Allroad

[BottleShip]

I've had a bitdi allroad for a few weeks now and thought i'd share my thoughts.
In no particular order:

ACC is great.
The 'torque vectoring' of the sports diff is somewhat lost on a car that handles a bit like a boat.
It's fast but so smooth and lazy you don't really notice.
Sports seats are very comfortable.
Everything works really well. The technology and its integration are very impressive.
Adaptive lights are fun but a little pointless, still - you're going to have to pony up for them if you want ACC which you really really want.
Hard to imagine why you'd need anything other than standard nav & phone.
There's a lot of plastic trim that isn't going to age very well.
The ride quality is amazing. I've never enjoyed going over speed bumps before.
Audi dealers are mostly <REMOVED>. If only Audi insisted every franchise was run a by a German, and the mentality of design and manufacture continued in the selling.
BiTdi: This isn't a sportscar. Not even close. Get an RS6.
Gearbox 'lag'. Audi made it that way for a reason (see above).
The colour DIS looks great. The main LCD looks like it was made 10 years ago but who cares, the controls have been really well thought through.
I drive 75% motorway and expect long term MPG to be around 38.

I'm really happy with the car. It's better than I thought it would be.

[ukgroucho]

Thanks for posting Bottleship.

I have to confess that I needed to think a bit... and take a deep breath .. before responding to your post.
Really happy that you are delighted by the Allroad BiTdi but...

Please don't be put off by my response - you obviously have strong opinions - but I do wonder what your expectations were. Here are my thoughts as someone waiting for an Allroad BiTdi delivery (woohoo)

"ACC is great." - yeah maybe, I am happy with regular cruise control... I've weighed up the adaptive thing but I'd rather be forced to be more aware... its a taste / judgement / whatever thing, glad you like it.

"The 'torque vectoring' of the sports diff is somewhat lost on a car that handles a bit like a boat." - handles like a boat is probably a bit unkind. I hope that you knew that you were buying a 2 ton load lugger capable of mild offroad duties - the Allroad will never be a sports car, if it can handle like a road going saloon / estate / station wagon AND do the light offroad thing then it has delivered. As a matter of reference, my brother has an S4 and, having driven it a number of times, we both agree that it is not a sports car either - it is a grand touring car... If you want a sports car, buy a Lotus.

"It's fast but so smooth and lazy you don't really notice." ... Absolutely :)

"Sports seats are very comfortable." - I hope so I ordered them after trying in the A7 BiTdi ... Just hope they are not as harsh as the S4 which is a bit too much for ... err "over 40 / heading for 50s"

"Everything works really well. The technology and its integration are very impressive." - yup backs up all the comments and experience I have.

"Adaptive lights are fun but a little pointless, still - you're going to have to pony up for them if you want ACC which you really really want." - which adaptive headlights.. and which packs did you have to order? Adaptive Xenons are a standalone order (as are adaptive LEDs)... and if you drive mainly on motorways you are unlikely to see the benefit - try a twisty and unlit country road / track (that is my world).

"Hard to imagine why you'd need anything other than standard nav & phone." - hmm depends on usage. On the phone thing I agree.. for me - a lightweight phone user in the car (now.. I used to be a 4 hour a day guy) I agree.. but for some folks "No". And the better satnav.. well it gives you the 21st century display- bigger, 3D etc. So you cannot complain that the main LCD is 'old' if you have the low cost satnav...

"There's a lot of plastic trim that isn't going to age very well." - dunno how it will age but disagree.. my 8 year old C6 A6 3.0 Tdi Avant Quattro has aged extremely well.. I still have folks get in the car and say how nice it is. Audi do great and largely timeless interiors.

"The ride quality is amazing. I've never enjoyed going over speed bumps before." - Ohh so glad to hear you say that.. looking forwards to it myself. Audi have been through a period of overly hard suspension (probably based on testing on Germanic pool table roads).. I went for an SE on my last purchase cos the S-line was too jittery (and my wifes A1 was NOT an S-line for exactly this reason).

"Audi dealers are mostly <REMOVED>. If only Audi insisted every franchise was run a by a German, and the mentality of design and manufacture continued in the selling." - depends on dealer, my experience has been good but I know that there is a lot of variance.

"BiTdi: This isn't a sportscar. Not even close. Get an RS6." - err NO .. it is not a sportscar, it's a fast luggage lugger with mild offroad ability (as Audi advertise it). Oh and the RS6 is really not a sportscar (in the true sense).. too heavy, it is a grand touring car- family plus dog to the Med in record time.

"Gearbox 'lag'. Audi made it that way for a reason (see above)." - gotta confess that is the one thing I am nervous about. I drove an A7 BiTdi for about an hour and enjoyed it .. my current A6 Avant gearbox is hardly 'decisive' so I am hoping for an improvement overall. Will have to wait and see.

"The colour DIS looks great. The main LCD looks like it was made 10 years ago but who cares, the controls have been really well thought through." - see earlier comments.. yes colour DIS is great and so is upgraded SatNav display...

"I drive 75% motorway and expect long term MPG to be around 38." - see earlier comments re adaptive headlights

[BottleShip]

Eeeek. Sorry if I wound anyone up. Only reason for posting was found it very hard to get any info about the car beyond the usual PR stuff.
Comments were flipant but genuine...

[retired99]

I have an Allroad BiTurbo arriving around the end of July and was interested to hear your views.

I thought about a sports diff but concluded that most of my driving wouldn’t exploit it and it’s out of character for the car. Sounds like I got that right.

Adaptive lights, had them on previous car (BMWF11 5Series) and really liked them. Hope the Audi ones are just as good.

For me the MMI Nav Plus when linked with the BT Prep High offers a few advantages amongst which are; the LCD is better than the standard ( although still quite poor compared to the display in the BMW) and you get the benefit of more up to date traffic info than offered by TMC ( well, in UK and Germany you do), ability to enter destinations on your lap top and send them to the car as well as better route management. I travel to Germany fairly frequently and the up to date traffic info (BMW has similar system)has proved really useful.

ACC. Don’t think I would ever use this. If there is no traffic all it does is what a standard cruise control would do, i.e. maintain a set speed, and I very very rarely use that. If there is traffic assume what it is effectively doing is following the car in front; speeding up and slowing down in response to what the car in front does. I don’t do that, I react to what is going on beyond the car in front. If the cars several vehicles ahead are slowing I will react to that and not wait for the car directly in front to do something. If a car looks like it’s going to pull into my lane I will react to that before it happens, not wait for it to occur and then take action.

What would be nice is a speed limiter as fitted by MB and BMW. It’s great just set a max of, say, 50 when in motorway road works, and know you can speed up and slow down with the traffic flow but the car will not exceed 50 unless you override the setting.

Seats. Not impressed with the standard seats, in particular though the squab a bit short. Tried out the sports seats and was quite happy with them, in fact I ordered the car with sport seats. Then I tried a car with the comfort seats and was really impressed. Changed the order to comfort seats.

[Allroad_2013]

Another http://www.briskoda.net/forums/public/style_emoticons/default/emoticon-0148-yes.gif for the sports seats here.

Found the bolsters to be softer than one might expect and combined with the tilting base and extendable thigh support, it's very easy to find a comfortable driving position (offset pedals excepted).

Had our 245 Allroad about three weeks and am really enjoying it, though there's one or two (very) minor niggles;
there's no indication in the dash display (colour DIS) that the headlamps or rear fogs are switched on (it's only visible around the light switch that can be obscured by your hand / steering wheel);
there's no obvious place to put the key as we have the standard keyless go so have to press a button on the key to open the doors;
for a car with such a large boot, Audi would do well to have a chat with their Skoda design cousins about how to do things like bag restraints, etc. (the ones in our Octavia and the previous Yeti are/were miles ahead in terms of convenience and usefulness);
and there's just a bit too much wind noise from around the tops of the doors.

Other than that, I'm enjoying switching between the "tug boat" comfort mode and the "mildly sporting" dynamic mode when the mood takes me (though it's mainly left in auto), have'nt had an issue with the electronic parking brake and like the interior light pack at night (just the A6 interior light pack, not the £500 one) and xenons.

It's still early days, but did manage to get an indicated 42mpg on a spirited moorway drive recently, though around town it's difficult to get much above 35 and one particular rush hour 12 mile journey was as low as 26. Ah well, hopefully those will improve a bit as the engine loosens up.

But overall, very chuffed with it and we both enjoying driving around in something that's just a little out of the ordinary looks wise.

[BrianWM]

Had my 245 Allroad since late 2012 although low mileage use. Still pleased with it. Best fuel consumption seen 49 on a 60-65 mph busy but moving motorway journey; more usual on motorways is mid 40's and mid 30's round town.

Considering that Audis are always marked down for ride quality (probably because most have big wheels & low profile tyres), I'm happy with the ride on standard size wheels although I have fitted all season tyres. I mostly use all comfort settings except steering which I prefer dynamic. If I need a bit more go I pull back on the gear selector to switch to dynamic then put it back when I'm done.

I just wanted to comment on ACC which I have. Totally agree with retired99 : on a normal to busy motorway I find that when I see traffic slowing down ahead, I turn it off rather than wait for it to notice and then brake (hence 49 mpg !). Also, it's annoying when folks very commonly pull in after overtaking me too soon and again it'll apply the brakes which is avoidable just with a trailing throttle so again I just turn it off when this happens. There are some situations when it's useful but some when, for me at least, it's no advantage.

[ukgroucho]

Yeah ... very succinct comments on the ACC amd in line with Allroad 2013's comments.
I just think our roads are mostly too busy to trust speed control to a 'simple' system. Once we get to the point where vehicles are communicating with each other I can see this kind of concept working, but right now I am happy with regular cruise backed up by mk 1 human.

[jbanfie]

""Gearbox 'lag'. Audi made it that way for a reason (see above)." - gotta confess that is the one thing I am nervous about. I drove an A7 BiTdi for about an hour and enjoyed it .. my current A6 Avant gearbox is hardly 'decisive' so I am hoping for an improvement overall. Will have to wait and see."

I've owned a A7 BiTDi for 8 months ago and if you are nervous about the gearbox, I'd put a hold on the order and test drive the 245bhp with the stronic.

In fact knowing what I now know I'd insist on testing both versions for 24 hours before I put any money down.

Don't get me wrong, when it's on song the BiTDi is very very very good, but getting it there is painful, the kick down is just awful and it really kills those overtaking moments when they spring.

I can live with the time it takes to change down and spin up the engine, there isn't much you can do about that, but when it kicks down to 2nd gear and the revs are 4400, then labours up to limit and changes to 3rd, it should have just picked 3rd in the first place?

I've contacted my dealer to see if it can be tuned (as these decisions must be software), and we'll see.

I don't want to put a damper on things for anyone, but with hindsight I wish someone had pointed these things out to me!

[BottleShip]

Eight months is a good amount of time to form an opinion. A few weeks should probably be taken with a pinch of salt... However:

I think the qualities of the BiTdi / gearbox suit the Allroad where I can imagine in an A7/A6 you might not be so forgiving. I did say it handled like a boat, but with further consideration I've decided it's more like a Mk2 Granada (Estate).
It doesn't feel like a car you want to throw around, and the turn of speed is a pleasant surprise. The gearbox, like the ride, is incredibly smooth. Maybe you can't have your cake and eat it?

A thread recently appeared which highlighted the crapness of the standard air-con. I missed that off my list but couldn't agree more.

ACC. It's still great.

[Mr Fish]

Like mine and need to find a fix to get comfort steering in the Allroad mode... Have now stopped the engine form stopping when you get out, see VCDS thread.

DO really agree in that the new A3 has a better heating control setup with LED than the A6 which is crap...

[ukgroucho]

Well, I'm glad I ordered the 4 zone on mine (due in July)... but I have to say that the stock 2 zone in my C6 3.0 TDi Avant has never been an issue... it has the two 'analog' dially knobs for the front seat passengers - the rear seats get what they are given and my thoughts are
- LED temp readouts are nice bling BUT they are probably little (if any) more accurate than the indications on the dials... it varies SO much based on outside temp and the speed you are travelling and in my experience you end up tweaking it between summer and winter anyway. My old A4 had an LED readout and it was (taking a quote from the "Pirates of the Caribbean" movies) "more of a GUIDELINE than a RULE".
- having the rear seat passengers able to set their own temp is nice for them but not necessarily for the driver... they set it too low (in cold weather) and the fans up front must work harder to keep you warm - and I hate more air movement than needed, dries my eyes out. The opposite is true in summer - you like it cool they like it warm so the aircon up front is pumping more cold air than is REALLY needed to keep the front of the cabin cool. Tis a double edged sword.

What I have not seen is any comment on the overall effectiveness of the heating / cooling systems.... if the compressor (cooling) and the heating systems perform the same then it's just a matter of bling and individual cabin temp in 2 or 4 zones ... I know that the 4 zone has some extra vents in the rear (or I think so ... the C6 had this) but does that really affect the front seat passengers?

Thoughts

[jk88]

I have the 4 zone on my A7 and have found it to be remarkably consistent in that I have it set to the same temp nearly all the time and it does a great job of keeping there. Whether the actual temp is more or less than the readout really doesn't matter, it's the consistency that counts and the 4 zone does a great job with this. I agree with the double edge sword of those in the back setting their own micro climate, but a sneaky dab on the sync button easily resolves this minor irritation.

One other thing, I'm the second owner and the original owner specced the car very generously including ventilated front seats. What a waste of money I thought. Well, I stand corrected and several months in and I wouldn't want to be without them and would seriously consider speccing on a new car despite the cost. It produces a really pleasant sensation and significantly adds to the overall comfort factor regardless of the time of year. Unlike the night vision display, which really is a wate of money ...