Why are Audi so flippin' arrogant ?
Posted: Fri Jan 31, 2014 6:41 pm
They really do seem like the Apple of the car world - nice products, overpriced, very secretive and refuse to believe anyone would want to question their 'we know best' attitude.
As a soon to be owner of my third Audi (S4) a couple of things came to light when looking for facts and history about the car;
1) It took several calls and one to Germany to pin down what satnav / music system it had. All the garages had on their schedules was SatNav and MMI. Had to go as far as Ingolstadt to find out it is MMI 2G High with DVD Nav. And thence has started a whole trail of finding out what I can to get digital music into the car (without burning MP3s on CDs). How difficult have Audi made it - phew ? At every step there seem to be barriers - fit AMI (great but need new, extortionate glovebox and very expensive). Even then there may be some limit imposed, arbitrarily, on how much music I can store on a USB drive (so what's the point of getting a portable hard drive). Can't simply add SD card slots (at least I don't think so) . . . and on it goes. Latest idea is AMI but fitted in the boot next to the DVD sat nav - is this possible ? It would at least remove the glovebox issue. Audi don't have a clue what to suggest.
2) When asking about the music system at an Audi garage the service record flashed up on screen indicating over £7k of work 15,000 miles ago. But they could not tell me what it was for (knowing Audi, probably a couple of engine cover screws). Asked Audi UK - no idea. Asked Ingolstadt - referred me back to Audi UK - who referred me to the garage that did the work - refused to tell me as I wasn't the owner when the work was done and that it was because of "data protection". Back to Audi UK - steadfast refusal. So I finally tracked down a copy of the service invoice and there it was, in two small words, "engine replaced". The next entry warranted three whole lines about the wonders of their 'complimentary' car wash it received ! Stunning.
Never had this secrecy with BMW
As a soon to be owner of my third Audi (S4) a couple of things came to light when looking for facts and history about the car;
1) It took several calls and one to Germany to pin down what satnav / music system it had. All the garages had on their schedules was SatNav and MMI. Had to go as far as Ingolstadt to find out it is MMI 2G High with DVD Nav. And thence has started a whole trail of finding out what I can to get digital music into the car (without burning MP3s on CDs). How difficult have Audi made it - phew ? At every step there seem to be barriers - fit AMI (great but need new, extortionate glovebox and very expensive). Even then there may be some limit imposed, arbitrarily, on how much music I can store on a USB drive (so what's the point of getting a portable hard drive). Can't simply add SD card slots (at least I don't think so) . . . and on it goes. Latest idea is AMI but fitted in the boot next to the DVD sat nav - is this possible ? It would at least remove the glovebox issue. Audi don't have a clue what to suggest.
2) When asking about the music system at an Audi garage the service record flashed up on screen indicating over £7k of work 15,000 miles ago. But they could not tell me what it was for (knowing Audi, probably a couple of engine cover screws). Asked Audi UK - no idea. Asked Ingolstadt - referred me back to Audi UK - who referred me to the garage that did the work - refused to tell me as I wasn't the owner when the work was done and that it was because of "data protection". Back to Audi UK - steadfast refusal. So I finally tracked down a copy of the service invoice and there it was, in two small words, "engine replaced". The next entry warranted three whole lines about the wonders of their 'complimentary' car wash it received ! Stunning.
Never had this secrecy with BMW