a couple of the shapes are empty. Is your toolkit all present and correct?

It may be that the missing items relate to options on the car that I don't have. On the other hand, I'm wondering if my car has been the victim of 'Nick one from another car to pacify the customer who's complaining about missing items in his car'
Click to expand...

I would like to see photos of other peoples tool kits to find out if any bits are missing in mine! Can someone do the honours please?
 
Ive created a new thread on the tool box question with a picture...

Back to little surprises. The heated mirrors made me smile earlier in the week when I was able to turn them on to demist them.

I know, Little things :)
 
nkdublu said:
Ive created a new thread on the tool box question with a picture...

Back to little surprises. The heated mirrors made me smile earlier in the week when I was able to turn them on to demist them.

I know, Little things :)
Click to expand...

I did that the other day, but wasn't sure if/when they switched off. Even after they were clear, on the display of fuel use, it and my aircon where both showing as active and using 25% of my fuel together!!!
 
Found out yesterday (after reading the manual whilst waiting for my wife in the supermarket car park!) that the interior reading lights (touch sensitive) are dimmable, by holding your finger on them when they are OFF and they then dim on/off to your desired brightness level. Not sure if it remembers the brightness level or not though, will have to test that
 
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Noticed the other day when I turn left or right in the dark that side is illuminated with a light which fades out after completing the turn. I also noticed last night that the left one occasionally came on whilst just driving along and not turning. One time I was approaching a zebra crossing. Could this be a coincidence or would it know from nav data?
 
Either the Sat nav or the radar and camera sensors control matrix headlamps...
 
One thing which surprised me today was that when you stall the car it restarts itself!
 
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A surprise I am yet to see - but sounds interesting, when when you have speed camera recognition and a trailer attached, the speed limits are adjusted for towing - along with the ability to input a maximum speed.

These little things with towing are why I stumped the extra for a factory fit towbar than 3rd party as there is no guarantee the car will be coded right afterwards


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86D4CAF5 619A 418B 9505 8C700F7B3226
On the A3/S3 forum, one of the perennial posts is about keeping exhaust tips clean and the various methods people use. I'm pleased to note that after 2000 miles in my A4 the tips on the broader diameter exhaust are as sparkly as when I took delivery. With my A3 I would need to clean them after a motorway cruise and in any event every time I washed it. Anybody want to buy a part-used tube of Autosol?
 
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Little surprise today that I took notice of! The adaptive cruise control will pace a car in the right hand lane on the motorway, so in other words will not undertake. If you just tap the accelerator however it will ignore and undertake!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
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With the nights now drawing in, and once I turned them on properly, the extended interior lights are fantastic..
 
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What do you mean by 'turned them on properly'? I have mine on 'individual' with the brightness set to the top, central position. I have individual colours for the various zones, but are you saying that there is some further functionality?
 
No, the car was supplied without the all of the interior lights being set up correctly, once I'd turned them on, and up, all was good
 
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The rear view camera, I thought it might be a gimmic but on this dark and very wet evening it guided me reversing into our narrow driveway, where I have to get as close to the house as possible to be able to open the drivers door, with ease. A car saver :)
 
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