B8 / B8.5 A4 / S4 Little Surprises

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Had a similar thread on the 8V A3 section and thought 'tis was rather good :thumbs up:

What little surprises have you found on your B8 / B8.5 A4 / S4?

Having already owned a new 2009 A4 (now sold - http://www.audi-sport.net/xf/threads/bhs-ibis-white-b8-audi-a4-2-0-tfsi-quattro-s-line-saloon.225569/ ) I found a few things that were welcome over the 5 1/2 years of ownership

Found the HHA invaluable (my old A4 was a manual)
Speed display in the DIS display
Being able to switch the gear shift indicator off. Found it distracting TBH
'Curry hooks' in the boot (I had a saloon)
I had 'normal' cruise control, which to my surprise braked the car when it exceeded the set limit when going downhill. Conversely when accelerating beyond the set mph and then releasing the throttle, the car returned to the set mph
 
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7 speed S-Tronic - when in manual mode it doesn't kick down to 1st gear until your are completely stationary. 6 speed in my TT did this at around 5mph and it was highly annoying on slow corners for example.
7 speed S-Tronic - when in S mode (dynamic engine and gearbox override) switching to manual mode and it stays in dynamic mode....nice.
Somewhere proper to locate the fuel filler cap when filling up.
Auto folding mirrors on lock
 
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I don't use it on hills but use it all the time in traffic. Applies light pressure on the brakes.
 
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scotty76 said:
I don't use it on hills but use it all the time in traffic. Applies light pressure on the brakes.
Click to expand...
...ditto. This also cancels 'Start Stop' and with your foot off the break you don't annoy the person behind with your brake lights:)

Fuel filler cap holder: +1
Press & hold the temperature button to engage simultaneous temps with driver & passenger (My dealer didn't even know this?!)
The drink holders in the door pockets are a god send!
Music Album images or 'cover flow' on the stereo is a nice touch.
 
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Being able to set either wing mirror to angle down and in so I can see the curb. When you pop it into reverse the wing mirrors with rotate in and down so you can see where the curb is for parallel parking, when you move off (5mph) the move back to their normal position.

Putting in manual but the box changes up automatically when you are near the red line and changes down when you are moving too slow for the current gear. It's nice as you know you can put it in M for blasting and not worry about having to drop a gear in traffic.

Being able to control the temperature on either side or both at once by pressing the heater dials in.



.....nicest surprise? Having way more HP than the official stats stated!!!
 
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hmmmm, this is my first Audi so it's new to me.

Got a first aid kit in the rear centre arm rest storage compartment too that I found the other day....never knew that was there!
 
All these surprises tell me there's a lot of owners out there who have never read their owner's manual.
 
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jdp1962 said:
All these surprises tell me there's a lot of owners out there who have never read their owner's manual.
Click to expand...

I can not read instructions, that would prove my wife right when she says I do not know everything !
 
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iPhone 4 clips in perfectly in sideways position in the sunglasses holder , handy for when using iPhone as a sat nav .
 
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Two nifty things with the cruise control - both in the manual I'm sure, but a nice 'surprise' compared to other cars I've driven.

1: On manual cars you can change gear without cruise control disengaging
2: A longer press up or down on the cruise control stalk raises/lowers the speed to the next 5MPH value. Perfect when you want to go *exactly* 50 through the motorway roadworks.
 
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Speed display in the DIS display – find myself using this all the time now, don’t look at Speedo
Never thought I would, but really like the reverse camera (although my son thinks its hilarious to stand behind it and flick me the Vs!)
Curry hooks, what curry hooks - are they a saloon only thing?

Any Avant owners spotted the first ‘Avant’ badge in Audi history - well as far as I can recall anyways

To mix it up a little, things I don’t like (not many):-
Ami in glove box, not armrest – only use it for changing, but still bugs me
Voice dialing - when I say ‘Call Joe blogs’ then it says, ‘would you like to dial the number?’ YES that’s why I said it! Argh
Also I’d swear on my old B6, when you use the phone, the air con fan speed / noise would reduce automatically, but doesn’t on the B8
Not real issues just fancied a moan:)
 
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jdp1962 said:
The temperature synch thing isn't a B8 thing. I can do that on my B7.
Click to expand...

However, the old shortcut to change the temperature between Celsius and Fahrenheit, is no longer there - presumably due to the design of the temperature knobs.

Unless of course they've changed the combination of button presses??
 
silentbrown said:
2: A longer press up or down on the cruise control stalk raises/lowers the speed to the next 5MPH value. Perfect when you want to go *exactly* 50 through the motorway roadworks.
Click to expand...

i had a quite worrying issue the other week w/ this: i was cruising at 40 and moved onto a nastional limit area so i pressed the stalk up so that it cycled up to 60mph. the car accelerated...and i noticed it was still cycling up! got up to 75 on the display before i hurriedly switched it off. never done that before or since, so go figure.
 
wolfie138 said:
i had a quite worrying issue the other week w/ this: i was cruising at 40 and moved onto a nastional limit area so i pressed the stalk up so that it cycled up to 60mph. the car accelerated...and i noticed it was still cycling up! got up to 75 on the display before i hurriedly switched it off. never done that before or since, so go figure.
Click to expand...


My steering radio controls stopped working for one journey only. They were fine on restart, so know just what you mean!
 
I'm not embarrassed to say that I skimmed the manual :D because I knew there would be loads of little hidden things I wouldn't know about; many of them people have said above.

The only one i've noticed recently is the use for the lumbar support. Never noticed it did anything until I pressed it for long enough so that it actually moved into my lower back!
 
its been so annoying having to change both temps to the same, bit ocd about having them the same and also has to be even number lol
will this work on any b8?
cant wait to try it tonight!!!
 
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Although with the temperature sync function on the B8, only the drivers side can be set to synchronise both. On the B6/B7 (and presumably other Audis with the same Climatronic module), you could hold down the AUTO button on the passenger side and it would set priority over the driver's temperature, until the driver synchronised his/her side, or adjusted the temperature.
 
silentbrown said:
Two nifty things with the cruise control - both in the manual I'm sure, but a nice 'surprise' compared to other cars I've driven.

1: On manual cars you can change gear without cruise control disengaging
2: A longer press up or down on the cruise control stalk raises/lowers the speed to the next 5MPH value. Perfect when you want to go *exactly* 50 through the motorway roadworks.
Click to expand...

One thing I've noticed though is that if you disengage the cruise by turning it off completely (pushing the stalk back until it clicks), the car noticeably jerks as it kills the throttle, I've got into the habit of cancelling first either by tapping the brake or cancelling with the stalk before doing a full switch off.
 
thanks that's great to know.
so do I hold down the auto button or the temp knob to sync them?
 
sal1m said:
iPhone 4 clips in perfectly in sideways position in the sunglasses holder , handy for when using iPhone as a sat nav .
Click to expand...

This is genious! But my Sony Z is more of a tablet so prob wont fit lol
I use a rubber phone case and rest my phone up against the centre screen, stays put and is like having a built in sat nav... nearly..

ianv5 said:
Temp button
Click to expand...
I have been trying to figure this out a year and a half every time my passegers un sync them, used to be the auto button.. THANK YOU!
 
I have the alarm chirp on lock enabled through vag com after watching a program where thieves used a scrambler to block the lock command from your key and getting in once you are out of eye shot, now it chirps so I know :)

Any one have a list of the vag com gems and any guides to set them?
 
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Curry hooks for @Keef and yes it's a saloon.

IMG 20150416 171151488 HDR
 
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Can you hang Chinese food bags on there too, or do they only hold curry? Seems a bit 1 dimentional if so.
 
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Then it's now officially called a beer hook. I like that better, and doesn't make you car smelly :)
 
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