As indicated in the subject line, I've never owned an Audi before now. Our "new" car is a 1999 A6 Avant Quattro 2.8.

Upon driving it home (1000 miles), I had plenty of time to discover some things about this particular unit...

#1 - The "trip computer" in the instrument cluster. It works fine with the exception that the LCD display begins to fade out on the edges after the car has been driven for about 1/2 hour. Is this common? Is there something I can do about it without taking out a loan besides turn it off?

#2 - This car is equipped with an auto dimming rear view mirror. After 12 hours straight of using it, it does not appear to "dim" at all. Any ideas?

#3 - I think this one may be "operator error" but I absolutely cannot get the seat memory to remember my setting. Everytime I push & hold the M, then hold a # for more than a second, the seat begins to move me all the way forward. I have read the owners manual more than once, & tried it on more than one occasion on the way back to Colorado. Tried it driving down the road, stopped, door open, door closed, STOP button on & "OFF"....hmmmm. Frustrating. I must be an idiot!

That's all for now, thanks for reading. Back to re-assembling the <A href="https://forums.audiworld.com/a6/msgs/462631.phtml">front brakes</a>

 

1) Very common issue on pre-2001 audis. Mine does the same thing, and it does get worse as it warms up. There is one fix - get a new dash cluster. The screen cannot be ordered separately. You must buy it new as the mileage can only be matched for the first 100km(62 miles) by the dealer. After that it locks the odometer. I believe the cost is around $700.

2) Convenience package only dims mirrors at night when bright light is detected by the sensor on the rearview mirror. It's very subtle, but it's there, you'll notice the gold tint of the mirrors more when they are in dimming mode. Since the car is new to you, here's another fun fact of the auto-dim feature: If you set the mirror control to the passenger side, and put the car in reverse, the passenger mirror will tilt all the way down so that you can see the curb when you are parallel parking. Comes in handy to save nice aftermarket rims from curb rash.

3) In all honesty, I have had to leave my seat memory off due to this same issue. No matter what I do to attempt to program the drivers seat, it does not seem to remember. I've even had it decide to reset the seat to all the way forward and up, while I was IN MOTION! Not good. I personally leave it off, and adjust it by hand, since no one ever drives my car but me. I think my car does throw a Sitzmemory code when checked on the VAG, I have to look at my old printouts to check the actual code number.


Do you have the Concert or Symphony stereo? Is there a wood door that folds down over the radio? If you have the door, and a Concert stereo, you have a true early 99 like mine. If you have the Symphony (dual-DIN) stereo with no door, you have a 99.5. There were other small changes done in this revision as well, these boards will help you find out all the little things about your car.

Best of luck with the car, I love mine, but it's on sale at the moment, as I am looking at Porsche Boxsters!

Here's a few pics of what mine looks like with a few mods...

<img src="http://www.schwanks.com/images/audi/IMG_0175.jpg" />
<img src="http://www.schwanks.com/images/audi/IMG_0179.jpg" />
<img src="http://www.schwanks.com/images/audi/IMG_0180.jpg" />

 

Thank YOU!!!

That's about what I expected on the LCD display...

Wow...the rearview dimmer is a surprise. I suppose I did notice a very, very mild dimming, but I am used to driving Honda's for the past 11 years. Perhaps some window tint is in order...
I find SUV drivers who like to tailgate highly distracting. I ended up adjusting the mirror so that I could only see the headlights when they were "too close". I also found the rear window screen and raised it to tone down the bright lights!

The seat memory thing is a bit of a bummer. Oh well. After trial &amp; error over and over again yesterday, I know where it needs to be for me - all the way down &amp; all the way back.

We must have a true '99. The stereo &amp; flip down wood cover is as you describe. Pretty nice for a stock soundsystem!!!

What wheels are those? I've already convinced the wife that we need a set of summer &amp; winter wheels.

 

and that windows-tint have you?

 

35% tint really does help with glare, makes it look much nicer too.

My wheels are Hartmann RS4 replicas. They can be had at a number of places including Achtuning or direct from hartmannwheels.com. I use the stock 16's for winter, and have 18's for summer. It really makes for a much bolder look.

As for other reccommendations, the Avant came with a soft suspension ride. You can upgrade to an OEM or H-Sport sway bar for less body roll in corners. My other reccommended mod is a Tip Chip, which will sharpen the shifting a bit from the very soft smooth feeling of the stock programming.

But you have AudiWorld, your mod trip is only beginning... enjoy your new ride!