StevieP

I am considering whether to get this option. Is it reliable and detailed? Does it give audible voice directions (e.g., "turn right, 500 yds")

thanks
steve

SilS4

I'd go with an aftermarket nav system. i have heard that the audi option just isn't that great of a nav system.

tompa

It does have a voice (your choice of languages) and the "voice" does tell you when to turn.
It is extremely accurate. Easy to use with a "mouse-click" menu system. Plug in the City/Street/Address# and go.

Also has a "find" function for stuff like gas stations ....very handy when in new areas & gas gauge is on reserve. Also has a recalc/detour
button to avoid problem areas.
The Audi system differs from several others (both oem and aftermarket i.e. Alpine) in that the dispay is small...overrides the info display above the steering column, and only displays one turn at a time. Most other nav systems display a map with your position and route displayed.

The cost of the Audi system is the lowest of any I have seen except on an Acura.

If you are planning to install a high end sound system, you might want to look at the Alpine gps..more $, but not that bad if you are doing a big install.

Kemiriv

The details are good, it never get's "lost", and the voice is clear and gives good explanations. The only time it can be confusing is at complicated highway intersections... it may tell you to exit to the right in 100 meters, but if there are two exits together, it can be difficult to know which one it means without looking at signs and having some idea of where you are going.

The only minor complaint I have is the lack of German directions. When you first load the CD, the voice speaks German, but once it is loaded it only offers French, Spanish (Castillian), and English (both metric and imperial). (I have used the French and English extensivelly and both are good.) This is probably related to which region of the country the CD is for. I am in California and the disk is for CA and Nevada.

elCheng

i love it! Although i does need some more accuracy....

rather than give it a specific street number, it asks you for a range ie: 101-199 Main street...etc. So it gets you to where you are going, but then you have to do some work too.

It does give voice warnings, "turn left after 300 meters, take the 2nd left turn, please take the next turn......etc"

But don't get all too comfy with it, it's like a calculator if you get lost with navi activated. it's YOUR input that it takes...... =) (yes i've gotten lost with navi before.....just ask NASA racer)

S4Bloom

Very accurate. It does give voice and visual info. But you need not avert your eyes from the road to use it.

The only slow part in keying in your destination.

Jason H

The page shows the visual output while entering a destination and while underway. But the nicest part is the vocal instructions. It will warn you when to change lanes to be ready for a turn "Prepare to turn right" then two warnings before a turn, "turn left after 800 feet" "please make the next left turn". And when there is a series of quick turns it will help you saying something like "Please take the next left turn, then take the right turn immedietely". It won't pronounce individual streets but will give highway instructions by name if alpha-numeric "please turn right to merge onto I-405" Fairly cool, but I am hoping that the full color nav comes in the next gen A4/S4.<ul><li><a href="http://www.meniscusdesign.com/a4/nav_demo/">Audi Nav System explanation</a></li></ul>

elCheng

we gonna do it again?

frino

Only downside to the Audi Nav. system is lack of a DVD. CDs are outrageously expensive and difficult to obtain (e.g. my Audi dealers parts department referred me to the sales department for the disc . . . go figure). Otherwise, the system gets the job done.

Frino
00 2.7T/6sp
Pearl White/Onyx

David Z

OK here is my input on it:

Pros: Very high "gee-whiz" techno-factor. It *IS* indeed wonderful those few times it gets you where you want to go. It has shown me a few new ways to get where I wanted to go. *Sometimes* can be surprisingly accurate. Has some nice user-ergonomic features, mostly related to entering data. And the amount of warning it gives you for turns is very smart, it adjusts to your speed, if you've got a few quick turns coming up, it'll say them all at once ("turn left, then turn right immediately") and it'll use a shorter way of saying things (instead of "please make the next left turn" it'll say "turn left").

Cons: Very expensive--For the $1,200 or so it adds to the price of the car, I really wish I had gone with an after-market system. Data CD's cost $200 and are static, you have to buy them yourself to stay updated. Data CD's are very unforgiving when you're near the edge of the map. (I have a SPECIAL complaint here because I live within 10 miles of the edge of the map (between NY and Philly) and whenever I go south for the day, which is often, I have no nav system. Data CD system is not contiguous: by this I mean, other systems have full details for your local area and then at least general town info for the whole country, so let's say I want to go from NYC to Albany (on another CD), other systems at least will know the highways to get to Albany in general and then I can switch CDs when I get close... with this system, your start and end must both be in your local area, if you want to go off-map, you have to manually plot where your trip will cross the CD boundary, and then program to that point, then get out and switch CDs at that point... you'll probably just use a freakin' map for the whole trip, so then what's the point of the system??? System does not know about a surprising number of "important" non-main roads... and then DOES know about some tiny dirt roads... the programming is inconsistent, so you're always wondering, "Does the system know about this road? Is this really the fastest way or is that one cross-road just left out?" System is EASILY confused when a highway splits into "express" and "local" lanes, it doesn't tell you which you're supposed to take, and if you take the express when you should have taken the local, it'll keep asking you to take the exits you can't get to. System gives out confusing highway directions... I've had it tell me to "turn left" on the highway in the middle of a long straight road section.... and then when I got to the point where I was supposed to "turn left" it just picked up with "please follow the road." VERY poor naming scheme for the streets when the road your destination is on is a U.S. Highway. If you've got to go to 1234 U.S. Highway 202 (and LOTS of addresses are like this where I live), good luck trying to guess how they've named it. There's one stretch near where I live that's Rt. 202, 206 and 31, and also has a "local" street name.... what's the name that the system uses? The worst part is that I pull the addresses of my destination off of the phone book or on-line, and sometimes the destination "town" that is listed in the phone book isn't the same "town" that's programmed into the system, and there is no "fuzzy search" logic, if you didn't guess the EXACT name of the town it uses, forget it. And my biggest little gripe: It's got a freakin' GPS built into it, and THERE IS NO COMPASS! Stupid thing won't tell you whether you are going north/south/east/west.