Finally, it is here !! My Audi A4 Avant

[Ytterligare]

Sorry for being late, but I was literally submerged by work,and only now I can post some pictures and impressions...the car was delivered a week ago.
First of all, the delivery procedure was all but impressive..: a cold room, with other two Audis ( Q3 ), 5 minutes for the initial MMI configuration, and off I went.
The car was evidentely been washed a couple of hours before, so as soon as I lowered the side windows, I was greeted with the usual vertical matrix of waterdrops, but, anyway the car was still a beauty.
And the smell of a new car...!! J'adore !! Do you know they sell a spray with "new car fragrance"..?
Ok, time for some pics :

Of course, we have had fine weather for about two moths, and the day I picked it up it was snowing and there were plenty of salt on the streets...

After few days ( about 200 km driven )

Now, what can I say..? This is my first automatica car, so everything is new, but the features are really cool, especially the ACC with the jam assist, and the magnificent Led Matrix headlights...a joy to use, always gentle with the other drivers, so effective and useful.

Now...a small regret.
This car has a 122cv engine, a special one only for Italy, France and Spain I believe.
With hindsight I should have took the 150cv ultra. Yes, when in sport mode, the car is prompt, but you can almost feel the struggle when driving in Confort mode....but maybe it's me, not used to drive with an automatic gearbox.
Anyway, using less CV, doesn't mean the mileage is better...I believe that 150cv is the best compromise to have an higher torque at lower rev...

Last but not least, since this car was built a month ago, here are the version of the MMI/Nav software, for your benefit. ( sorry for italian language on the panel )
Do you gentleman have the same sw level and/or do you know when there will be the new update available ?

Ciao
Andy

 

[gbrown]

Last but not least, since this car was built a month ago, here are the version of the MMI/Nav software, for your benefit. ( sorry for italian language on the panel )
Do you gentleman have the same sw level and/or do you know when there will be the new update available ?

Ciao
Andy

My UK S4 was built just before Christmas and has all the same versions, the Software (0917), Gracenote, Nav Database, Media driver and telephone driver.

Geoff

 

[Sandra]

Andy, car is awesome. Like that you have colour coordinated your trainers to the car, lol. Enjoy the car to the max. x

 

[PhxViper]

Congratulations on the new car! Enjoy it! Wish I had Spec'd ACC...

 

[TripleD]

Congrats, nice car!

 

[THQuattro]

Very nice car, enjoy.

 

[Bristle Hound]

Sorry for being late, but I was literally submerged by work,and only now I can post some pictures and impressions...the car was delivered a week ago.
First of all, the delivery procedure was all but impressive..: a cold room, with other two Audis ( Q3 ), 5 minutes for the initial MMI configuration, and off I went.
The car was evidentely been washed a couple of hours before, so as soon as I lowered the side windows, I was greeted with the usual vertical matrix of waterdrops, but, anyway the car was still a beauty.
And the smell of a new car...!! J'adore !! Do you know they sell a spray with "new car fragrance"..?
Ok, time for some pics :

Of course, we have had fine weather for about two moths, and the day I picked it up it was snowing and there were plenty of salt on the streets...

After few days ( about 200 km driven )

Now, what can I say..? This is my first automatica car, so everything is new, but the features are really cool, especially the ACC with the jam assist, and the magnificent Led Matrix headlights...a joy to use, always gentle with the other drivers, so effective and useful.

Now...a small regret.
This car has a 122cv engine, a special one only for Italy, France and Spain I believe.
With hindsight I should have took the 150cv ultra. Yes, when in sport mode, the car is prompt, but you can almost feel the struggle when driving in Confort mode....but maybe it's me, not used to drive with an automatic gearbox.
Anyway, using less CV, doesn't mean the mileage is better...I believe that 150cv is the best compromise to have an higher torque at lower rev...

Last but not least, since this car was built a month ago, here are the version of the MMI/Nav software, for your benefit. ( sorry for italian language on the panel )
Do you gentleman have the same sw level and/or do you know when there will be the new update available ?

Ciao
Andy

@Ytterligare - Your new A4Avant looks fab Andy. Congrats !

 

[Ytterligare]

Thank you everybody, I'm sorry I can't let you feel the nuances of my joy due to the fact I'm not english native speaker, but again, I will try.
The car has a lot of specs ( is that right ?) , and some of them I couldn't add 'cause the car production was already started, so the adaptive comfort suspension and some trimming remained a wish.
Some impressions, then.

Virtual Cockpit: this item was the first that made think "I want an A4", the level of sophistication of Audi's dashboard has left the competitors at least a couple of years behind. Having a private pilot license, this cockpit is the closest thing to an airplane I've got, when not up there.
The images are well defined, smooth and, despite what I was thinking while I was waiting for the car to be delivered, I'm not really using google maps a lot. I wish it could be possible to "split" the usage, e.g Google Maps on VC and Standard map on the central console, but I guess the processor inside is not capable to sustain the load.

ACC and Jam assistant : my last car was a Ford Focus, with "standard" Cruise Control, so the leap forward is quite huge, especially when using the jam assistant. After 600 km I do not have full control of this device and I often find myself wondering why it doesn't engage or why it suddenly disengage...nothing a good Manual lecture can't cure, tho.... ;-)
Definitively something your car, and you well-being deserve.

Led Matrix lights : spectacular. I've been using them only three or four times, but I did study them while they were working and I have appreciate the progress reached by Audi's technology here.
It is almost amusing to see how the Led matrix is working hard to cut-off from the sight of the other cars, and I find myself fascinated by the intelligence beneath. As a matter of fact, it is like being entitled to use always high beams, no matter where you're driving.

Acoustic glass: hard to tell. The car is really quiter than my previous car, but at the same time I'm using winter tires, so I've decided to postpone my judgement in May when I will be forced to switch to summer tires.

Bang & Olufsen : meh.
In 2004 my car was a BMW 330i coupe', with Bose enhancement, and, boy what an exciting sound it had !! This B&O I believe has the sound you would expect from a 56.000 Euros car, but it shouldn't come as an optional equipment. I was expecting something more from this setup, especially on the low end, so you're forced to crank up the volume to 75% to get the punch...right before, the sound is clean, defined, and that's it.
I have no idea how the standard MMI sounds, but B&O just enhance it a 20/25% more.

DAB Radio. You will appreciate this according to the signal coverage of your country/city. Mine is good, I only have some trouble when driving in city center, where streets are narrow and buildings are tall, but most of the time, the sound quality is good. I only wish Audi got the screen to show the song title, instead of having to go into a menu to get it, let's hope for a future software upgrade of the MMI.

Interior lighting pack multi coloured : double meh. I like blue color, so that's what I immediately programmed the car to show, but to my surprise, neither the console commands, nor the light strips on the B&O speakers change the colour accordingly : they remain bright white, diluting the desired chromatic effect.

Heathed windshield : I'm not sure whether this is an option in the UK configurator or not, but having it on the Focus, I strongly wanted this on my Audi as well. The aim was to have the windshield unfrozen in 1 minute, like I usually had, but so far, I could not check how well it work, simply because I kept the car in the garage so far. Honestly I don't understand the technology it is based upon. On the Focus, you can see several metallic filaments, which once heated, can get your frozen windshield to be seen through in no time. On the A4 I see nothing, so not really sure how it works...someone suggested me the glass is mixed with metallic particle, and a 54Volts power supply yelds the energy to the particles through two electrodes on the top&bottom part of the glass. Nothing official tho, I still am hoping this was not bu***it from Audi's marketing dept.

Power-operated boot lid : very good. It works smoothly, and being programmable in how wide it can be opened, makes it almost perfect.
Interestingly, unlike someone here in the forum, the boot remain closed ( and the doors locked ) even though I keep the key in my pocket... ;-)

Hill hold assist : a 75£ ( 100 Euros ) optional which I use very often : you just switch it on when you turn the ignition on, and every time you stop the car ( e.g. at the traffic light ) you won't need to push on the brake to prevent the car from going forward. Nice add-on, it should be standard on a car this expensive.

Parking Assistance Pack Advanced : apart from Audi Side assist ( very effective ) had no chance to test the goodies that comes with this pack, but on paper they sound useful.

Parking Assist : had few opportunities to test the parking assist, but the 360 degrees cameras are one of the thing I use most when parking now, more than the 360 sensor, which, for my taste, are engaging the maximum alert, the continous beep, too early ( 30 cm).

Audi Smartphone Interface : good and meh. The double USB interface configuration was possible only with this optional on my car ( due to some complicated cross-matrix incompatibility ), and the USB ports are working really well. The Apple Car interface, is just meh, and I'm a huge Apple fan ! Wish Apple had developed it better, since the additional possibilities are not that outstanding, not to mention that connecting the iPhone to the car via USB ( and thus Apple Car ) you loose the Audi phone interface, ad apparently there's no turning back from the MMI, unless you unplug the phone. Prehistoric I'd say, but I'm still wishing there's some procedure I don't know to switch flawlessly from one interface to the other.

Other misc. optionals : heated seats electrically adjustable, multi functional steering wheel, 3-zone electronic climate control, nothing to say, the work pretty standard, maybe except the lumbar support which I hoped was more protruding than it is by design.

I hope in this review I have helped those who are trying to decide which optional to add in the car, and again sorry if my english doesn't help much..

Ciao

Andrea

 

[cuke2u]

Nice write up and I can see you really appreciate your cars. The heated windscreen is not an option in the uk but as far as I understand there is some kind of membrane between the laminate not made of wire like ford's have...

 

[Ytterligare]

Thank you cuke2u, I've followed thoroughly your gearbox malfunction thread and I really felt for you like it was happening to my car.
Hope everything is ok now ! ;-)

 

[cuke2u]

I wish, they washed my car and left swirls in the paintwork, so another trip back to them...