While my car is in for inspection to see whether the pistons are falling apart, they loaned me a Q5. I personally don't like the car, but the new tech seems like a generation ahead of our A8s. HUD has a display of the road with cars around you depicted in the screen as they move. Everything in the ACC and lane guidance seems to react more quickly and precisely. The camera views are much, much better. I wonder if any of this tech has made it into the latest A8s, or if it can be retrofitted in some way. Not that any of it is needed, but I did appreciate the advancement in the tech while driving.

 

Just ask your favourite Audi salesman how many owners are absolutely waiting to kill their sales guy due to all of the tech issues post new car delivery. There are a TON of CELs as a result of the new tech driving new customers up the wall

 

My daughter has a 2025 Mazda CX-90 Turbo S Premium Plus and likewise it's tech is better - it does the things you describe. I'm sure these systems are designed and developed by third parties. I suspect they are somewhat plug and play and I think they just get better each year

 

Let's talk about ACC. I assume you are aware that the D5 ACC has three modes: comfort, normal and sport. The reaction speed depends on these modes selected. Some newer Audis ave these tied to their drive select modes, but in the D5 they are separately configurable. Normal is ideal for me with passengers since it's pretty smooth without letting traffic to jump behind the car in front of you. Sport can be too aggressive.

Our cars also have a bunch of auto assist features that I've turned off since they are annoying, like reduce speed on turns and auto adjust speed to posted speed limit.

Regarding the new display the "Drive assist with area view" is available on all D5.5s along with a configurable virtual display. Since the cars are almost the same, I assume this can be uploaded in software or added with changed hardware. It looks like this:


I have had plenty of loaners with this feature, not a game changer for me personally. I'd like the configurable tachometer however, and might consider the upgrade if I get bored of the round dial setup.

The second visualization is the Augmented reality in head up display, that came out with the Q4 two years ago and may have migrated to the new MMI software with the huge screens. I have not personally used this feature since it's only on prestige models that tend not to be loaners. This seems to impress a lot of the Benz crowd. The caveat is that everything else in the virtual cockpit is a gigantic step backwards, so if you can/want to upgrade to this you will have too give up a lot of resolution (the new information is vertically very narrow) including missing very basic functions like a tachometer! This looks ike this:


Having said that please test if the new ACC cars, an A5 in my case, still has the 24sec stop then go activated. It wasn't on my 2025 a5/q5 loaners and the would revert to switching the ACC off after three seconds on a stop. There are multitude of other complaints with the new MMI but I'm sure the A5/Q5 forums will be more useful for that, I had posted some links to their tribulations a while back.

Let us know if you're able to upgrade to the d5.5 VC, I might consider it too.

 

Not sure if I understand your last question entirely, but if you mean that when you come to a stop with ACC on, it remains "ready to drive" for 24 secs, rather than reverting to "not ready to drive" within 3 seconds, then yes, the Q5 I am driving has that feature. However, my A8 has that feature too, now that I did the camera recall upgrade.

I am familiar with the various settings for the ACC on our A8s. I think I mentioned on another thread that when I had the camera recall performed, all of my prior settings went away, so I had to relearn and reset all of my settings so that it performed how I wanted it too (i.e., not slowing for curves, etc.), but even still the new tech is more responsive and accurate.

It would be nice to have the area view feature, but don't think I need it. Just a more interesting visual display.

 

I've noticed no "ready to drive " change post recall. Setting? (I've looked)

 

Mybe I misunderstood this part. You have pics videos?

Also the quicker reaction you’re experiencing maybe the 500lb difference and stiffer suspension rather than the tech used. A8 has lidar more precise and higher resolution. First car in the world to use one. New q5 used radar and cameras, better in bad weather but much lower resolution than lidar.

Only way to know for sure is to take a 2025 A5 sline for a spin and that may react even quicker due to the even lower weight and maneuverability.

 

There was actually a totally different TSB sometime last year when I got my car done from 3 to 24 seconds. (TSB actually states 30 seconds but it’s wrong). I imagine from Bill’s experience that they integrated both TSBs into his service. I posted about this a while back, with a link to the TSB. Game changer for city driving.

*edit* found it:
My old post

 

Yes, I asked my service technician about the software upgrade and he said he had no knowledge of it. But, after having the rear view camera recall work performed, the extended ready to drive feature was working. It is a game-changer for traffic. I work downtown SF and in my commute the last 3 miles are always bumper to bumper as traffic descends on to city streets. Now I rarely have to do anything but let the car drive itself in those conditions.

 

I don't, but I think this video is about the closest to what I am seeing in the Q5 I'm driving: