wiggins

Owner of old beat-up 2000 A4 1.8T 5 spd quattro here. Looking at new A4s (like the Avant). Probably going with automatic.

Does Audi "light" the gear selector on the shift lever and also show on the instrument panel? I've noticed that some cars with auto trans do not "light" the gear selector and some do not display on the panel.

My old 1991 model 90 with auto both lighted the shift lever and showed the gear selection on the panel. I drove a later year model 90 service loaner that was inherently missing one of these, don't remember which one, but it made it difficult to tell what gear selection you were in at night. Have the same problem with wife's current Toyota. With stick this is not a problem for me but I will (most likely) be going to an automatic and would find it annoying if I can't easily tell what gear is selected.

Brewin

Yes. It displays the selected gear on the instrument panel as well as lightning up the letters on the gear shifter. 'D' for drvie, 'S' for sport, or 'M#' for manual mode (# being the gear you are in).

bunn

It will show the D# and S# as well as when in M# mode