New A6 - must have options / anything to avoid?

[jonm]

Hi all

About to pull the trigger on a new A6 Avant.

Just wondering what people's "must have" options are i.e. what you couldn't do without, and if there's anything which I should avoid because it's a waste of money?

I've already decided the HUD falls into the latter category...

Thanks

Jon.

[Hellodave.]

Just wondering what people's "must have" options are i.e. what you couldn't do without, and if there's anything which I should avoid because it's a waste of money?

I've already decided the HUD falls into the latter category...

I'd disagree - the HUD is awesome! Find it weird driving cars without one now - I keep try to look on the end of the bonnet to see how fast I'm going!
I admit it sounds like a waste of money but that was before I tried it... Lane assist on the other hand - one option I could cope without (although it was a separate option on my car - now it's all bundled into the advanced tech pack).

Everyone will have their own opinions but I would say heated seats are a must if you do many cold morning starts. The tech pack is always a popular option and does give you a much better screen and DIS but the core functions still exist in the basic spec - it's definitely something to consider, but not essential.

My other must have is a rear view camera. It makes parking much easier but also, because the A6 is a long car you tend to stick out of parking spaces - the camera means you can line up the back of the car with the end of a space perfectly. The car will still stick out, but at least you're minimising it! I'd have loved the top view camera but the prerequisite of memory seats made it a rather pricey option.

If you've got a few spare pennies and want a "nice to have" option, go for the lighting pack. It makes the car look much better at night (especially the LEDs in the outside door handles) and you get active door reflectors and rear puddle lights, which aren't standard, as well as illuminated door cards. The interior ceiling lights are all still bulbs, but this is easy to rectify with a few LED replacements (or you can upgrade to the ambient lighting pack, but that's not cheap!).

[pany]

Whilst I really like the adaptive cruise control, IMO it isn't worth getting the Tech Pack Advanced for. Also, the electric steering wheel is a waste of cash. I was hoping it would move up and in, like on MB, but just moves up 10 mm on my car.
The auto dimming side mirrors are great, but they force you to commit to the electric seats as well.

Agree with above that the rear view camera and front sensors are crucial, and heated seats as well. I would choose the Tech pack and go for a larger engine and Quattro next time.

[Bar Shaker]

Must haves are Quattro and a Bi Turbo engine :-)

As for the rest, Matrix lights are simply the nuts... I wouldn't buy a car without them. I consider the rest of my options 'essential' and would have picked the top view camera, if it could have been specc'd on its own.

I also have the lighting package and this is nice to have for very little money.

[EssexGonzo]

I would say.....decide what your larger priorities are. What I mean by that is things like the engine, comfort, music, driver convenience,gadgets/toys, cosmetics, safety. Prioritise those categories and then run down your prioritised list until the money runs out!

For me - after the engine - comfort, convenience and safety were important as most of the gadgets and cosmetics were already taken care of. I left things like bigger wheels, carbon trim etc alone and went for music upgrade, heated steering wheel and rear side airbags amongst others.

BUT...at the end of the day, we're all different and the next 10 people will quite rightly tell you something different. :D

If you could have only one option, I'd make it the matrix headlights if they're not already included. One thing I opted for but wished I hadn't bothered with would be the HUD at the price charged. Not worth the novelty value IMHO.

[Chris81]

For me it would be heated seats, folding mirrors and lighting pack.

I still can't understand why folding mirrors aren't standard on this type of car.


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[EssexGonzo]

Or indeed heated seats for that matter. They're pretty much essential with leather.

[Bar Shaker]

Yep I found it insane that I had to spec heated seats on a car costing nearly £60k!

By comparison, electric adjust had no interest for me at all and I was glad they were not standard and charged for.


If my GF was short, I might have thought differently about that one.

[wildbore]

To me, these cars are for motorway mile-munching. I put ACC, Lane Assist and Side Assist on mine (Side Assist is less useful). ACC and Lane Assist are amazing, they make light of long motorway journeys. Most weeks, I have to do a 420 mile round trip in a day for a full day meeting (including the M25, M42 and M6 - all in rush hour). That was an exhausting drive in my old MB, even though it was uber-comfortable. In the Audi, it is much less tiring (shame the seats aren't half as comfortable!).

[ukgroucho]

Well you can see my list of extras and the only one that is a lame duck is the Parking Plus. I manage perfectly well with the standard all round parking sensors but if I had cash to spare the top view stuff is very cool (and if I was spec'ing the reversing camera I'd go the whole hog and get top view).

Seats! Standard ones are "adequate", sports seats are 'nicer' and probably good enough although I miss the electric adjustment and 'full' adjustment that my C6 had. Money no problem next time I'd probably go comfort seats BUT the sports seats are a good compromise. Oh and "YES" they need to be heated - and I did the rears as well which is pretty cheap with 4 zone climate.
I have adaptive bi-Xenon, next time I think I'd try matrix. You still get flashed with the adaptive bi-Xenons as the dipping behaviour is a bit lazy. Folks with the matrix LEDs don't seem to have that issue.

You NEED the colour DIS... which is included in tech pack. It simply lifts the dash to the level it deserves to be at in this kind of car. The low cost lighting pack is well worthwhile as someone else pointed out - not just because it moves a bunch of stuff to LED (although not everything) but because of the extra lighted areas inside and outside the car.

Next time around I will probably add ACC and maybe lane assist.

But before any of this stuff... Engine and quattro. At the end of the day it's a car so it needs to drive "as well as you can afford". Now there are some options like the sports / dynamic steering (can't remember the name) and active diff if you are a spirited driver. The steering stuff I'm not sure about but the active diff is very good - not really an allroad option but I've experienced in my brothers (now departed) S4 and it has a noticeable effect.

[mattyholloway]

Plus one for heated seats!! Just takes the edge off on a cold winters' morning!


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[noscream]

You will never get a definitive answer because everyone categorises things differently...

I love: these options.

Quattro - for the winter, for the gravel, greasy roads, for all the things I can't think of...
S-Tronic - I've had manual, Tip-tronic and it feels the best by far... lazy mans driving...
Audi Connect- never had it, now I always want it, makes satNav become real... google, full postcodes, live data, traffic.
ColourDIS- Love it the info & presentation in the main Driver info screen is so good.
Leather internal-Love it, forgot what cloth feels like... just love leather...
DAR Radio- so much more than FM/RDS... should be standard
Bi-Xenon- Must have makes standard halogen look so poor... the light is so much clearer & brighter...
Advanced parking-sensors Front/rear, rear camera, it should be Standard !!
Engine 3.0Tdi V6 - I just love monster torque, overtaking is so positive, probably a 2.0 could do the same...
MMI Touch - I would say you can live without it, but it's been appreciated when driving to not look while entering a postcode, you FEEL YOUR WAY..

I have had and can live without:

Heated seats - Loved them but don't have them now, would love to have them...but not critical
Digital display & set Aircon/heating- had it but now it's a dial with little numbers around..
Sports Diff- Vector drive on the quattro, just overkill, really don't need it....
Drive select- I just don't know, with S-Tronic, I can go M-D-S-E, I really don't need tweaking...
Privacy Glass- could live without it... but it has been handy....
Key-less start/entry- can live without but it's been really good....

That's most of my experiences....


Honourable mention to the Hold Assist/ electronic handbrake, generally it's so much more than a hand brake, Hated it at first, traditional man that likes control, but it's so good..... on hills, reversing on hills, @ traffic lights auto on/ auto off, all my cars will now have it.....

[johnsimcox]

You will never get a definitive answer because everyone categorises things differently...

I love: these options.

Quattro - for the winter, for the gravel, greasy roads, for all the things I can't think of...
S-Tronic - I've had manual, Tip-tronic and it feels the best by far... lazy mans driving...
Audi Connect- never had it, now I always want it, makes satNav become real... google, full postcodes, live data, traffic.
ColourDIS- Love it the info & presentation in the main Driver info screen is so good.
Leather internal-Love it, forgot what cloth feels like... just love leather...
DAR Radio- so much more than FM/RDS... should be standard
Bi-Xenon- Must have makes standard halogen look so poor... the light is so much clearer & brighter...
Advanced parking-sensors Front/rear, rear camera, it should be Standard !!
Engine 3.0Tdi V6 - I just love monster torque, overtaking is so positive, probably a 2.0 could do the same...
MMI Touch - I would say you can live without it, but it's been appreciated when driving to not look while entering a postcode, you FEEL YOUR WAY..

I have had and can live without:

Heated seats - Loved them but don't have them now, would love to have them...but not critical
Digital display & set Aircon/heating- had it but now it's a dial with little numbers around..
Sports Diff- Vector drive on the quattro, just overkill, really don't need it....
Drive select- I just don't know, with S-Tronic, I can go M-D-S-E, I really don't need tweaking...
Privacy Glass- could live without it... but it has been handy....
Key-less start/entry- can live without but it's been really good....

That's most of my experiences....


Honourable mention to the Hold Assist/ electronic handbrake, generally it's so much more than a hand brake, Hated it at first, traditional man that likes control, but it's so good..... on hills, reversing on hills, @ traffic lights auto on/ auto off, all my cars will now have it.....
All C7 A6s have had DAB and Leather as standard from launch, although on the S-Line you can spec Alcantara for the seat centres as a no cost option. All face-lift cars have Bi-Xenon as a minimum with S-Line cars getting LED and all face-lift cars have the 4 zone AC with the digital display

[Bar Shaker]

I think you will find that things have moved on a long way since 2011. Most of that list, or better, was standard on my car.

MMI touch is so yesterday. It's all about voice control now.

[jonm]

Thanks for all the comments guys, it's much appreciated. I'm going for an S-line with the 272 3L TDI engine, Quattro, S-tronic. (I'd go for the 320PS but you can't have S-tronic with that, sadly.) I've specced the tech pack advanced, heated seats, heated steering wheel, parking pack and ambient lighting. I'm still umming and ahhing about the HUD, it's expensive. I think the matrix headlights would be a better use for the money, I think I need to book a test drive in the dark :)

[Greedy]

I was in the market for a 6 month old 15MY FL. The one item on the must list was Rear Camera (inc Fr & Rr sensors), having had one before I would never want to be without - was even prepared to drop to a 14MY for it.
After that, Folding Mirrors, Privacy Glass, Tech Pack - mainly for the colour DIS.

Oh yeah, and an ability to close (as well as open) the tailgate with the key!! Even a CRV can do that!!

[Bar Shaker]

Jon, I would recommend driving the 320 as the ZF gearbox is an absolute treat. It's the same box as in the RS6 and the car is a magic carpet in Comfort mode. In Dynamic mode, the gearbox feels like a DSG.

[ukgroucho]

Jon, I would recommend driving the 320 as the ZF gearbox is an absolute treat. It's the same box as in the RS6 and the car is a magic carpet in Comfort mode. In Dynamic mode, the gearbox feels like a DSG.

Not sure I'm entirely in agreement that it feels like a DSG even in dynamic mode. The changes (for sure) are super quick and crisp but there is still this slightly less direct power delivery to the road 'cos you have a torque converter rather than a direct connection thru a clutch.

Having said that it it is nothing like older tiptronic gearboxes - quite simply a quantum leap from the 6 speed ZF that was in my old C6 3.0 Tdi quattro. I hardly ever used the paddle shifts in the C6 cos the changes were just too lethargic that is definitely not the case in the BiTdi.

The other consideration if you plan to keep the car a while is that the ZF box is pretty bombproof.

You should drive both if the extra £££ for the BiTdi is not a limiting factor.

[Bar Shaker]

Agreed, but the lock up of the torque convertor in manual and S/D modes is better than any other I have driven.

I had the same box as you in my C6. It was a typical auto box. The new ZF 8sp is way better.

[noscream]

All C7 A6s have had DAB and Leather as standard from launch, although on the S-Line you can spec Alcantara for the seat centres as a no cost option. All face-lift cars have Bi-Xenon as a minimum with S-Line cars getting LED and all face-lift cars have the 4 zone AC with the digital display


Good to hear that LED & DAB are standard on Sline models.

I could never understand "Alcantara", why would someone swap out real "Leather" for a faux suede look material made from polyester plastic mix? maybe I'm too old school and love Leather...





I think you will find that things have moved on a long way since 2011. Most of that list, or better, was standard on my car.
MMI touch is so yesterday. It's all about voice control now.

MMI might be so yesterday to Audi owners, but the rest of the world are still catching up......
I have voice control and it's so hit & miss, I like direct input..... like the new touch built into the dial on the new A4. (I still see all car reviews using MMI Touch over voice command).
My fav. was "Online destination McDonald's" sorry did not recognise..blah blah... I have to insert the word "fast food" to the end of the request... like magic Mac"D" appears...

When I get my next motor it will be a 2017 model (2018) and will have "thought command" by then, Who needs voice ;)
"Car how did you know I wanted a night out with 5 pints and to be driven home by auto pilot...... " so good.

:)

[Dave fitch]

Plus another one for heated seats (front and rear for me) also lighting pack adds great looks for little cost (should be standard on a BE in my opinion) I would have also liked matrix lights but I find the standard led's excellent just wish the auto dip worked at lower speeds. Beautiful car though you will not be disappointed


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