I brought new Audi A3 November 2020. Although the car is great it has been back to the shop about 4 times for various software woes all related to the MMI console - lost Sat Nav/Drive Select etc. Biggest bugbear was it lost the user settings every day (and hence any preloaded sat nav destinations) and kept pinging a loud warning that emergency call function fault unavailable. From what I understand this is/was a whole VAG group wide problem. Having waited over a year for a fix last week it was finally fixed. Bit like a factory reset on the computer. Touch wood all now seems well, but it leaves a sour taste in the mouth in that shouldnāt it just work out of the box?
I was also unimpressed with the purchase - I have brought 4 new Audi A3ās dating back to 1997. Couldnāt get the options I wanted and was told - oh sir customers like to just have the option packs all set up for them!. When I brought the previous A3 2015 I asked what discount I would get being a loyal customer and a cash buyer, the lady said frankly I was a nuisance being a cash buyer because they make their profit from pcp these days. Needless to say I walked out and brought it from another dealer
Itās easy - just buy used cars, when you either pick the one that has what you want from a huge range, if a popular car, or you grab one when you see at an affordable price without even being able to choose colour, let alone optional extras! Thatās what I do (I will never buy a new car).
Your recent purchase experience is typical of todayās sellersā market: The only new vehicle Iāve ever bought is a campervan: and with that not only no discount, but Ā£20k over list price. There was zero interest by the sales people because it is such easy money, they knowing if we dindāt buy someone else would within a few days. It took lots of chasing to get the additional things I wanted fitted - they tried to palm me off with an out of date (8 year old) small screen sat nav (at high cost) and it took me finding a supplier and demonstrating availability before they agreed to fit a better one. And they fitted a second leisure battery back to front (yes, positive to negative and vice versa), not noticing the connecting fuse blew instantly, and supplied it with 6 of teh 8 passenger seat mounting screws missing. We could have waited to get a choice of colour, and factory fitted options ā¦not available until extimated 18 months later, at an unknown price anticipated to be higher still.
Sadly car software is likely to be a growing problem.
A friend had his car serviced. That took 90 mins but the software took a day. When having my old Smart serviced the Mercedesā service adviser informed his customer, who had been there hours, that update was only 50% done.
Also manufacturers may only allow dealers to update cars.
The manufacturer who keeps an electric car simple might just clean up.
Yes, I was advised to update would take ābetween 6 and 20 hoursā. To be fair though it was done in the day
Another annoyance is they donāt help much with transport to and fro. Courtesy car costs Ā£30 no loyalty there and wonāt even give you a lift to nearest train station (Covid of course). To be fair to Audi they do offer a collect and deliver from your house but I prefer to drive the car to dealership myself
You seem to be moaning for moaningās sake here. They offer a collect and delivery service and you choose not to use it, so itās your choice to pay more and be inconvenienced. Things go wrong, itās part of life. Itās fixed now, so it seems a strange time to start moaning.
Most of the automobile industry has been caught flat footed. They donāt understand the software in their cars, particularly the people charged with fixing things in the dealerships. I had an issue with my previous car, a Mercedes; took weeks to resolve a software issue with much communication between Swindon and Stuttgart. The Swindon end was pretty much clueless and Iām not sure that Stuttgart was much further ahead of them.
You have my sympathy. As an ex-VW Golf Mk 8 owner I recently decided that enough was enough and changed to a non VAG manufacturer. There are many tales of woe on various forums regarding the poor performance of the āinfotainmentā system used across many of their vehicles.
Our Volvo (9 years old and 122k miles) is going to an independant Volvo specialist for a service this week.
The first thing I was askedā¦do you need a courtesy car. I donāt but have used before, no need to cover insurance and only cover fuel used. Admittedly, the cars are older than ours and higher mileage, but are appreciated.
Iām not sure Iāll buy another VW group car again. My wifeās current ID3 is plagued with software issues, the dealers are blissfully unaware of how to deal with their new electric cars when talking to them and the two dealers within 40 miles of my home always have a 6 week wait time to get a date when they can book the car in.
Her golf prior to the ID3 was ok, but the return process at the end of the lease was torture, tried to charge me for body damage that nobodyās could see but trying to speak to someone took 3 weeks of calls and probably 10 hrs each week. Swore then Iād never have another VW.
My BMW has had no issues, been in for routine servicing in relatively short lead time but the service I get in showroom always leave me frustrated. Reception want you to tell them why your there, then tell you to sit and wait even though the service desk is empty and staff are sat at the desks, Iām then offered a coffee which I donāt want, I just want to drop my car off and get away. Eventually someone will call me over to a desk, ask me when Iād like the car back only to be told when itāll be ready (end of the day usually).
As a Alfa Romeo Giulia QV owner and Ford Focus RS owner, both with relatively simple infotainment systems I am pleased with my choices. Iām not sure what Iām missing out on by having less technology but at least Iāve not had any software issues.
I was very interested in an ID3 and put a deposit down. However Iām glad I didnāt and yes read all about their massive software issues. Decided to wait wait for electric āversion 2ā that will surely come solid state etc. And buy one last combustion car
All the car journslists say cars are too digital now some with no dials or buttons at all like Tesla. Manufacturers seem to be adding functions for the sake of it rather like the latest phone. Example who needs an electrically opening glove box!
Thankfully my MY 2000 Honda Accord Type R which Iāve had 19 years has none of this tech. fitted, not even a warning light for not putting on seatbelt !
The more gadgets 50the more ther is to go wrong. From the commercial point of view, electric cars have so much less to do in terms of necessary servicing that dealers wonāt make enough income from that - so more going wrong is good for them ( and no good having an instant fix).
So this is the thing - you changed to a non VAG manufacturer. Donāt the manufacturers understand customer loyalty only goes so far before you take your business elsewhere. Yes, of course issues occur but this specific MMI issue has been around for some 18 months - something to do with 5G cell towers I believe. I donāt feel massively disposed to buy another Audi in the future given the whole purchase and aftersales issues
I am not sure what VAG group are doing. There are rumours that Golf 8 may be the last Golf as they are pushing the newer ID Range. I have previously owned 5 Golfs of various vintages/fuels etc. All were excellent until the Mk 8ā¦. The software fix was announced late Nov 21 and apparently is only being applied to vehicles displaying issues, at least in UK. I was informed by my dealer that as my car didnāt record the faults, despite my giving photographic evidence of displays with error messages etc, it would not be done as yet, It therefore has not been updated. Suspect the number of vehicles to be updated is rather large and at 4 days a go will take some time to do them all. I didnāt risk using the full ACC function as I was very nervous about the reported issue where the car suddenly thinks 70 mph is actually 70 kph and applies brakes to that effect.
Hopefully the new (to me) car performs better, time will tell.
A3
S3 old shape
S3 new shape
RS3 new shape (not latest)
And and S5 cabā¦
Have to say. They very rarely go wrong but when they do the dealership bends of backwards to fixā¦?
Brilliant cars IMHOā¦
Barring everyone thinking your an āAudi w**kerā Iād highly recommend.!
I have an S3. Bought new in 2020.
Iāve had no software issues to date thankfully.
The issue Iāve had is with the wireless.
There was an awful buzz coming from the rear speakers at certain bass frequencies even at low volume levels.
I thought I was hearing things at first as the girlfriend couldnāt hear the buzz!! No doubt due to her inability to shut her trap for more than 30 secs!
But it was definitely there and frustratingly intermittent.
I emptied the door pockets, glove box and boot then trawled through my playlist trying to find something that was consistent.
I finally found my first by a listen to Gabrielle.
Her Rise album mustāve had the same bassist, using his own toys, as thereās a few tracks that made the speakers buzz.
After a little more research I found others too.
Nas and Post Malone weāre unplayable!
I solved the issue by removing the speaker grills and shoving a couple of car sponges (dry) between the parcel shelf cover and metal boot thingy with an off cut of 15mm copper.
Itās a B n O system.
The girlfriend has a Bose system in her A1 which sounds a lot better than mine
If you got this far thanks for having a shoulder.
