KK22

As is fast becoming an annual tradition, I took the family down to Florida to hang out with my in laws and the kids to see their cousins and be in warmer temps during the holidays last week. One of the reasons I bought the luxe barge, ( 7 series, now A8) was to do this in aplomb comfort and style, without having to subject ourselves to holiday air travel, and the relevant Covid risks that were prevalent when we started doing this a couple of years ago.

As always, such extended trips give me an opportunity for more observations about the car that I don't have while pootering around town in Chicago. Some thoughts.

1) Laser lights are indeed awesome on long lonely dark roads. I love the icon that shows up in the dash to tell you they've switched on, and they shine a spot far and bright to keep you informed of the road one mile away! The only time I experienced these was getting coffee at 6 in the morning when everyone was asleep but on unfamiliar roads, this was a welcome feature. Still considering the Matrix activation, might have to talk to my SA cause I still fear warranty issues if I do.

2) If you don't gun the car (difficult) you will see 27-28mpg on the highway at comfort and transmission in D, regardless of auto stop/start being on on the V8 4.0T. The COD works well and the cylinder deactivation is evident when the consumption bar turns green, and it can become like a fun game to see how often you can achieve it.

3) DON'T leave a charging cable plugged into the USB port, regardless if a device is connected to it or not. It will drain the battery. My wife left her iPhone cable plugged in and on startup it gave me a couple of errors, I feared BSG again, but as soon as I started the car everything charged up pretty quickly. I then noticed the iPhone cable in the port and yanked it immediately.

4) The ATT WiFi worked great for the iPads for the kids in the back, and on many instances had a better signal and speed than our phones, especially through the Tennessee mountains.

5) All of us already know that the suspension along with the ACC is a sublime combination for freeway travel in the D5. Simply joyous. You main concern becomes which playlist/audiobook to chose and which massage to select form the many options.

In summary, don't hesitate to take these land yachts on long trips. I feel this is their best use case and they truly shine on these long road trips.

Cheers, and Happy New Year!

aeggroup

Hi.
I don't understand the problem in #3. I constantly have 2 charging cables in. One for wireless charger and another for IPhone wired charge for my son on the passenger seat. Never had any issues.
I wouldn't doubt even 1 second to take this car on any long trip.

KK22

Maybe it’s a faulty cable. Zero issues since I removed it.

angrypengu

Interestingly enough #3 should be switched. As in, I can't even charge my phone when the car is off with it plugged in?

KK22

Maybe it’s early indications of an A day?! Had problem on new years morning at the Omni hotel Lousiville’s garage. Hesitated to start, I turned off the ignition, yanked the cable and then everything started fine since then.

I’ve driven 280 miles and it’s been three days, no issues. Gave me central locking malfunction on 1st morning with the hesitation as well. Some kind of locking malfunction? Can’t seem to find any other causality.

angrypengu

I think our guesses is as good as our own attempts to Google medical problems in real life

Locking problems do occur quite a fair bit though (i have a ton of soft errors when I pull up the central locking module). I'm basically waiting to see if the latest BSG PN actually is a 'fix', and if so, I'm going to replace it. However, for now, I'm sort of not rushing b/c I think it's fairly unlikely the new PN fixes this issue for good. It's a cost/benefit decision

KK22

I remembered this after Derf’s update on the Matrix headlights. You cannot turn off the low beams when conditions are overcast and you’re moving.

i wanted to spray and clean the windscreen without wasting the washer fluid on headlights, and couldn’t on the freeway when my lights were on. The only options given were auto and low beams. I was able to turn them off at night when stationary. Had to wait for the sun to come out! Am I missing something?

angrypengu

Yes you cannot turn off headlights at all when you're moving, but there is an OBD11 trick to turn off headlights completely at stationary. (including DRL)

KK22

Just to make sure there wasn't anything wrong with the electronics, I took the car in for central locking electrical gremlins that I faced last two weeks. Surprisingly, it's a software issue, they are performing update. CPO no charge.

there you go. In case anyone else has starting issues with central locking errors.

derfA8L

Had the Central Locking fault warning a couple of months ago. Dealer did the software update also as a CPO warranty repair. Interestingly, the fault warning was associated with the right rear door locking mechanism; the exterior door pull sort of felt stiff when opening the door and then the warning message disappeared. Happened twice over a month’s time before I brought the car in. They have to do the update on each individual door’s control module. Was told that if it happens again after the update, then the lock mechanism for the affected door needs to be replaced.