Six week driving impressions and a couple questions
02-14-2017, 06:46 AM
#1
AudiWorld Member
Thread Starter
Six week driving impressions and a couple questions
My A6 is still new to me, I've had it for 6 weeks now, so it has been enough time to gather some impressions and I am looking for some feedback since I don't have any frame of reference on what is "normal" or baseline. I'm hoping this can be useful for others either considering buying one or wondering if their car is operating as intended.
2013 A6 3.0T, 48K miles, non sport suspension, 20" wheels, likely original tires, ACC/Side assist, cold weather, bose sound.
Steering
My first impression of the steering was that it is too light for my taste and lacking in feedback. After switching to dynamic mode this has greatly improved the steering weight which is significantly heavier now. Still a bit light at low speeds but nothing I can complain about. It still lacks the type of feedback I've had in other vehicles, but this is a daily driver and luxury vehicle so I am okay with that. I now keep it in dynamic full time.
Power
Power has been a recurring question. I live in the DMV area, i.e. heavy traffic and police presence. To say that it is a rare opportunity for WOT is an understatement. In drive it keeps it in a very high gear/low rpm for fuel economy. Going uphill it feels like it's bogging sometimes and not downshifting soon enough. As it's at very low rpm much of the time it doesn't have boost pressure to speak of, rather sedate cruising. In sport mode it maintains higher rpm, much more responsive, and also more harsh shifting. I definitely plan on doing the stage 2 upgrade in the spring, warranty will be up at that point.
Drive Train
Drive train is a question- especially in sport I have a lack of smoothness in applying power. It can be jerky. In my experience newer low power vehicles tend to focus on tight drive line and responsiveness to "make up for" a lack of actual power, and powerful vehicles tend to be less immediately responsive to not ram the car in front of you at a drive through. My truck was is like this as well, floor it and it is very smooth and devastatingly fast, low speeds it's a little clunky. The A6 is lighter and less powerful, I would have expected a bit more smoothness. I wonder about bushings, have other replaced at the ~50K mile mark and seen improvement in power on/off smoothness? Not necessarily shifting but just going from coasting to accelerating.
Vibration
Vibrations exist but are not excessive. I can feel the go pedal and have felt some vibrations at idle especially when cold. I know others have replaced motor mounts and maybe I have some wear there but it's not a problem at this point. Does anyone NOT have any noticeable vibration? I'm on 20's, tires will need to be replaced reasonably soon and I will be going for AS3s so this may be part of the issue.
Mileage
Mileage has been good, my commute is about 10 miles in a mix of traffic and 55mph cruising depending on the day. I keep it in drive and see about 24mpg on average. for reference my truck averaged 14mpg.
Features
Sound system is a Bose and the sub sucks, we all know it. What bass it does have causes some rear deck rattles. I want to find a cheap way and easy way to upgrade the sub without overkill, I am not in high school and have no interest in thudding down the street. ACC is nice when I remember it's there but I will never fully trust it. Side assist is nice in this type of traffic, if it flashes when I put the turn signals on I know to pay close attention before merging. Nav features are great other than entering in new addresses- can you turn of the voice interrupting the radio though??
General
I like it. It looks good, I feel safe driving it, mileage is a major plus, handling I have gotten used to and now enjoy, it is comfortable, not quite as smooth as I would like, and I want more power. I'm happy with my decision, I think it has a great balance to it for comfort, power, price, looks, etc. There a couple areas I would like to address to tighten it up and make it more enjoyable but overall a very nice car.
2013 A6 3.0T, 48K miles, non sport suspension, 20" wheels, likely original tires, ACC/Side assist, cold weather, bose sound.
Steering
My first impression of the steering was that it is too light for my taste and lacking in feedback. After switching to dynamic mode this has greatly improved the steering weight which is significantly heavier now. Still a bit light at low speeds but nothing I can complain about. It still lacks the type of feedback I've had in other vehicles, but this is a daily driver and luxury vehicle so I am okay with that. I now keep it in dynamic full time.
Power
Power has been a recurring question. I live in the DMV area, i.e. heavy traffic and police presence. To say that it is a rare opportunity for WOT is an understatement. In drive it keeps it in a very high gear/low rpm for fuel economy. Going uphill it feels like it's bogging sometimes and not downshifting soon enough. As it's at very low rpm much of the time it doesn't have boost pressure to speak of, rather sedate cruising. In sport mode it maintains higher rpm, much more responsive, and also more harsh shifting. I definitely plan on doing the stage 2 upgrade in the spring, warranty will be up at that point.
Drive Train
Drive train is a question- especially in sport I have a lack of smoothness in applying power. It can be jerky. In my experience newer low power vehicles tend to focus on tight drive line and responsiveness to "make up for" a lack of actual power, and powerful vehicles tend to be less immediately responsive to not ram the car in front of you at a drive through. My truck was is like this as well, floor it and it is very smooth and devastatingly fast, low speeds it's a little clunky. The A6 is lighter and less powerful, I would have expected a bit more smoothness. I wonder about bushings, have other replaced at the ~50K mile mark and seen improvement in power on/off smoothness? Not necessarily shifting but just going from coasting to accelerating.
Vibration
Vibrations exist but are not excessive. I can feel the go pedal and have felt some vibrations at idle especially when cold. I know others have replaced motor mounts and maybe I have some wear there but it's not a problem at this point. Does anyone NOT have any noticeable vibration? I'm on 20's, tires will need to be replaced reasonably soon and I will be going for AS3s so this may be part of the issue.
Mileage
Mileage has been good, my commute is about 10 miles in a mix of traffic and 55mph cruising depending on the day. I keep it in drive and see about 24mpg on average. for reference my truck averaged 14mpg.
Features
Sound system is a Bose and the sub sucks, we all know it. What bass it does have causes some rear deck rattles. I want to find a cheap way and easy way to upgrade the sub without overkill, I am not in high school and have no interest in thudding down the street. ACC is nice when I remember it's there but I will never fully trust it. Side assist is nice in this type of traffic, if it flashes when I put the turn signals on I know to pay close attention before merging. Nav features are great other than entering in new addresses- can you turn of the voice interrupting the radio though??
General
I like it. It looks good, I feel safe driving it, mileage is a major plus, handling I have gotten used to and now enjoy, it is comfortable, not quite as smooth as I would like, and I want more power. I'm happy with my decision, I think it has a great balance to it for comfort, power, price, looks, etc. There a couple areas I would like to address to tighten it up and make it more enjoyable but overall a very nice car.
02-14-2017, 07:34 AM
#2
AudiWorld Senior Member
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: Southeast Michigan
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Hey there, we have a 2014 Audi A6 TDI with 20 inch sports package. Your OEM Pirelli 20 inch tires are the issues with your light steering and not so smooth ride. I switched to Michelin AS3 tires which are definitely smoother and heavier steering feel in size 255/35R20. The problem with those tires is that they are HORRIBLE in snow but I get winter sets always for my car and have size 19 hartmanns with 255/40R19 Blizzaks LM32 tires and the car is softer and more comfortable in the winter time and great snow traction and no vibrations etc.
02-14-2017, 08:40 AM
#3
AudiWorld Super User
In the sound settings you can adjust all the volumes, including the radio/entertainment volume during navigation instructions.
02-14-2017, 08:55 AM
#4
AudiWorld Member
Thread Starter
Thanks for the responses so far, I will be doing the tires this spring so looking forward to the change, I'll keep these over the winter at this point no snow here in DC.
The one thing that doesn't work in my car is the voice activation button, I'm going to schedule a warranty service before mine expires in 1200 or so miles.
I'll definitely look for the volume adjustments on the nav, I also don't like the volume lowering when in reverse which is really annoying.
Do you guys have the jerky fell in the drive train as I described by any chance? That's the one that annoys me the most and I hope it's not considered normal.
The one thing that doesn't work in my car is the voice activation button, I'm going to schedule a warranty service before mine expires in 1200 or so miles.
I'll definitely look for the volume adjustments on the nav, I also don't like the volume lowering when in reverse which is really annoying.
Do you guys have the jerky fell in the drive train as I described by any chance? That's the one that annoys me the most and I hope it's not considered normal.
02-14-2017, 10:31 AM
#5
AudiWorld Senior Member
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: Southeast Michigan
Posts: 1,264
Likes: 0
Received 22 Likes
on
20 Posts
Thanks for the responses so far, I will be doing the tires this spring so looking forward to the change, I'll keep these over the winter at this point no snow here in DC.
The one thing that doesn't work in my car is the voice activation button, I'm going to schedule a warranty service before mine expires in 1200 or so miles.
I'll definitely look for the volume adjustments on the nav, I also don't like the volume lowering when in reverse which is really annoying.
Do you guys have the jerky fell in the drive train as I described by any chance? That's the one that annoys me the most and I hope it's not considered normal.
The one thing that doesn't work in my car is the voice activation button, I'm going to schedule a warranty service before mine expires in 1200 or so miles.
I'll definitely look for the volume adjustments on the nav, I also don't like the volume lowering when in reverse which is really annoying.
Do you guys have the jerky fell in the drive train as I described by any chance? That's the one that annoys me the most and I hope it's not considered normal.
Here is the link for you. : )
http://www.revbase.com/BBBMotor/TSb/...dPdf?id=196461
02-14-2017, 01:36 PM
#6
AudiWorld Senior Member
My A6 is still new to me, I've had it for 6 weeks now, so it has been enough time to gather some impressions and I am looking for some feedback since I don't have any frame of reference on what is "normal" or baseline. I'm hoping this can be useful for others either considering buying one or wondering if their car is operating as intended.
2013 A6 3.0T, 48K miles, non sport suspension, 20" wheels, likely original tires, ACC/Side assist, cold weather, bose sound.
Steering
My first impression of the steering was that it is too light for my taste and lacking in feedback. After switching to dynamic mode this has greatly improved the steering weight which is significantly heavier now. Still a bit light at low speeds but nothing I can complain about. It still lacks the type of feedback I've had in other vehicles, but this is a daily driver and luxury vehicle so I am okay with that. I now keep it in dynamic full time.
Power
Power has been a recurring question. I live in the DMV area, i.e. heavy traffic and police presence. To say that it is a rare opportunity for WOT is an understatement. In drive it keeps it in a very high gear/low rpm for fuel economy. Going uphill it feels like it's bogging sometimes and not downshifting soon enough. As it's at very low rpm much of the time it doesn't have boost pressure to speak of, rather sedate cruising. In sport mode it maintains higher rpm, much more responsive, and also more harsh shifting. I definitely plan on doing the stage 2 upgrade in the spring, warranty will be up at that point.
Drive Train
Drive train is a question- especially in sport I have a lack of smoothness in applying power. It can be jerky. In my experience newer low power vehicles tend to focus on tight drive line and responsiveness to "make up for" a lack of actual power, and powerful vehicles tend to be less immediately responsive to not ram the car in front of you at a drive through. My truck was is like this as well, floor it and it is very smooth and devastatingly fast, low speeds it's a little clunky. The A6 is lighter and less powerful, I would have expected a bit more smoothness. I wonder about bushings, have other replaced at the ~50K mile mark and seen improvement in power on/off smoothness? Not necessarily shifting but just going from coasting to accelerating.
Vibration
Vibrations exist but are not excessive. I can feel the go pedal and have felt some vibrations at idle especially when cold. I know others have replaced motor mounts and maybe I have some wear there but it's not a problem at this point. Does anyone NOT have any noticeable vibration? I'm on 20's, tires will need to be replaced reasonably soon and I will be going for AS3s so this may be part of the issue.
Mileage
Mileage has been good, my commute is about 10 miles in a mix of traffic and 55mph cruising depending on the day. I keep it in drive and see about 24mpg on average. for reference my truck averaged 14mpg.
Features
Sound system is a Bose and the sub sucks, we all know it. What bass it does have causes some rear deck rattles. I want to find a cheap way and easy way to upgrade the sub without overkill, I am not in high school and have no interest in thudding down the street. ACC is nice when I remember it's there but I will never fully trust it. Side assist is nice in this type of traffic, if it flashes when I put the turn signals on I know to pay close attention before merging. Nav features are great other than entering in new addresses- can you turn of the voice interrupting the radio though??
General
I like it. It looks good, I feel safe driving it, mileage is a major plus, handling I have gotten used to and now enjoy, it is comfortable, not quite as smooth as I would like, and I want more power. I'm happy with my decision, I think it has a great balance to it for comfort, power, price, looks, etc. There a couple areas I would like to address to tighten it up and make it more enjoyable but overall a very nice car.
2013 A6 3.0T, 48K miles, non sport suspension, 20" wheels, likely original tires, ACC/Side assist, cold weather, bose sound.
Steering
My first impression of the steering was that it is too light for my taste and lacking in feedback. After switching to dynamic mode this has greatly improved the steering weight which is significantly heavier now. Still a bit light at low speeds but nothing I can complain about. It still lacks the type of feedback I've had in other vehicles, but this is a daily driver and luxury vehicle so I am okay with that. I now keep it in dynamic full time.
Power
Power has been a recurring question. I live in the DMV area, i.e. heavy traffic and police presence. To say that it is a rare opportunity for WOT is an understatement. In drive it keeps it in a very high gear/low rpm for fuel economy. Going uphill it feels like it's bogging sometimes and not downshifting soon enough. As it's at very low rpm much of the time it doesn't have boost pressure to speak of, rather sedate cruising. In sport mode it maintains higher rpm, much more responsive, and also more harsh shifting. I definitely plan on doing the stage 2 upgrade in the spring, warranty will be up at that point.
Drive Train
Drive train is a question- especially in sport I have a lack of smoothness in applying power. It can be jerky. In my experience newer low power vehicles tend to focus on tight drive line and responsiveness to "make up for" a lack of actual power, and powerful vehicles tend to be less immediately responsive to not ram the car in front of you at a drive through. My truck was is like this as well, floor it and it is very smooth and devastatingly fast, low speeds it's a little clunky. The A6 is lighter and less powerful, I would have expected a bit more smoothness. I wonder about bushings, have other replaced at the ~50K mile mark and seen improvement in power on/off smoothness? Not necessarily shifting but just going from coasting to accelerating.
Vibration
Vibrations exist but are not excessive. I can feel the go pedal and have felt some vibrations at idle especially when cold. I know others have replaced motor mounts and maybe I have some wear there but it's not a problem at this point. Does anyone NOT have any noticeable vibration? I'm on 20's, tires will need to be replaced reasonably soon and I will be going for AS3s so this may be part of the issue.
Mileage
Mileage has been good, my commute is about 10 miles in a mix of traffic and 55mph cruising depending on the day. I keep it in drive and see about 24mpg on average. for reference my truck averaged 14mpg.
Features
Sound system is a Bose and the sub sucks, we all know it. What bass it does have causes some rear deck rattles. I want to find a cheap way and easy way to upgrade the sub without overkill, I am not in high school and have no interest in thudding down the street. ACC is nice when I remember it's there but I will never fully trust it. Side assist is nice in this type of traffic, if it flashes when I put the turn signals on I know to pay close attention before merging. Nav features are great other than entering in new addresses- can you turn of the voice interrupting the radio though??
General
I like it. It looks good, I feel safe driving it, mileage is a major plus, handling I have gotten used to and now enjoy, it is comfortable, not quite as smooth as I would like, and I want more power. I'm happy with my decision, I think it has a great balance to it for comfort, power, price, looks, etc. There a couple areas I would like to address to tighten it up and make it more enjoyable but overall a very nice car.
Steering - On my old 2012, the dealer at one point installed a software update to lighten it because people were complaining about it being too tight...I hated what it did to the steering and had them uninstall it...I never had a problem with the tightness of the original software
Power - Yup I noticed the same thing, once Audi phased out the now old S4 (which shared the same engine), they gave its tuning updates and HP to the A6 2016+ (Premium-Plus-Prestige 3.0 V6 models). The acceleration curve & shifting is so much better now. I do not know if these updates can be applied to the C7
Drive Train - For me the updates to Power have fixed the smoothness issue
Vibrations - I do not recall how my 2012 C7 was. I will have to observe if this happens with my 2016 C7.5
Features - 1) I always end up completely turning off voice nav. For the voice while entering the address on the touchpad, I am not sure, there may be a setting to adjust its volume (I'll check) 2) For my 2012, the Bose system was really crappy initially, it got much better once they applied the latest MMI updates. About upgrading the Sub, I do recall seeing a few threads in this forum about that
02-15-2017, 10:50 AM
#7
AudiWorld Member
Thread Starter
Thanks guys, I made an appointment at the dealer to look at the vibration thing which is hopefully motor mounts just starting to go bad, I also mentioned the voice command button not working properly. I'll bring in the shifting update TSB info as well and chat with them about it.
From what I gather they'll charge me a $140 fee if they don't find anything so better make sure they do.
From there I will get the tires and tune/pulley this spring to address those issues and do some more research here on the easy sub replacement. I've seen a thread or two on what others have done and it looks like a fairly direct swap of the sub and a small amp in the cubby area of the trunk. I might take it to a shop to handle and get some dynamat added to the rear deck as well just to be sure it's not annoying.
From what I gather they'll charge me a $140 fee if they don't find anything so better make sure they do.
From there I will get the tires and tune/pulley this spring to address those issues and do some more research here on the easy sub replacement. I've seen a thread or two on what others have done and it looks like a fairly direct swap of the sub and a small amp in the cubby area of the trunk. I might take it to a shop to handle and get some dynamat added to the rear deck as well just to be sure it's not annoying.
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02-15-2017, 11:36 AM
#8
AudiWorld Senior Member
Thanks guys, I made an appointment at the dealer to look at the vibration thing which is hopefully motor mounts just starting to go bad, I also mentioned the voice command button not working properly. I'll bring in the shifting update TSB info as well and chat with them about it.
From what I gather they'll charge me a $140 fee if they don't find anything so better make sure they do.
From there I will get the tires and tune/pulley this spring to address those issues and do some more research here on the easy sub replacement. I've seen a thread or two on what others have done and it looks like a fairly direct swap of the sub and a small amp in the cubby area of the trunk. I might take it to a shop to handle and get some dynamat added to the rear deck as well just to be sure it's not annoying.
From what I gather they'll charge me a $140 fee if they don't find anything so better make sure they do.
From there I will get the tires and tune/pulley this spring to address those issues and do some more research here on the easy sub replacement. I've seen a thread or two on what others have done and it looks like a fairly direct swap of the sub and a small amp in the cubby area of the trunk. I might take it to a shop to handle and get some dynamat added to the rear deck as well just to be sure it's not annoying.
02-15-2017, 03:07 PM
#9
AudiWorld Super User
