It looks kind of "dead" when it's pointing down or straight across while you are on the freeway. My mom's MDX is this way and it never looks like the engine is alive, even though it is. I guess you get used to it. But if given a choice, I'd prefer full circle rotation and the needles up and alive while on the road. (I'll be the first to admit this is a major nitpick... I really can't find much else to fault with the interior)

i think its kinda cool, but will def need some time to get used to

e.g. Aston Martin, Subaru

One thing I loved about the B5 A4 and C5 A6 interiors was their full compliment of gauges. Audi dropped two of the secondary gauges when they came out with the B6 A4 and C6 A6, but at least the fuel level and coolant temperature gauge were still prominent in the cluster. On the new Audi interiors, these gauges are barely visible in the corner. I don't like this aspect. I wish they would add an oil temperature gauge, especially for the turbo engines.

Didn't Audi add in a digital speed readout in the new TT and A6? Maybe the A4 is getting this feature.

You can glance at an analog gauge and get the inforamtion in a split second. I used to own a 1986 Nissan 300ZX turbo with a digital dash (digital speedo and bar graph tach and other gauges) and hated it. When you're accelerating, all yo see are changing digits. A needle is far more useful.

As for Audi speedometers, I would like the range to be limited to what the car can actually do. Having a 170 mph speedo on a car with a top speed of 130 mph makes no sense.

the turbo cars need an oil temp gauge, but indeed digital is better than nothing and i'm sure it'll be available in the MFD.

speedo and particularly tach need to be full analog.

Dunno, I thought the digital speedo in my old GMC Jimmy was a quick, easy read. The rest, I agree should remain analog.