fuzzydice

Looking at a 2016 A6. Thinking about getting prestige with driver assist option. Do you guys feel the extra options of prestige make the car useful or are just gimmicky? (HUD, LED lights, etc.) How good is the driver assist? I live on queens/LI border so most of my driving is short highway trips and fair amount of traffic.
I tend to keep my cars for a long time so don't want to regret not getting something that is actually useful and makes the car "better".
thanks.

NOLAessate

So I just got back from Quattro de Mayo (for those of you who are unfamiliar, this is a gathering of somewhat rabid Audi fans sponsored by ACNA Southeast Chapter that takes place on or about the first weekend of May in the Smoky Mountains and surrounding area of the Northern part of Georgia, Tennessee, North Carolina - great roads and lots of elevation changes - Tail of the Dragon, Cherohala Skyway, Moonshiner Rd, etc.). On Friday's drive, starting out from the host hotel in Hiawassee, GA to the Cherohala Skyway (51 miles with almost no intersection roads, no businesses, very few law enforcement, great curves, elevation changes from 1500 to 5400 feet - you get the idea) in my 2014 A6 TDI prestige with 20' sport package and driver assist package, I wanted to see just how effective the Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC) was. I have about 39k miles on my car, and have used the ACC under a number of different conditions, but the drive from the resort to the beginning of the Skyway was about 70 miles of nice road, some gradual curves, some nice twisties, and lots of up and downs. I set the ACC for 75 mph and a 2 second gap from the car in front of me (a good running B8.5 S4 with a capable driver). Once we got out of the resort and were all lined up and proceeded to Tellico Plains, I activated the ACC. During the remainder of the 70 mile drive, I manually applied the brakes once and the accelerator twice. The ACC handled the rest and the car was able to maintain the original distance from the S4. It was an interesting drive and amazing application of the Audi's technology.

Also, regarding the TDI's performance (and not wanting to re-start the TDI vs. 3.0 supercharged stuff that has made us sound like an Audi vs BWM forum) it is perfect for the curves and elevation changes. On the Saturday drive (and I didn't use the ACC for this one), I had a TTRS behind me. At one of our stops, he came up to me and commented that he was very surprised to see how hard the TDI accelerated coming out of curves.

Back to real world experience, the ACC works very well in traffic and significantly reduces the stress of stop and go driving. I always monitor what it's doing, but it keeps the preset distance/time gap very well. I am very satisfied with it's performance.

fuzzydice

does the driver assist also "steer" the car as part of lane assist?


for normal city driving does the s-line sport suspension make the car too stiff?
prefer the firmness of the 3.0 over the 2,0 when doing a test drive.


anyone ever regret getting prestige trim (could have saved some cash and just gotten the PP)? sorry about all the questions.

snagitseven

The Lane Assist will first provide a warning via a vibration in the steering wheel and if it continues to drift into another lane, it will gently try to steer the car back into your lane. Its effectiveness will be dictated by the quality of the lane markings.

I passed on the HUD and Lane Assist (they were a separate option package in MY2013 and decided on the B&O instead) but have all the other Prestige toys including LED headlights, side assist and ACC. I find all are useful and have no regrets buying any of them. While the Sport Package does provide a somewhat stiffer ride, it's not bad and love the lower look and S-Line body features. There's lots of other lesser Prestige features as well including the better ventilated seats with extended thigh bolster, LED interior lighting, etc.

Glacier6

The HUD is one of those things that isn't a necessity, except once you have it you don't want to be without it. I love it now, as it makes it extremely easy to keep my eyes focused on the road while tracking speed and when using the navigation, plus it allows for other use of the dash screen (I previously used this for the digital speedometer).

Inyoury

+1

Wish Audi's HUD is closes to that if BMW (well integrated). The Tumorus lump is such an eye sore.

AZ-A6

+2
Fully agree (especially the observation about the tacky looking HUD lump; makes the feature look like an after-market bolt-on versus an integrated(?) Factory Option). Plus it should be an individual option versus forced to buy the pricey Prestige package.

subterFUSE

I think LED lights are a must-have. They just make the look of the car.