My New S1 - Some Questions

[RMJ891]

Hi there

First time posted, long time lurker and all that!

I received my new S1 Sportback on the weekend (Quattro pack inside and out, tech pack, arm rest, metal vents, advanced sound system, metal gear stick etc.), and had the boot wrapped at Raccoon in Edenbridge (highly recommended) to make it look like the press pics.

I LOVE it. It pins you back in your seat, and people really stare at it (I think it's very pretty)... and it has a little burble too when you start it up.

I have just a couple of questions, since this is actually the first car I have ever owned:

1. I have experienced the squeak / whine noise when stopping / starting at low speed that others seem to have encountered. Did anyone else figure out what this was? I saw on the forum that it is a relatively common problem...

2. What is the best / cheapest way that people have found to use Audi Connect? iPhones down link automatically, so I need to buy a SIM, and have seen £10 per month for 1GB data as the best deal?

3. Cleaning tips - how do people go about it (stopping smears) - are any non-DIY / automatic car washes safe or good?

4. When inspecting it after my first weekend of driving, there are some TINY chips in the front and back skirt in the paint work (not Audi's doing, probably just a small stone kicked up). I'm talking a few millimetres at most. Do these grow and cause a problem, or is it a natural thing that's nothing to worry about?

Thanks, and I hope the pictures work!

 

[Ian Whiffen]

The squeaking is probably the front pads and callipers it seems to be a problem with audi. The creaky clutch pedal will become another annoying feature due to the plastic parts, I sorted mine with some wd40 but it is meant to dissappear after a few thousand miles. Apart from that it's a brilliant car. Enjoy

 

[RMJ891]

Thanks Ian - as long as it's not dangerous and goes away after a few hundred miles, then I'm okay with that. It's not too annoying, I guess I just panicked as it's my (quite expensive) new toy, and don't want things to break!

 

[Ian Whiffen]

I know, it shouldn't have any problems for the price lol. My car has done just over 3000 miles now and the brakes still make noise sometimes. I'm hoping that when it eventually needs new pads it might solve the problem. I did read a link where someone did take the pads out and used copper grease on the backs of them to solve it

 

[RMJ891]

Tell me about it! Well strangely, it even seems to happen when just pulling off (and not on the brakes), so hoping it's not an alignment issue. To be fair, it's a minor blemish on an otherwise-amazing experience!

 

[Ian Whiffen]

Yeah mine is normally at low speed when pulling off or reverse parking. As for the paint chips mine has some thanks to a gritting lorry in January, you can get a touch up pot from Audi for the white fairly easily, I would imagine. My Vegas Yellow unfortunately, because it's a new colour, Audi don't do touch up pots yet. I would hand wash your car if you can,those auto and hand wash places tend to scratch the hell out of a car. Just get a couple of good sponges or a wash mitt it's more rewarding lol

 

[Luc s1]

I also had the squeking brakes ! ...
Now it's solved.... They put on new brake pads and the squeking noise is
gone. I hope it's stays away !

 

[josedebardi]

Audi Connect, I have an EE iPhone contract, and pay £6 a month for a 'sharer sim' that goes in the car, so it uses my 10Gb data allowance on my main contract.

 

[RMJ891]

Yeah, i think when I upgrade my phone I need to switch to EE so that I can do that... 02 don't do it, unfortunately!

 

[montyw]

giffgaff do a data only sim, 1 Gb for £7.50/month or 500Mb for £5/month, just signed up to the 1 Gb deal so playing with it to see just how far 1Gb will go?

 

[RMJ891]

Thanks - I'd be interested to hear that. My parents have an A6 (and drive a lot more than I do) and say that it's not too bad, but the Audi salesperson said it really chomps through data. He doesn't have a reason to say that unless it's true, so it did get me wondering...

 

[josedebardi]

1gb should be plenty. It's pretty good at caching the Google Earth data so if most of your trips are within the same 50 mile radius it won't download much at all. The Google Earth overlays is the only feature that uses any significant data, the rest like Google destinations or traffic info are a few kb at a time i.e. negligible.

 

[RMJ891]

Thanks Jose - that's good to know - I had assumed it would be more dumb than that and just 'stream' the live map. On which note, does the map update itself (i.e. with new roads) through this data, or does that still have to be done when the car is being serviced? There are quite a number of new roads around where I live, and the offline map had problems finding my friends' houses over the weekend!

 

[josedebardi]

The maps data is still static on the HDD, the Google Earth is literally just satellite imagery overlay. The worst case is you could use the Google search function to find your friends house, this will give the Sat Nag the exact long/lat position to aim for, it will get you close via existing roads and then say 'the destination is in the indicated direction' - you can then manually drive towards the chequered flag on the screen!

 

[RMJ891]

Got it - thanks very much. That's pretty helpful, I guess! I have to say I'm extremely impressed with the nav in the tech pack - it's better than my Tomtom, which I wasn't expecting.

 

[josedebardi]

Indeed - I often get asked why I 'wasted' my money on the fancy Sat Nag when I could have a TomTom for £150, or the SD Nav for £500 - the answer is it is well worth it! Most peoples experience of in built Sat Nag is it's poor compared to the best Garmin/TomTom's etc, but Audi have really got it right with the HDD Sat Nag + Audi Connect IMO.
The internet connection is what makes it - I can't remember the last time I put a postcode in via the MMI - it's quicker to use the Audi Connect app on your phone to send it to the car (plus it sends the phone number/google reviews etc for the associated destination to the car which is handy). Most often though I plan my trips on my Mac on Google Maps and use the 'Send to car' feature.
My friends have got used to me saying 'I'll ask the car' when we are out and someone says 'Let's find a decent pub for lunch'. I just get in, tell it to find whatever we want in the immediate vicinity via the Google search and I get all the reviews etc, pick one, and drive!
I also use the WiFi hotspot extensively, it saves your phone battery as it's transmitting 10m not 10 miles for internet, plus on long drives with friends/colleagues they can browse/work on their phone/tablet/laptop to pass the time (note you don't want to offer this unless you have 10Gb of data available like I do!!).

The only downside is how lost you feel when there is no mobile reception!!

Enjoy

 

[RMJ891]

That's fantastic - I'll have to check these features out. My SIM card has just arrived, so I'll get hunting through the features. As well as actually being better (in my opinion) than the Tomtom I have, presumably some of the outlay for the tech pack will find its way back to the owner through an increased value 3 years down the line.

Cheers

 

[josedebardi]

To the right buyer who understands and wants these features yes - but to the trade, SD Nav = Tech Pack HDD Nav in terms of residual value

 

[RMJ891]

Jose - can you possibly talk me through how to use google maps on my iPhone to search for a destination and put it onto the MMI? I have the Audi connect app (which I am struggling with) and the myaudi allows me to add destinations (which I can, slowly, see in the car screen. But I just wondered if there's a quick way of searching on google on my phone and then just binging it straight to the screen in the car? Thanks!

 

[josedebardi]

You have to use the MMI Connect https://appsto.re/gb/VNSaI.i or MyAudi https://appsto.re/gb/GY8GY.i app. Both apps have a a built in Google search, then send it to the car, then in the car call up your online destinations - not sure why you say it's slow? Maybe you don't have very good signal where you? It takes 3-5 seconds to load on mine, and the most recently added destination is always the one at the top.

 

[RMJ891]

Ah the send button is there now - I think you're right - I think it must have just been bad reception (my car is in a semi-underground car park...). Thank you!

 

[RMJ891]

Just to say - Audi have come back to me about the squeaking noise, and they think it's just the pads wearing in. They say to raise it again after approx 1000 miles if it's still happening..

 

[thewanted]

It's BS Mine still does it after 11000 miles.

 

[RMJ891]

That's not great to hear! What have they said to you? I can't even work out what it is, because it happens when I'm neither on the brake nor the clutch! I don't mind so much, provided it's not dangerous, though that said - it was very loud on one drive this weekend...

 

[thewanted]

I spoke to them briefly on Saturday and the service advisor said, "It happens on all performance models. S4, RS4, S8, S3, etc. It's the compound they use. Try some hard braking from a high speed."

I couldn't be bothered to argue with her so I left it. My brakes squeal pretty much every day without failure

 

[josedebardi]

It's a very common issue on the S1... http://www.a1-forum.co.uk/a1forum/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=156986

I think it must be a wheel bearing.

 

[RMJ891]

Thanks Jose - I'm glad to see that yours resolved itself in the end. Fingers crossed mine does the same!