2019 Audi A6

[Hail The Brain Slug]

As I approached a round-about the car slowed itself down automatically from 55 to 20mph. I steered through and it went right back up to 55. Never touched the brake or accelerator.

This thing is bad ass. So much technology.

Why didn't it sail through the roundabout majestically while maintaining speed?

 

[Jason in California]

I have a 2019 Audi A6 - couple of issues - they did not make a front license plate frame for the car at least for California. Not that they didn't include it, it doesn't exist in the parts catalogue - not for any price. Subjecting my 70k+ car to being pulled over at the whim of the LAPD. Only two drill points - but at a width for a European plate.

Also, doors (I have premium plus but no soft close doors) are very difficult to close. My second A6, but at least I could put a front plate on the last one. Already regret not getting a Mercedes as they seem to be more "on it" than Audi. A real shame, a lot of the car is quite good, Audi just fails at the small stuff - the small details that turn a luxury car into a pain.

 

[child of wonder]

Mine doesn't have a front license plate frame either but was told as soon as they can get one they'll give it to me. In the meantime, they were able to mount a license plate to the front absent the frame.

My biggest beefs so far are the speed limit detection is a bit aggressive. At times I'll be cruising along at 65mph and suddenly it detects a 40mph sign on a service road and the car quickly slows down. Or I'll be on an interstate and the road curves so the car automatically slows me down from 78mph to 65mph in anticipation of the curve, which pisses off the drivers behind me. I think I'll just turn that feature off until they can improve it in future software.

I'm also disappointed the car doesn't have automatic parallel parking. My 2011 Ford Explorer has this and with all the advanced tech on the A6 I assumed this was a no brainer, and I'm pretty sure I saw videos or reviews this summer advertising that it had this function.

On the plus side, now that the engine is broken in and I've done some launches this thing is FAST. Feels faster than the claimed 0-60 in 5.1s.

 

[rh71]

Looks great - always had great looking exteriors. One nitpick - doesn't that shifter display for PRND, etc. get blocked by your arm when you go to shift? Just curious why it's even displayed there.

Also, I haven't been in one for years. Did they get rid of the MMI knob? Is it touchscreen now? Never liked touchscreens.

 

[child of wonder]

I can see them just fine. But I look at the dash rather than the shifter for what gear I'm in.

Yes, touch screen but I primarily use Apple Carplay for everything and rarely do the writing or typing on the touchscreen.

 

[iCyborg]

@child of wonder
Any new impressions? Problems encountered?

After a lot of research/consideration of various models, Audi A6/A7, MB E/CLS, BMW 5, Cadillac CTS, Genesis G80 and few more (EVs aren't my thing...), I decided on A6, MB E450 being a close runner-up. They're all nice, none are perfect, I have small nitpicks with all of them (and sometimes not-so-small), but one has to go with something.
I already pulled the trigger, well sort of, it's a factory order that'll take ~3 months, so far I've only put deposit. Now all that remains is waiting. I'll post a few pics when it comes.

 

[child of wonder]

Couple small bugs with the software like the screen freezing and needing to restart the car to fix it. Has happened twice in 4.5 months.

Sometimes it’s too aggressive with detecting speed signs and suddenly it’ll brake because it saw a 35mph sign on a service road while you cruise at 65 on the highway.

Also not a fan of it thinking it needs to slow down in small curves. Annoys drivers behind me, too, and you have to push the gas yourself to speed back up.

Once in a while the seat won’t automatically adjust itself to my preset settings and I have to press the button to get the seat back to my settings.

All minor bugs that can be fixed in software.

What impresses me most is gas mileage. Took a 400 mile round trip last week at 77mph most of the way and came out with 33mpg overall.

Engine performance is great and the car is sexy as hell. You’ll love it!

 

[killster1]

As I approached a round-about the car slowed itself down automatically from 55 to 20mph. I steered through and it went right back up to 55. Never touched the brake or accelerator.

This thing is bad ass. So much technology.
]

Sooo.. could you just drive over the top of the roundabout at 55 if you wanted by mashing the gas? or it will force you to slow down or two settings?

 

[iCyborg]

@child of wonder
Yeah, not a fan of this Silicon Valley culture of "scramble minimal product, ship it and fix/patch it later" as someone described it, I think it was about Tesla who's the worst offender, but others are not far behind.
My sister has 2016 Cadillac CTS, infotainment froze completely and she had to take it to the dealer, then there was recall to disable seat heating if the car was started remotely - the SW fix borked it and left her with no seat heating at all.
Sadly, these kinds of quirks are becoming the norm, not some 1 in 50 anecdotal reports...

Packages are different in US than here in Canada, I skipped Driver Assistance package, most features seem useless, and the rest don't seem worth the $3K price in Canada. Plus the extra sensors and sw just add to the list of things to go wrong and expensive to fix.

33mpg is really good, it's a few mpg better than my 4-banger Accord.

 

[Genx87]

For all of the horror stories you read on the internet there's a guy like me who's never had any major issues with an out-of-warranty German luxury car. I've owned 6 in my life.

I struggle to even recall an acquaintance who's gotten true lemon. I know a guy who had issues with a mid 2000's Z4 but not enough for him to dump it.

Of course: all the people I know are sticklers for absolute regular maintenance which helps a ton, I'm sure.

This was my experience with a 1991 90CS and then a 2001 A4. Timing belt\water pump and wheel bearings were the issues I ran into. On the A4 wheel bearings were covered by Audi Assured. since I bought it used. I also found people who can work on them for cheap. Surprisingly took a lot of NAPA parts. The 2001 A4 I drove for 12 years and maybe put 2500 in repairs into it. Really reliable car. I'm excited to get back into an Audi this week after a 6 year hiatus with a Mazda CX-5. Staying in the crossover world though. I prefer being able to get into the car and being higher off the road. This time debate came down between Q7 and Q8. Q8 won. I wouldn't need the 3rd row anyways. And I liked the more modern feel of the glass touchscreens in the Q8. I will drive this car for a decade. So it is nice to have an upto date dashboard imo. And without the 3rd row the back seat is very spacious.

 

[iCyborg]

As promised, a few pictures below and first impressions. I didn't notice that lighting screwed me over, there's a fair bit of noise in some of the images.

I picked up the car on Monday, so far I've only put ~300km on it. I haven't pushed it so I can't really comment on performance, but the rest is pretty neat. I chose adaptive air suspension + 19" wheels (smallest they have in North America) and the ride is really smooth. The cabin is very quiet, ambient lighting is uber cool, large 3D Google Earth map in the virtual cockpit is awesome, seats are great too, I have the fancy massaging ones. No weird warning lights or hiccups so far, so I'm pretty happy.
Not everything is positive, though I knew about the main negatives - storage space is dissapointing, the centre storage is like 2" deep, glove compartment is limited by the DVD drive that I'll never use, and the trunk is mediocre. Even the closest competitors like MB E / BMW 5 are noticeably better in that department, and my previous Accord was light years better.
Then there's the cosmetic stuff - fake exhausts and plastic shift paddles. 10 years ago I bought Logitech G25 PC steering wheel and its paddles outclass the ones on a car which isn't far from $100K in Canada, that's just sad.

I'll have to see if there's setting for collision detection to be less sensitive, the entrance to the garage in my condo is fairly tight, I feel like car is gonna have a heart attack. Sort of like driving with a woman who keeps yelling "watch out, your left, WATCH OUT!!". I see it, damn it, just making me nervous...

For the last problem I feel like we need a "What 1% problem you had today" - my $200 polarized Maui Jim sunglasses aren't cooperating with car's HUD, it becomes invisible lol.

https://imgur.com/a/R761EDE

 

[Fritzo]

Extended warranty is definitely a good idea. Audi has one of the worst track records for reliability - though there is a lot of variation model to model. Some models (like the Q5) have almost Toyota-level reliability, at least by the metrics measured by dashboard-light.

Score for the older model A6:

Depends on the engine. Their 2.0L Turbo and TDI engines are pretty damned reliable. Their 3.0T and others- no so much.