veedubmac

Hi all- we've now had the Allroad for 10,000 miles and I thought I would give an update to my original thoughts on the car. I've seen a few threads with questions for perspective owners so I thought these might help.

Thoughts:

The Good
-Looks: Still loving the Chronos Grey color. The chameleon-esque nature of the paint is very interesting and pairs nicely with the standard satin aluminum trim.
-B&O: Still happy with the upgrade. Every time I get into another car I realize more and more how great this system is.
-Headlights: At night these are fantastic. Really great light output and the auto high-beams seems to be programmed nicely. We live travel down quite a few dark, twisty, wooded roads and these headlights instill confidence.
-Ride: After driving in a number of conditions, I still value how Audi tuned the ride here. The comfort is great and really soaks up bumps well. This isn't a light vehicle and still wallows a bit when pressed hard, even in dynamic. It's all very controlled, but you can feel the weight. I do think the tires play a big role here, and better all-seasons would definitely help. That said, everyone seems to say these are very quiet, which is something I very much appreciate in a car like this. Also will note, on any street driving I keep it in Individual mode with the suspension and chassis in the middle and the steering on the sportiest mode.
-Seats: Seat comfort is great. Still loving the massage feature compared to other automakers, though I appreciate BMW having a massage in the seat as well. I wish the seat also heated the upper back, not just the seat bottom.
-Driver assist: Used this on a few trips back-n-forth to our friend's place in DC and thought it worked really, really well. I miss the turn-signal lane change the MB system did, but Audi's system is less jerky overall.
-Dinamica Headliner: Crazy expensive options IS worth it. Interior feels more premium with it optioned.
-Gas Mileage: On a highway cruise, it's easy to get 32mpg or more. On the highway I keep it in comfort mode so the Ultra can do its thing.

The Meh
-Power: The car certainly isn't lacking and I haven't really pushed it since it's still in break-in, but I can already tell I like BMWs inline 6 better. I have a close family member whose fully-loaded 540xi I drive frequently, and feel that engine is smoother, sounds better, and has more grunt, even though it has less HP & TQ. Over time, I have come to be fine with the power. It's definitely better with the sport transmission mode to keep the revs up, but still wouldn't mind better power/sound.
-S-tronic: Overall, the transmission works well and seems very smooth. That said, you can definitely tell it's a dual-clutch, and Porsche's tuning of their PDK is better and less clunky. Compared to any non-sport car, Audi's seems the most refined to me.


The Bad
-The lower dash plastic is subpar and feels super cheap
-Door pockets should be lined in a felt or something soft to help keep rolling objects from making noise
-The center console compartment is laughably small
-Wireless charger isn't great


Questions:
-Car is parked outside and after a long rain you can hear water sloshing around for the first several minutes of driving (mostly through corners). To me, it seems to come from the cowl area, but I've checked under the hood and nothing seems to be clogged. Also checked the sunroom and again, no clogs. Car is going in for the first service next week and I will ask about this. Anyone experience anything similar?


Overall, I really like this car and enjoy having it as the daily driver. It's preformed well in all regards and I can imagine keeping it for a while. Still haven't done any mods, but really want to do the metal pedals and a few other small things.

Any questions, let me know!

rich_r

Thanks Veedubmac! Can you say more about the seat heating? I didn't realize that only the seat bottoms are heated. That seems bizarre. I've owned about 5 cars (4 BMWs and 1 Land Rover) with heated seats now and they all heat both backrest and seat bottom. Some of them (BMW 5 series and my RRS) allow you to control the seat heating distribution as well (more on backrest or more on seat bottom).

rich_r

yeah I’m hoping I misunderstood his post on the seat heating. Or better yet, it turns out that the allroad has the ability to alter the seat heating distribution and he’s inadvertently selected the seat bottom only.

Ganjulama

As an owner of the humble Premium Plus, my seats have heat in both the bottom and the back. And they are toasty warm too. Or perhaps the bottom is so hot is radiates up my back.

I also have seat cooling on bottom and back.

Could it be the seat massage removes the heating? That would be strange, But I've never owned a luxury car before.

veedubmac

Sorry, all, for not being more clear. The back of the seat is heated, but it doesn’t go very high up the back. Also, in the US you cannot charge the distribution of the heat. Info believe you can code it to turn on the option, then control it in the MMI.