DUTCH VanAtlanta

I haven't even taken delivery of my new Q7 yet, and I get an email to sign up for Audi Connect. On a new Q7 can I ***=u=me that I get a certain length of free trial time?

It asks for the VIN and the ESN. The VIN I have, but the ESN will have to wait for delivery of the car.

I guess that Audi Connect is necessary for pretty much all of the mapping and web stuff. Correct?

Force-1

Web access yes, mapping not so much. I did not pay to extend mine in my S5 or Q7, and the nav works just fine without it. I believe only real loss is POI accuracy.

Q7-retired

What I find interesting in my 2015 Q7 is the ability to ask the nav system to navigate by a title or name. Here's a command example: "Online Destination Bruegger's Bagles." The vehicle presents a list of options, from which you choose the destination to which the nav, well, navigates.

Force-1, did that ability remain with your nav system when you dropped the web access?

Force-1

Voice command still works without connection.

snagitseven

To further clarify, the base map, street addresses and static POIs are located on the car's hard drive and do not require an Audi Connect subscription to navigate. Audi Connect provides integrated online features such as Google Search (with a far more comprehensive, continuously updated POI database), Google Earth map overlay and other options such as gas prices, events, parking, news and weather, all directly linked to navigation and your bluetooth connected phone when a tel number is offered. The Voice command feature works without Audi Connect but can do more with it, specifically, online destination searches.

Force-1

FWIW my Google Earth map overlay still works without active account.

snagitseven

The Google Earth overlay data is cached on the hard drive for roughly a 20 mile radius that updates as you travel. If you don't have an internet connection, when you travel outside that radius you will lose the Earth overlay to a black screen since the cache cannot refresh from the internet.

superswiss

Or if you zoom in it starts to get blurry, because it cannot load the more detailed images.

DUTCH VanAtlanta

So far, after only a small amount of use, my opinion is that the Q7 screen is too small to really take advantage of the Google Earth images.

superswiss

Try turning on auto zoom in the settings. That will zoom to the appropriate level based on the current road you are on. If you drive on the Interstate it zooms out to give you a good overview, but as soon as you leave the Interstate or come up to an interchange it zooms in for better details and if you come up to an intersection it zooms in even more.

I actually didn't like the Google Earth overlays very much at the beginning until I turned on auto zoom. Now I find that the topographic information adds a level of usefulness that the standard plain colored maps don't provide and having that real world birdseye view on the MMI screen is kinda cool especially on a road trip in unfamiliar areas.