Kia hired a former Audi designer to give its cars some snaz. Maybe Audi should consider an exchange program, hire some Hyundai/Kia designers to help with their baffling electronics interfaces. Yeah, I know this is more nitpicking about audio/info controls. I see your eyes rolling. I see them! Really though, c'mon...
A volume knob set off to the right of the gear selector in the center console. Two climate control knobs masquerading as volume and tune knobs. Multiple other commands accessed through the primary dial wheel and four-corner buttons aft of the gear selector - clockwise for scrolling up the menu, counterclockwise for down. Thumb the knurled wheel on the left side of the steering wheel to scroll on the small screen between tach and speedo, press to select. Don't push at an angle though, or you'll be zooming back up the list.
Touch, twist, thumb, press. Good grief, man. Working the audio and navi functions in the Avant keeps your hands busier than those of unsupervised 16-year-olds at the movies.
Like any car, you'd get used to it, I suppose. But should you have to? Especially when you're dancing around the $40k threshold and there are cleaner interfaces in cars half the price - like the Sonata or Optima? If this was just your weekend canyon bomber, it's probably no thing. But if this is your daily driver, as it will likely be for most folks, it seems an unnecessary compromise.
And I'm only talking the interface here, not performance or driving experience, so don't flame me on the wrong premise. Once you're on the gas in the Avant of course, music, talk and directions succumb to more immediate cerebral cortexian sensations.
Dan Frio, Automotive Editor
carguy622 says:
04:07 PM, 01/ 6/11
It's the German way. Nothing simple can be simple. There has to be a better, more complex way to do it.
dragonflight says:
04:33 PM, 01/ 6/11
I wasn't going to agree that this was substantial....until the clockwise/counterclockwise wonkiness. That would actually drive me nuts, no matter how long I owned it- it just goes against all my years of using scroll wheels! Clearly it was set up (and not reconfigured) for RHD but thats just sloppy, Audi.
Is there no software setting to reverse it? Maybe time to RTFM?
blueguydotcom says:
04:58 PM, 01/ 6/11
Super easy and intuitive control, imho. Our audi has the same wheel and it works fine.
hurls65 says:
05:00 PM, 01/ 6/11
Good thing I was too cheap to spring for the factory nav... the interfaces are much easier without. Though the MMI knob moves up to the dash and it's hard to tell without looking (or daily driver muscle memory) whether you're grabbing it or the HVAC knob.
brendan_m says:
06:20 PM, 01/ 6/11
Clockwise to scroll _up_ a menu? That is truly stupid. Have Audi engineers learned nothing from iPod?
acbayard says:
07:58 PM, 01/ 6/11
Hehehe... I'm cracking up at the comments against German logic.
When I was younger, I once read a field manual instructing that the German field compass was numbered counterclockwise. It is just cultural folks - like how the tacometer is marked with 10, 20, 30, etc...
drinkduff77 says:
06:41 AM, 01/ 7/11
I'm trying to figure out how clockwise for going up isn't intuitive. Everything else is clockwise for up too. The tach and speedo. You wan't to turn up the temperature? Turn it clockwise. Most hvac blowers increase speed with a clockwise turn too. The Sony stereo in my car turns up the volume by rotating the knob clockwise. Just visualize the left side of the knob instead of the right side.
roar02ram says:
06:42 AM, 01/ 7/11
And this even after they gave in to putting English on the buttons instead of nonsensical iconthingies. Oh well!
td1105 says:
07:37 AM, 01/ 7/11
The most idiotic looking thing (in my mind) is the way in which the 6-disc CD changer takes up so much space above the climate control for being a feature that (I rudely assume) nobody hardly uses anymore.
The dawn of MMI/iDrive/etc. seemed to spell the deathknell of proper radio controls in German vehicles. My old A4 (B5 generation), while offering a slew of buttons and being a bit behind in techno-whizz-bangery, manages to feel intuitive. Sure, you have to glance over everything at first, but that's no problem; my guess is that part of that relates to the absence of navigation. Nevertheless, I feel like Garmin offers an easier solution to the navigation questions than most OEM units (the exception being those supplied by Garmin...).
powell_jr says:
08:42 AM, 01/ 7/11
keeps your hands busier than those of unsupervised 16-year-olds at the movies.
-hilarious
lucien4 says:
12:22 PM, 01/ 7/11
I agree and I didn't get used to it even after 2 weeks in a rental car. The steering wheel buttons surprisingly don't do as much. The counterclock direction puzzled me as well.
The volume button was most difficult for me to figure out since it's a combo radio/nav volume and on/off button.
Even though people complain about too many buttons in Honda/Acura's I find it much more intuitive.
maastrichtian says:
01:27 PM, 01/ 7/11
I agree with drinkduff77 (great screen name, also). Just because you're used to one way... WHO CARES. Yes, you do get used to it. If you can't wrap your head around things being different from different manufacturers, you should probably just stay at home curled up in the fetal position under your blankets.
"Did they learn nothing from the iPod"? Meaning why didn't they do things exactly like the iPod? Are they supposed to change everything they do everytime some new gadget comes out? Are they supposed to design everything like every other car company? Which company do they choose?
Someone is confused by a knob that control volume for the stereo, volume for nav, and is also an on/off switch? Again, please stay indoors; wrap some blankets around your hands and tinfoil around your head; help is on its way.
Sheesh.
audisport says:
01:51 PM, 01/ 7/11
I don't know how I can drive without crashing with such complexities. I amaze myself everyday.
Next time drive the Mazda2 Dan, it'll be more simple for you.
hacefrio says:
02:04 PM, 01/ 7/11
@maastrichtian & audisport,
fair enough. I'm game for a little Friday bench jousting.
But, you're missing my overall point: should you HAVE to get used to this? Especially when others are doing it better and cheaper. That's all. Audi is fully capable of doing it better (with the additional luxury of not having to offer it cheaper). They just aren't.
jpdisarro says:
04:23 PM, 01/ 7/11
I have an A4 and have not experienced any of the problems mentioned by the author; I was comfortable with all of the controls several days after buying the car. I don't understand the issue with the rotary know that scrolls up when turned clockwise; this isn't difficult to adjust to, and IMO, is more natural than having clockwise scroll down.
newenglandA4 says:
12:40 PM, 01/ 9/11
I have this car and love it! Just like jpdisarro...."I was comfortable with all the controls several days after buying the car"!