angrypengu

I finally have my hands on my D5. Thought I'd share some photos (mainly at the urging of @derfA8L )

Canadian Build - so the base car does have more than the US builds, but at a more expensive price, of course

2019 Audi A8L

Ext colour: Monsoon Grey
Int: Black

Factory:
Executive Package
Luxury Package
Bang and Olufsen Advanced 3D sound
Wireless Qi phone charger
Exterior Lighting Package
Black fabric headliner
Eucalyptus, natural grey wood trim

Dealer options:
Llumar Platinum Paint Protection Film (PPF). 100% bumper, 25" fender/hood, and headlights
35% FormulaOne Ceramic tint (the installer chose a darker rear film and rear windshield film without my approval, but it turned out well - so to be clear, the 35% is for the front, not sure what it actually is for the rear)




PPF installed.

The time zone of the rear b-> pillar section!



Initial Reviews:

As some of you may know, I had the privilege of test driving the D5 when it came out for an entire day, and thus many of my thoughts about this vehicle were captured then. This is a follow up to that review and only contains net new information that I have not already provided.

In the first 100 km of ownership, I had two 'issues'. A tire pressure warning which turned out not to be a warning but a need to 'store' the tire pressures in the MMI system which was effortless, and I get the odd SOS phone system fail, which goes away on restart. In both of those cases I was tinkering around with find a switched fuse which shouldn't have caused any problems, but that may have had something to do with it. All in all, still way too early to tell about reliability, but thought I would mention the two items above.

For me, the one regret I have is spending the $5900 on the B&O Advanced 3D sound system. The pop out tweeters are nice, but the more I listen to it, the more I feel the high end frequencies are a bit too piercing due to the pop out tweeters. That said, I am a self professed audiophile, and everyone knows a sound system takes time to burn in, so this is probably too soon to say. Also, I spent a number of years in another vehicle and I too need to adjust to the sound system. I leave everything at default settings from an equalizer point of view, by the way. So this one is something I'm thinking about, but thought I'd share.

Other thoughts - I've waited for this car for a while so I've had a lot of time to let the initial wave of A8 excitement come and pass, so I'm pretty unemotional at this point despite this car being 'new' in my driveway. I am absolutely shocked at how less of an angry driver I am. I'm incredibly calm, incredibly at peace with myself lately, and this car is just so relaxing to drive. It has exceeded my expectations in this regard! I sometimes am shocked that I'm doing 60 over the limit because of how darn quiet and peaceful this car is, while I am enjoying the incredible sound system and getting a nice massage.

The only other thing worth noting that I am slightly annoyed with is how difficult it is to get in and out of the car without wrinkling/putting pressure on the side bolsters in the cushion. I think i've finally mastered it, but there's a reason those things wrinkle quickly, I guess!

In conclusion. love the car. It was a reckless financial decision but worth every single nickel! If you have any questions, pls ask! Always happy to help.

gk1

Very nice looking. Congratulations.
Did you have a chance to try the non-advanced sound system.?
Also, where are the interior pics?

persuader

Nice Exhausts too.

derfA8L

Love the pics!!! 🤗

Glad you’re enjoying the car, despite the glitch with the SOS call alert. You really did a ton of deep dive research on the D5, so hearing your mostly positive comments must feel rewarding. I really get your comment about feeling relaxed and not being an angry driver anymore. I feel the same way when driving my D4–mostly 😏. Again, congrats and enjoy!

angrypengu

Yes, I did, actually. The 24 hour loaner had that system (19 speaker Premium B&O system), and I had to drive to another city to test the Advanced sound system. I suspect given my more limited time with the latter that it influenced my decision. The main thing to keep in mind b/w the two system is that the 19 speaker system has a main flaw with it - which is that with certain high pitched noises there is a very annoying and piercing rattle caused by the tweeters in the dash (maybe the grill itself?). That was one reason I opted for the Advanced system. That issue does not exist for the optional system. I don't know if Audi will ever fix it for the Premium system, but I doubt it.

I should take a photo of the interior door later. The exterior photos I did want to share because there are 0 monsoon grey Audi D5s, ever in North America, so thought this may help someone! I'll get to doing just that later!

Thank you!

angrypengu

I've put on about 500 miles or so in the last day, a few more observations:

1) The B&O Advanced 3D sound system is really coming to life for me. I am surprised at how "decent" it is with Top 40 songs, but what has managed to floor me as of late is lofi, jazz music and vocals. If I want this sound system to behave like those young'uns want theirs to sound like, it'll happily do it, but where I am going with this is that clearly the B&O system is geared towards acoustical type of music, and when listening to that, it made the $6k price tag worth it. I guess when I first picked up the car I was more interested in listening to contemporary music, but once I switched back to what I usually listen to, I was absolutely gobsmacked.

2) This vehicle's in town fuel mileage is absolutely garbage, and, to be blunt, I don't care at all. It's something I noticed - it's not getting anywhere close to EPA's estimates, but I didn't buy an A8 to care about fuel. Just thought I'd point it out since the kids over in the Q8 side of this forum complain a lot about it, so I wanted to see how this EA839 engine (same as in the Q8) behaves in the A8. Yes, it's fuel hungry. Probably has something to do with the fact the engine is still breaking in, and I am certainly not interested in driving this car aggressively. That said, I do turn off that stupid start/stop system though.

3) Good Year has finally made a tire I enjoy. The 19" setup runs either the Good Year Eagle Sport All Season Acoustic tire or the Pirelli P7 All Season (NOT the Plus version). The latter is horrifically reviewed on TireRack, and the former (Good Year) is reviewed well. I could not believe my eyes/ears. This Good Year tire actually lives up to the positive reviews, and I am absolutely impressed, especially over rough pavement/concrete and highway expansion joints. The acoustic tire does wonders. That said, I will be doing detailed tests come the winter with an ANSI A weighted decimeter on the same piece of road to see if the quietness is due to the acoustic foam in the tire, (only the Michelin Pilot Alpin PA4 and Pilot Alpin 5, and the Pirelli Sottozero Series 3 tires are available in the 19" size for the A8 - and none have the acoustic tire technology) or if it's because of how quiet the vehicle is due to sound deadening. I won't get into details but I have taken apart several portions of this car already. In the driver's footwell, behind the carpet, you may be surprised to find no less than 3" of acoustic foam. Yes, you read that right, 3 inches.

4) Love the massaging seats. I hate the fact it turns off after 10 minutes.

5) Audi Connect - a subscription is required not just for wifi, but also if you want to use the built in Spotify app in the MMI system (without pairing your phone). This makes sense now, but it took me far too long to figure this out as the manual was not as clear as I believe it should have been.

6) The lugnut for the wheels are 17mm. For whatever reason, I could not find this in the manual. I had to look this up on a parts diagram as I needed to buy the socket (I have a torque wrench that I needed a socket for to utilize it).

7) It is incredibly difficult to get in and out of the front seats without wrinkling the side bolster. I think I've finally got it down, but it requires ninja like athletic skills.

8) This car gets noticed. As some of you may have read, I bought this car to stay under the radar. Between the fancy blinky LED lights, and the sheer size of this thing, both kids and adults alike have just gawked. This never happened with the S class I had briefly. This is truly surprising to me.

9) The HUD lacks information I need/want. There is no rev counter on it, and no ability to add that information. That's too bad, IMHO.

10) The voice recognition system, even with the online mode enabled, is....hit and miss. It's by no means close to say, Mercedes's MBUX system, but I don't really care.

Those are 10 things I've noticed worth calling out, I think. I did find some minor oil leakage near the turbo, but just cleaned it up and will see if it comes back. A little leakage is normal, but that's the only thing I've noticed since removing the engine acoustic cover and the turbo heat shield earlier on today. I know some of you are probably reading this going "he's nuts". I'll take it as a compliment


For the record, I can't stop driving this thing. I LOVE IT! Absolutely 15/10 stars. Worth every nickel, even if you added all of those nickels it would be pretty darn heavy.

MorganMay

I greatly appreciate your in-depth, thorough analyses of the D5 and vicariously enjoy your reactions upon now receiving your new car. Please keep reporting if you need a break from driving for awhile. (But why would you need a break?) Anyway, know that you are providing valuable input to others who wish to follow your lead in the near future.

While never owning an Audi before, I am very interested in the D5 and have been waiting to see if the "predictive active suspension" feature soon becomes available here in the US. Then I will have to decide if it is worth the added cost before ordering.

angrypengu

Thank you for the kind words!

Thoughts on predictive active suspension: Having the best ride possible is/was important to me and thus I thought long and hard about this feature. I ultimately did not decide to wait until MY20 and thus I made a cognizant decision to not buy the predictive suspension. I do not regret this decision. Here are some reasons as to why, outside of the fact that the air suspension in the D5 is beyond comprehension. I just did a long highway run this afternoon on a pretty rough highway. I'm still failing to grasp how the heck the D5 performs so well.

1) Predictive suspension was a delayed feature. Every single reviewer noted a smoother ride with the system off, than on. This system is entirely owned (e.g. not contracted out) by Audi. We all know that Audi has gutted millions in R&D shortly after the D5 was launched, and, actually, has publicly stated they halved the testing dollars for the A6 as that came after the A8. This scares me from a reliability perspective.
2) The predictive suspension utilizes the 48V system and thus puts strain on the mild hybrid battery. Longevity of the 48V battery is important to me, and the gain of the predictive suspension is marginal at best.
3) It is important to note that the only thing the predictive suspension really adds in day to day driving is a reduction in 'speed bump' and perhaps 'pot hole' feel. That's not really a net add when the original air suspension does such a good job.
4) Thus, the question is, is it worth having a more fidgety car in all situations or is it worth having a better experience driving over speed bumps? I don't know about others, but I don't drive over speed bumps regularly.
5) The predictive suspension utilizes cameras, and thus at night, it's useless and can't see bumps.
6) The predictive suspension ultimately produces a better experience driving over potholes, but the only way it can do that is to RAM the wheel/tire into the hole. I have no idea what the long term impacts are to the structural integrity of the rim and if blowouts have a higher probability of happening, but that does make sense.

If the system was polished then I'd be OK with it, but ultimately it appears to be a half baked product with little to no benefit, at a pretty significant "cost" not just with the optional $ cost, but with a reliability cost and with a day to day suspension feel cost.

Those are just my $0.01

MorganMay

Your points regarding the predictive active suspension are very compelling...definitely worth much more than one cent. In particular I was concerned about the pothole response of the system just as you've stated. I think I would like my wheel to float over the pothole and that sounds like something the air suspension could deal with quite well. Additionally, in the diagrams showing the hardware for this system, it looks like there is quite a bit of new hardware-- heavy and expensive. Taken with all of your concerns, I believe it may be time to move ahead without the marginal predictive active suspension feature.

Again, I am indebted to you for supplying such valuable information. Looking forward to future impressions as your enjoyable adventure continues!

gk1

Doesn't the predictive system also replace the anti-roll bars? I'd be curious about that and how body roll is with the predictive system.