Tuesday 10 September 2019

60 Days with an Audi A5

So it's been roughly two months with the new A5 and I have these eight observations:

1.  It drives like a tank.  Yes, it feels like some tank on an open road.  Over-sized and with plenty of pick-up-and-go....it's got the feel of some cruise boat in terms of maneuvering.  It's not negative but it's just the feeling you don't get with most vehicles.

2.  This cut-off-engine-technology-stopping.  Frankly, I would deem this a total waste.  Luckily, there's a button on the dash, and you can flip it off.....but you have to do this each time you start the engine.

3.  Parking is a pain.  It has to be backed into the carport parking spot, and you end up with three inches of space on the passenger side, and maybe 18 inches on the drivers side.  Even with the video-assistant, it's just too big for the carport.

4.  Perfect passenger seat.  You can lay the seat as far back as you desire, and snooze easily.

5.  Crappy gear-shift-assistant.  It wants to tell you when to shift up to 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th gear.  If I'm not paying stringent attention, the wife wants to gaze over and remind me that it reminded to shift up a notch.  At various times, it'll even tell me to skip shifting to 3rd, and go to 4th gear instead.

6.  Always looking for the cellphone connection.  Once you get into the car, and it sees that your cellphone is almost dead....it's talking to you and wanting the phone charged because that's its way of communicating back to Audi HQ.  What kind of data is being shared?  I'm never quiet sure.

7.  Clearly, the map and update function is superior to anything out there, and it updates your path ahead....minute-by-minute.  So when it suddenly tells you to exit the autobahn and take a winding piece of country road for 30 minutes....it's doing that help you avoid some accident on the autobahn and traffic jams.  I have to admit, it's a major plus-up.

8.  I would easily compare it to a Crown Vic in terms of handling and feel on the road.  I think you could drive 600 miles a day in this car, and never feel tired.