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roboc71
11-07-2014, 09:12 PM
After driving my A7 3.0 SE for 3 months i thought i'd review what i think of the options i chose for the car. Many of these were chosen on the description from the Audi website because i ordered my car before coming back to the UK and had no chance to test drive an A7 where i had been living in USA. So here are my thoughts in case anyone is considering choosing these without having the luxury of a test drive first.

1. Adaptive Cruise Control. Brilliant! If you use the motorway a lot then this takes a level of effort and stress away from long journeys. Just switch it on and relax your right foot knowing you will stick like glue to the car in front without smashing into the back of it.

2. Lane assist. For similar reasons to the above i like this on the motorway. It keeps the car in the dead center of the lane and again removes a level of effort required to drive. This might sound a bit boring but, on long journeys, it is great. However, if i wasn't doing so many miles on the motorway i definitely wouldn't choose it.

3. Side assist. i wouldn't choose this again. It works well but is only worth the money if you can't be bothered to turn your head to check your blind spot before changing lane.

4. Bose sound system upgrade. I was undecided about this until i realised my center dashboard speaker was faulty. i got it fixed while i was loaned a brand new A6 with a standard sound system. When i got my A7 back i was blown away. It now sounds way better than the A6 did - and i assume a standard A7 would.

5. Basic Navigation. i didn't go for the upgraded MMI system because i didn't anticipate using the navigation much. While this is true, the basic MMI screen is a bit crap compared to the rest of the interior of the A7 whereas the upgraded one looks very good - especially with the google earth images. It also has a much nicer looking and faster menu system. I experienced this on the A6 i was loaned. In hindsight i wish i had chosen this instead of side assist and a couple of other small options.

Overall, i am loving the A7 and would recommend it highly. Apart from the faulty speaker, the only problem i have had is that someone crashed into me and took out both drivers side doors! It's in for two new ones next week...

M1tchy
11-07-2014, 09:55 PM
I agree with most of what you have put above there, but I am a big fan of the blind spot monitoring system, just another safety system that helps especially on busy motorways where there is traffic all over the place.

Don't have bose on mine and think the sound system is fairly good, but never heard the bose on an A7 so can't compare unfortunately.

What colour did you go for?


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shabazmo
12-07-2014, 12:33 AM
Nice review, I have the MMI plus and have google earth which I think is a gimmick, but what is great is the google search facility, as it allows me to navigate anywhere by just searchimh google. Wish I had gone for adaptive cruise and high beam assist.

roboc71
12-07-2014, 12:31 PM
Good point about the blind spot monitoring - i suppose it only has to help once and it has paid for itself.

I got phantom black which seems to be the most popular (out of the very few A7's) around here in Surrey. It looks great but needs constant cleaning so i might go for that dark gray i've seen a few of next time. I'm not sure what it's called.

That reminds me that i also got the privacy glass as an option. I almost didn't get it because i thought it might look a bit gangster but it actually looks great and quite understated. Obviously also helps reduce heat and to hide all the kids mess on the back seats!

Shabazmo - i did also spec the high beam assist and this works very well. It would be better if you could activate it at lower speeds but my understanding is that you can override this using a VCDS. i think M1tchy has previously posted details on this.

M1tchy
12-07-2014, 12:49 PM
Phantom black looks great when clean but as you say needs constant washing - the wife's A5 is black and unless it's just been cleaned it looks dirty which is a shame as I'm the one that washes it lol.

I went for the Daytona grey which looks great unless it's really dirty which is rare!

Yes you can change the speed the HBA operates, think I've added it to the A7 VCDS tricks page I've made. It's much more useful now I've got mine to work from 20mph


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shabazmo
12-07-2014, 02:37 PM
Thanks to M1tchy, I was able to change the activation speed on HBA on my wife's new Q5. I wish there was an afterarket HBA for the a7.