Strife1013

At first I was a little disappointed that the screen was affixed to the dashboard and not retractable...but actually I'm glad it's that way, saves me money on repairs when I am out of warranty. I would only have it retracted when parked anyways so yea, mute point.

One thing I don't like about Audi options is that I can't request all-season tires when I upgrade to 19" wheels. Which means I had to drop close to a 1k on new tires when I just got a new car.....I guess is flip side that I have a pair of all summer tires. Still, an extra grand would have been nice not spend after just getting a new car.

emmgee

If you're going to have meaningful screen real estate, it has to be on a larger screen. If you are going to have a larger screen, it has to go somewhere. However, the alternative is to build it into the dash in a different way, e.g., the way Tesla does it.

On the other hand, Tesla isn't tied to the same "design language" that Audi prefers. I have read that Audi doesn't want to make a big leap on their controls for branding purposes. That's one reason they put in a lot of effort to make the speed and tach dials on the Virtual Cockpit look so close to the way the physical dials work. I suspect they want the dashboard to look like a old-fashioned dashboard with physical buttons.

I'm personally glad that the screen doesn't retract for the reasons Kevin stated. One more thing to go wrong. But I hope that in the future Audi decides to integrate the screen into the dash without the "iPad glued to the dashboard" look.

bob m

When I was at the dealership earlier this month, I mentioned this to the Manager - as this is my 5th Audi and I do like the brand. Essentially he said it lowers the cost a few hundred dollars and makes the car more competitive price wise to those shopping the segment. I get that, I really do, but there are other options - like having the screen integrated into that dash that make for a more elegant solution. When I took a look at the new (at that time) MB GLC, that was the first thing that popped out at me in an otherwise nice looking interior. Whatever the solution - integrated into the dash or retractable, you don't see this tacked on MMI screen on the A6's or higher level cars. That says something important to me.

Obsidian3K

If I recall correctly, several studies have concluded that "iPad glued to the dashboard" is both ergonomically superior and safer then alternatives by a wide margin, which is why manufacturers are all trending in that direction.

The advantages are pretty easy to grasp, too. The center screen can be in one of two places:
1) Roughly in the plane of the road (eyes only have to move horizontally to look at it)
2) Well below the plane of the road (eyes must move both horizontally and vertically)

#2 is a problem because it requires that drivers take their eyes off the road entirely to look at the screen, and their peripheral vision is full of dashboard, making it useless.

So the screen gets mounted nice and high, to keep the road in a driver's peripheral vision. That leads to two new decisions:
1) Have the screen sticking up from the dash all by itself
2) Bring the dash up to surround the screen

The problem with #2 here is the same as it is above; looking at the screen means you have a bunch of stuff in your peripheral vision rather than the road, and now outward visibility is worse the rest of the time too, because you've got to peer over a tall dashboard.

Thus the "iPad glued to the dashboard" look. It's better ergonomically, it's safer, and it's almost certainly here to stay, at least as long as there's an error-prone bag of meat piloting the car. Once our robot overlords take over, giant, low-mounted Tesla-style screens make sense again. Or just turn the whole windshield into a screen, for that matter.

Edelwild

I don't mind the screen being glued to the dash and not retracting, however I wish I could rotate it a bit as it's a bit uncomfortable for my eyes being angled towards the back-middle passenger and not driver (although I get passenger would sometimes want to see it, thus why being able to move it would be ideal)

kurtatx

Yeah, the retractions feels like it would just be another thing that breaks

BiscuitEmbryo

And the screen in the Model S looks horrible. Talk about a screen literally glued on. There was no thought whatsoever put into incorporating that huge thing into the console. The X is a little better.

WetinOregon

Ok, I'll chime in on this one. Bought the car 10/31/16, Prestige package and it now has about 8500 miles.

Likes: VC, frameless rear view mirror (believe it or not, that gets more comments than almost anything), stereo (B&O), acceleration between 40-90 - unbelievably fast in that range, color (Gotland Green) - haven't seen one this color yet - and handling. I do have the adaptive suspension and it is terrific. Oh, and the adaptive cruise control; man, that's convenient.

Dislikes - Pre-sense. MMI is a bit cumbersome to work through and find things. Yes, there is a lot of information within the MMI system, but digging into the subfolders to find info isn't always straightforward.

I do use the paddle shifters more than I thought I would. When I get to the back roads, I switch to the Dynamic driving set up and use the shifters - that's when the car is really fun to drive.

And, the surprise for me is how large the trunk is. I didn't think it was too big, but after numerous trips up and down I-5 to the Puget Sound area, I've found I can carry lots of luggage, boxes and stuff without any need to cram them into the passenger compartment.

My first Audi and I'd definitely buy one again.

VM

Audi has very conservative controls... both generally (e.g. the old-fashioned turn signal or wiper stalks compared to BMW's), and in terms of how all Audis work similarly.

I once was on a forum like this where a fellow had a rule that he and his wife had to have cars from the same automaker so they could switch cars and the controls would be the same. That would work wonderfully with Audis... and is a disaster with domestics (GM/F*rd, I'm looking at you) that have completely different basic lighting/wiper/cruise control in different models purchased the same day.

Hey, human/machine interface conservatism is often very desirable. Look at Apple - their keyboard layout on Macs hasn't changed since the late 1980s, the keyboard shortcuts haven't changed in decades, etc. Not so true in Windowsland...

The one BIG exception to Audi's design conservatism in the B9, if you ask me, is the SHIFTER. The virtual cockpit is very conservative, and guess what? IMO it is much better looking than other manufacturers (GM, Jaguar, etc)'s full LCD instrument clusters.

VM

Part of the issue is how basic A4s can be optioned out in markets other than North America. Power seats are an option in Europe.

I suspect that they've always had three sound options, at least - two Audi-branded ones and one fancy-branded (Bose/B&O). In the B8, North America got the 'upgraded' Audi-branded system and you could upgrade to the B&O. In the B9, I think they may have put the 'basic' Audi-branded system instead.

I note that at least Americans get B&O on the mid-level 'Premium Plus' trim that I presume is intended to be the volume seller; that is not the case in Canada...