3 weeks until my new A4
#11
06-09-2011, 10:13 AM
6 month review
Since I have had the car for 6 months ( actually closer to 7 ), I thought I would provide my current thoughts on the vehicle.
Exterior:
I really have no complaints about the body of the car or the color selection. I have gotten a lot of compliments on the red color, the headlights and the over all look of the car. The one thing about the exterior I truly did not like initially was the 10 spoke rims. I just thought they were ugly and that I would soon replace them. While the look has only grown on me slightly, the real thing I like about these rims is that they do not seem to collect brake dust like my previous 2 A4's. I have gone two months without washing the car ( I know, I know, bad owner ) and I look at the rims and can hardly notice any black dust. Usually by that point the front rims would be totally black, the rear, about halfway. So big props there.
Interior:
I like the interior appointments, it looks nice and clean. The front seat could be more comfortable, but it will do. I like how they have removed the hand brake lever and replaced it with the small switch. Works well and frees up a lot of space. I am not a big fan of the locations of the power plugs and I still think they should offer USB power ports as well in this model. The steering wheel feels nice gripped in my hand, solid, about the right diameter for my hands. What I am hating is that I need to use the key to take off the rear headrests. I fold my seats down a lot and this is a pain. First off, why should you need to have to use a key just to take off head restraints? Second, if you need to it, this is not the best way. The slot is hard to get to, especially for the driver side because it is away from that side, so either you need to feel around blindly or hop in and do it from the other side.
MMI/Dash Display:
I have no issues with how the dash is set up, everything seems to be where it should be for me. I like how it displays the cruise control speed. This is very handy for fine tuning, not sure if this goes here, but the cruise controls works great. Working the MMI controls took a little while to get used, but I think I have it down now.
Radio:
I separated the radio out because I have a lot of issues with it as I believed I have mentioned in some other threads/posts. The first is the steering wheel control. The left scroll wheel allows you to change the station, but you need to use to actions, scroll up or down, and the click to the station you want. I want the scrolling to just go to the station, one movement, one action. Also, no matter what you do initially, scroll up, scroll down of click it the same result occurs. The radio list is brought up. Here is a missed opportunity to give the user 2 more functions. My preference would be scroll up/down it immediately jumps to the next station in that direction. Click the wheel, it brings up the list and then the scroll buttons can scroll the stations until it is clicked again taking the user to that station.
My next radio issue is the station display on the main panel. For FM stations, I just wish they used the same layout as they do for Sirius, pop up a little box that give all the info in it instead of scrolling. Just seems unprofessional to have what is basically the same thing ( stations that provide music ) displayed two different ways.
Now on to presets, I like the fact that they give you 30 that will encompass Sirius, FM and AM all in the same group, but this really doesn't work for me. I live in an area where I travel to 3 distinct radio coverage areas ( some stations overlap ). I miss having different preset groups for each area. Now I have to have all the stations there and quickly scroll by the ones that don't come in. Given my scrolling concern, I just use the buttons on the actual radio to navigate between stations.
Handling:
No real complaints here, feels solid. The only thing I will say is that the car does seem to drift more compared to my last one. Hard to describe what is going on, but driving on the highway it seems to float around a little, is that considered looser?
Engine/Transmission/Throttle
No complaints against the engine, I have been getting better the anticipated gas mileage and it seems to have plenty enough power to haul the car around even with 4 large people in it.
The transmission and throttle are my major complaints in this car. I have espoused on this on many posts. But to sum up my opinion, it sucks. Shifts are two hard, never seems to find the right gear quickly enough and the throttle seems to lag all the time giving it that lugging feeling. I have had it in several times for software upgrades, it has gotten a little better. But every time I drive the car I get reminded of these issue and wish I was driving something different.
Exterior:
I really have no complaints about the body of the car or the color selection. I have gotten a lot of compliments on the red color, the headlights and the over all look of the car. The one thing about the exterior I truly did not like initially was the 10 spoke rims. I just thought they were ugly and that I would soon replace them. While the look has only grown on me slightly, the real thing I like about these rims is that they do not seem to collect brake dust like my previous 2 A4's. I have gone two months without washing the car ( I know, I know, bad owner ) and I look at the rims and can hardly notice any black dust. Usually by that point the front rims would be totally black, the rear, about halfway. So big props there.
Interior:
I like the interior appointments, it looks nice and clean. The front seat could be more comfortable, but it will do. I like how they have removed the hand brake lever and replaced it with the small switch. Works well and frees up a lot of space. I am not a big fan of the locations of the power plugs and I still think they should offer USB power ports as well in this model. The steering wheel feels nice gripped in my hand, solid, about the right diameter for my hands. What I am hating is that I need to use the key to take off the rear headrests. I fold my seats down a lot and this is a pain. First off, why should you need to have to use a key just to take off head restraints? Second, if you need to it, this is not the best way. The slot is hard to get to, especially for the driver side because it is away from that side, so either you need to feel around blindly or hop in and do it from the other side.
MMI/Dash Display:
I have no issues with how the dash is set up, everything seems to be where it should be for me. I like how it displays the cruise control speed. This is very handy for fine tuning, not sure if this goes here, but the cruise controls works great. Working the MMI controls took a little while to get used, but I think I have it down now.
Radio:
I separated the radio out because I have a lot of issues with it as I believed I have mentioned in some other threads/posts. The first is the steering wheel control. The left scroll wheel allows you to change the station, but you need to use to actions, scroll up or down, and the click to the station you want. I want the scrolling to just go to the station, one movement, one action. Also, no matter what you do initially, scroll up, scroll down of click it the same result occurs. The radio list is brought up. Here is a missed opportunity to give the user 2 more functions. My preference would be scroll up/down it immediately jumps to the next station in that direction. Click the wheel, it brings up the list and then the scroll buttons can scroll the stations until it is clicked again taking the user to that station.
My next radio issue is the station display on the main panel. For FM stations, I just wish they used the same layout as they do for Sirius, pop up a little box that give all the info in it instead of scrolling. Just seems unprofessional to have what is basically the same thing ( stations that provide music ) displayed two different ways.
Now on to presets, I like the fact that they give you 30 that will encompass Sirius, FM and AM all in the same group, but this really doesn't work for me. I live in an area where I travel to 3 distinct radio coverage areas ( some stations overlap ). I miss having different preset groups for each area. Now I have to have all the stations there and quickly scroll by the ones that don't come in. Given my scrolling concern, I just use the buttons on the actual radio to navigate between stations.
Handling:
No real complaints here, feels solid. The only thing I will say is that the car does seem to drift more compared to my last one. Hard to describe what is going on, but driving on the highway it seems to float around a little, is that considered looser?
Engine/Transmission/Throttle
No complaints against the engine, I have been getting better the anticipated gas mileage and it seems to have plenty enough power to haul the car around even with 4 large people in it.
The transmission and throttle are my major complaints in this car. I have espoused on this on many posts. But to sum up my opinion, it sucks. Shifts are two hard, never seems to find the right gear quickly enough and the throttle seems to lag all the time giving it that lugging feeling. I have had it in several times for software upgrades, it has gotten a little better. But every time I drive the car I get reminded of these issue and wish I was driving something different.
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