dgwilson
29-06-2018, 12:30 PM
Just getting to grips with a new (B9) A4 3.0 TDI Avant Sport, with the add-on “technology pack”. Love the ability to mirror the satnav screen to the driver’s binnacle, but the execution of the rest of the system is woeful and not at all intuitive. I’ve even had to break the habits of a lifetime and read the manual! (Not that it’s easy to find anything useful in that)
Why is the CD slot in the glovebox where I can’t reach it?
Why can’t I get rid of the picture of the car in the expanded “details” view? (Oil temp is useful, but I already know I’m in a car!)
Why can't I get the "radio text" option - for radio stations that broadcast extra text - to stay on? In every other car I've had since the feature became available, the radio station display shows the extra text if it's available. For this one, I have to go through the menu options to find it and then turn it on for each station - each time. Aaaargh!
It seems that someone has loaded all the controls for the system into a shotgun and fired them randomly at the dash (especially the menu/left options/right options/back/select cluster in the middle of the console. And having just one knob that tries (and fails) to control the CD/audio isn’t very “tech” – slow fast forward (when it works), no “pause”, among other minor irritations. It all seems like a disorganised afterthought, somehow.
Big annoyance is that for long continental trips I load hundreds of podcasts and/or audiobooks into my trusty iPod classic and expected to just plug it in, as the info I had before purchase said that iPods are supported. Wrong! Ipod classic (with the dock connector ) “isn’t supported” – plugging it in to the USB socket just locks it. Could use the Aux socket, but then I’d have to take my eyes off the road to fiddle with the iPod.
Then put SD card into (Samsung) mobile phone, plug that in. Podcasts and audiobooks don’t show up. Feature only available on iPhones. (Did Apple do a deal with Audi just to p*** everybody else off?)
Eventually put the podcasts and audiobooks onto a USB stick, which the system can recognise and (sort of) operate. How hi-tech is that? !
I expect I’ll get used to it eventually, but overall it’s a triumph of style over design.
Why is the CD slot in the glovebox where I can’t reach it?
Why can’t I get rid of the picture of the car in the expanded “details” view? (Oil temp is useful, but I already know I’m in a car!)
Why can't I get the "radio text" option - for radio stations that broadcast extra text - to stay on? In every other car I've had since the feature became available, the radio station display shows the extra text if it's available. For this one, I have to go through the menu options to find it and then turn it on for each station - each time. Aaaargh!
It seems that someone has loaded all the controls for the system into a shotgun and fired them randomly at the dash (especially the menu/left options/right options/back/select cluster in the middle of the console. And having just one knob that tries (and fails) to control the CD/audio isn’t very “tech” – slow fast forward (when it works), no “pause”, among other minor irritations. It all seems like a disorganised afterthought, somehow.
Big annoyance is that for long continental trips I load hundreds of podcasts and/or audiobooks into my trusty iPod classic and expected to just plug it in, as the info I had before purchase said that iPods are supported. Wrong! Ipod classic (with the dock connector ) “isn’t supported” – plugging it in to the USB socket just locks it. Could use the Aux socket, but then I’d have to take my eyes off the road to fiddle with the iPod.
Then put SD card into (Samsung) mobile phone, plug that in. Podcasts and audiobooks don’t show up. Feature only available on iPhones. (Did Apple do a deal with Audi just to p*** everybody else off?)
Eventually put the podcasts and audiobooks onto a USB stick, which the system can recognise and (sort of) operate. How hi-tech is that? !
I expect I’ll get used to it eventually, but overall it’s a triumph of style over design.