Rotary Air Con controls swapping with Digital display controller

[Q7quattro]

Hi

i have an S-sline with Tech Pack and Comfort pack- but the Air Con controls are rotary as opposed to digital ones that I have seen in other A6's.

Any one know if it would Be possible to do a straight swap - the rotary controller for the digital display controller ?

thanks

[ukgroucho]

I very much doubt it... digital controls are part of the 4 zone climate control - rotary controls are the 2 zone. So ignoring any extra bits you'd need to plumb in / programme just to get the digital readout on a 2 zone, I suspect the sheer cost of the replacement dash bits would be prohibitive.

[Q7quattro]

Thought that would be the case.

bizzare really - I had an A6 2.8 quattro estate dual zone climate - digital control , Q7 which had Dual zone - digital control

its almost like a step backwards when you consider older cars had dual zone with digital control.

[A6S]

I thought that when I had the pre facelift. My 14 year old golf has a digital display for the climate control.
Looked into this before and the cost involved it would be cheaper to sell car and buy one with. It needs to connect with mmi for control as well so multiple modules and cables not to mention coding.

[belly buster]

Yeah big step backwards, my stock 2008 A4 had digital controls, and before that so did my 2002 Peugeot 307.

Audi must have had their reasons.

[ukgroucho]

But I have to say (having poured non flammable stuff on the OP's bonfire) my previous C6 Avant had the non digital dially aircon and after I initially got over the fact that it was not digital then it ceased to be a part of my life... I just set it and forgot it.

[DB22]

I have the 4 zone digital display and I do not like it. It is slow to operate because of the delay between function settings, it tries to override you and the numbers mean nothing but relative value. E.G. if I want a constant temperature then I have to set it at 78 when it's cold and 72 when it's hot. If I turn the AC off then adjust the temp then the fan speed changes even though I am not in Auto. If you adjust the fan speed then you have to wait for the display to go away before you can adjust the direction.
It is, in fact, the worst system that I have ever owned. I prefer discreet controls but there is a move away from that to save money and eliminate the many buttons necessary.

[Q7quattro]

Yeah big step backwards, my stock 2008 A4 had digital controls, and before that so did my 2002 Peugeot 307.

Audi must have had their reasons.

Not sure of Audi reasons maybe .......if they save £10.00 by putting rotary controls instead of digital controls , they sell say 1 million A6s - then Audi have saved 10 million.

If audi do this across the range of all cars ....then it's a considerable saving

If the customer wants digital then the customer pays.

[diecastsink]

It is, in fact, the worst system that I have ever owned.

Thanks for the comments. I have wondered how it would operate but have never heard any comments. I had C6 before, with digital display, possibility to sync both sides. Never had to change the settings after setting "good values". Now in C7 with dual zone with manual knobs my legs are burning when set to auto, temp and blower speed changes from time to time without any particular change in ambient, and in general the climatic is not so stabile as in C6. A lot drawback from past as in many other design changes not to mention the Avant boot floor and space underneath. Did not want to pay extra for panel in back seat for my laptop case and jacket and decided to go for dual zone. Knobs are so poorly marked/lighted that I cannot realize what is the setting without carefully looking in different angles - not very vice while driving...

[ukgroucho]

The 4 zone in my allroad is fine, I'm experiencing none of the issues that DB22 describes. It is plenty responsive, does seem to maintain a pretty stable temp - the only change I make is that I dial the temp down a degree or so in summer but I used to do that on the old C6 dual zone also. Oh and if I adjust the 'direction' and want to adjust fan speed then as soon as I hit the fan speed button it switches.
How old is your car DB22?

[Scott K]

In my car under the menu, there is an option to adjust the heating at foot level. Do you have that?

Thanks for the comments. I have wondered how it would operate but have never heard any comments. I had C6 before, with digital display, possibility to sync both sides. Never had to change the settings after setting "good values". Now in C7 with dual zone with manual knobs my legs are burning when set to auto, temp and blower speed changes from time to time without any particular change in ambient, and in general the climatic is not so stabile as in C6. A lot drawback from past as in many other design changes not to mention the Avant boot floor and space underneath. Did not want to pay extra for panel in back seat for my laptop case and jacket and decided to go for dual zone. Knobs are so poorly marked/lighted that I cannot realize what is the setting without carefully looking in different angles - not very vice while driving...

[diecastsink]

Scott, I do not have such choice. Only tweaked that with VCDS, don't remember exactly but it was " footwell leakage automatic".

[Q7quattro]

If you turn the Fan Speed up to max , the air flow seems extremely reduced compared to my old c5,q7 which use belt out the air at a rate of knots.

also when you change the direction of air flow - say footwell to dashbaord it takes a while for the motor to close the footwell flaps and to get full flow to the the dash - again my c5,q7 closed flaps a lot faster - almost instant.

(Am talking about non digital air con)

any one else notice this ?

[johnsimcox]

Thanks for the comments. I have wondered how it would operate but have never heard any comments. I had C6 before, with digital display, possibility to sync both sides. Never had to change the settings after setting "good values". Now in C7 with dual zone with manual knobs my legs are burning when set to auto, temp and blower speed changes from time to time without any particular change in ambient, and in general the climatic is not so stabile as in C6. A lot drawback from past as in many other design changes not to mention the Avant boot floor and space underneath. Did not want to pay extra for panel in back seat for my laptop case and jacket and decided to go for dual zone. Knobs are so poorly marked/lighted that I cannot realize what is the setting without carefully looking in different angles - not very vice while driving...
have no problems with the 2 Zone-CC in my C7 in terms of temp control. Have set it to 19 and Auto and can't recall the last time I changed it. I do agree though that the numbers around the control knob are very small but then again are people getting in the car and saying "mmm today I think I'll have the temp at 21". Presume you had a C6 TDie Avant as your previous car. That car had no spare wheel and could therefore have a deeper well below the floor. Personally I would far rather have the comfort factor of a space saver spare than relying on a can of gunk should I have a puncture. That said I never used the can of gunk in my C6 and (touch wood) not used the spare in the C7.

[Splash]

But I have to say (having poured non flammable stuff on the OP's bonfire) my previous C6 Avant had the non digital dially aircon and after I initially got over the fact that it was not digital then it ceased to be a part of my life... I just set it and forgot it.For my C7, I've Tip-Exed "20" (for the sake of my wife) onto a couple of black bottle tops and pushed them on having first set both knobs to 19. Would have cured my OCD and dislike of silver trim immediately if my Tip-Exing had been neater.

Yeah, right...;)

Would have tried the "laggy band trick" were it not for the fact that the centre knob is off-axis thus requiring 2. But which one to put on first......?

[diecastsink]

I have noticed that many things in early C7 builds (mine is Feb 2012) are different and maybe not so mature, like start/stop. That is the risk of buing a new model. Temp I will change if I have jacket on, or longer trips whit wearing a shirt, or if Mrs is onboard so not just sticking to 19 (pretty cold I think...).

About boot, I ment the foldable floor which was able to raise to hold one shopping bag but now there is no slots in the bottom part to keep it up-folded, just few useless small lockers only for gloves etc., nothing what is needed in wintertime here in my latitude. C6 had full size spare wheel, btw. and still much more storage space.