[wonderstoat]

In anticipation of getting my car on Tuesday (yay!) , I tried to book myself in later in the week to get the Dension gateway-500 fitted - and discovered yet another thing that Audi dealer and brochure omitted to mention.

Let me first state that I have NOT ordered satnav and have NOT not therefore got AMI (Audi Music Interface.) But everything I'd researched up to today indicated that the Dension would more than make up for it.

Anyway - my conversation with the guy in the audio place (who do all audi's work) went as follows:

Me: "Hi. I'd like to get the Dension 500 fitted in my new A5"
HIM: "OK, the Dension 500 only works if you have the MMI"
Me: "All A5s have MMI"
HIM: "No they don't. Some have only AIS. You can tell when you switch on the ignition, either the words 'MMI' will show up, or 'AIS'. I discovered this last week when trying to fit a Dension 500 to an A5 and it wouldn't work"

WHAT???

I then phoned Audi and they said they thought that "MMI high" (as they called it) was only on the car if you had satnav installed as well.

Which sort of defeats the purpose of not getting satnav. I didn't want to pay £2grand just to connect my ipod, but now Audi have fixed it so that you can't even fit an aftermarket solution if you don't have satnav!?! My wife's Seat Leon has ipod integration, but my £31k coupe doesn't?!

Not happy!

Can anyone currently driving a UK spec 1.8T sport go outside, switch on their ignition and tell me what comes up on the screen as it boots up?

I'm fairly certain that if any model has been given this crappy "AIS" then it'll be the 1.8, as we've been shafted on the exhaust, shiny grill etc.

Anyway - would welcome comments from anyone who's come across this.

Thanks
Stoatie.

 

[Roswell]

AIS? WTF more like!

I was also hoping to fit this as I've not ordered Sat Nav.

 

[ABZY]

sorry I have it still on order - but i share the same issue with the exhaust and grill for sure - i also had to push for cinnamon leather in the sports - which is not listed on the brochure!

They told me I could not have B & O with phone integration as it said only available with Symphony - but B & O is just speaker and amp upgrade and symphone is the concerts system with 6 cd -

I have been lucky and bought some new cars in my time but never ever have i seen a brochure full of so much inacurate information - i dont this i would buy another audi blind for sure - doesnt matter how good it looks

 

[TuffLittleUnit]

Interesting. Did Audi indicate whether this only applied to the 1.8 or to any car without Sat Nav+ ?

I think your suggestion is that it's something else that's been cut from the 1.8 but which is standard on all other engines.

This is going to sound really dumb, but being in NI I assume you get the UK spec cars, right, rather than your own local variants (like the guys in Eire)

 

[micdw]

What does this dension 500 allow you to do re sat nav? Im not familiar with this.

 

[wonderstoat]

Interesting. Did Audi indicate whether this only applied to the 1.8 or to any car without Sat Nav+ ?

I think your suggestion is that it's something else that's been cut from the 1.8 but which is standard on all other engines.

This is going to sound really dumb, but being in NI I assume you get the UK spec cars, right, rather than your own local variants (like the guys in Eire)

It's fair to say that Audi don't know their ass from their elbows. I can't think of another single purchase (nevermind one of £30k) whereby the manufacturer can blatantly publish inacurate sales material. Audi supposedly have BMW in their sights? They'll have to raise their game a fair bit.

In answer to your question, though, yes - we get UK spec.

 

[wonderstoat]

What does this dension 500 allow you to do re sat nav? Im not familiar with this.

The Denison allows on-screen integration with an iPod, without having to have the Audi AMI or the Satnav (on other models like the A6, but not, alas it seems, the A5).

 

[TuffLittleUnit]

An equally valid question here is whether anyone driving anything other than a 1.8 which also doesn't have sat nav+ sees MMI or AIS.

There have been threads previously which indicate that the "MMI" on cars without Sat Nav+ seems to lack a couple of features e.g. some control of the B&O sound system. There's also another thread running at the moment where the guys with the top end engines and sat nav+ seem to be getting different MMI behaviours (specifically the oil level indication). I'm wondering if any of these guys see AIS rather than MMI.

Although it's easy to feel cheated on some of this stuff a lot if it is probably insignificant. I do, however, recognise that the lack of any aftermarket iPod integration is a much bigger issue (selfishly, I was always planning on just using SD cards of MP3s ... although I'm wondering if AIS allows full browsing of these).

Some of the guys here from the USA seem to have got hold of some of the Audi technical manuals. Any chance you could see if there is any reference to AIS functions versus MMS functions?

 

[JockTheRock]

I started both cars this morning.

The 1.8 without satnav says 'Audi Information System' when you start it.

The 3.0 with satnav says 'Audi Multi Media Interface'.

However, satnav aside, I really cant see any difference between the two systems. All the functions of the MMI seem to be on the AIS as well.

That said, none of the cars have an ipod connection so I can't offer much information on that.

Cheers

 

[wonderstoat]

I started both cars this morning.

The 1.8 without satnav says 'Audi Information System' when you start it.

The 3.0 with satnav says 'Audi Multi Media Interface'.

However, satnav aside, I really cant see any difference between the two systems. All the functions of the MMI seem to be on the AIS as well.

That said, none of the cars have an ipod connection so I can't offer much information on that.

Cheers

Thanks Jock

I think that answers it.

At the moment no solution exists for a 1.8T without satnav. We don't know if that extends to ALL models without satnav.

 

[BALIKOTI]

I hope this can help. Just called my mom, she drives my Q7 while I am at work, made her pull over on the highway and check! Our Q7 does not have navigation and the screen still says MMI.

 

[Stevieb0y]

I didn't get the sat nav on my 2.7tdi and had a look just now and it comes up AIS when i start up the car.

I refuse to pay £2000 for a sat nav system when i can get better ones for £150 or to connect up my ipod when sub £10,000 cars come with it as standard.

I feel this is a real oversight by Audi but as i like to listen to 5 live most the time i am driving it doesn't make much difference to me. I will put some music on an SD card though.

Hope this helps a little
Steve

 

[golfdeeko]

Here Here !!!

 

[boxerrich]

31K for 1.8T and no Sat nav???

 

[wonderstoat]

31K for 1.8T and no Sat nav???

Yip.

1.8 TFSI
Sport model
19'' Y wheels
BT-low prep
Folding wing mirrors
Xenons.

All adds up ...

(Of course, the leasing company may have got discount, but that's the list price.)

 

[Chaswick]

In anticipation of getting my car on Tuesday (yay!) , I tried to book myself in later in the week to get the Dension gateway-500 fitted - and discovered yet another thing that Audi dealer and brochure omitted to mention.

Let me first state that I have NOT ordered satnav and have NOT not therefore got AMI (Audi Music Interface.) But everything I'd researched up to today indicated that the Dension would more than make up for it.

Anyway - my conversation with the guy in the audio place (who do all audi's work) went as follows:

Me: "Hi. I'd like to get the Dension 500 fitted in my new A5"
HIM: "OK, the Dension 500 only works if you have the MMI"
Me: "All A5s have MMI"
HIM: "No they don't. Some have only AIS. You can tell when you switch on the ignition, either the words 'MMI' will show up, or 'AIS'. I discovered this last week when trying to fit a Dension 500 to an A5 and it wouldn't work"

WHAT???

I then phoned Audi and they said they thought that "MMI high" (as they called it) was only on the car if you had satnav installed as well.

Which sort of defeats the purpose of not getting satnav. I didn't want to pay £2grand just to connect my ipod, but now Audi have fixed it so that you can't even fit an aftermarket solution if you don't have satnav!?! My wife's Seat Leon has ipod integration, but my £31k coupe doesn't?!

Not happy!

Can anyone currently driving a UK spec 1.8T sport go outside, switch on their ignition and tell me what comes up on the screen as it boots up?

I'm fairly certain that if any model has been given this crappy "AIS" then it'll be the 1.8, as we've been shafted on the exhaust, shiny grill etc.

Anyway - would welcome comments from anyone who's come across this.

Thanks
Stoatie.

I picked my 1.8T Sport up last weekend and I can confirm it is doesn't say MMI when starting up. The plus side I have found is that with the SD card reader I have transfered my music to to SD and the system reads card very well, shows all the details on the screen and the sound is great. SD cards are so cheap I have 4 - 2GB cards in the car with around 100 albums on them and so far have not bothered using the cd player. This way means you don't have to plug in ipod and have extra kit.

 

[wonderstoat]

I picked my 1.8T Sport up last weekend and I can confirm it is doesn't say MMI when starting up. The plus side I have found is that with the SD card reader I have transfered my music to to SD and the system reads card very well, shows all the details on the screen and the sound is great. SD cards are so cheap I have 4 - 2GB cards in the car with around 100 albums on them and so far have not bothered using the cd player. This way means you don't have to plug in ipod and have extra kit.

Hi Chaswick - sounds good. Can you confirm a couple of techy details for me:

How are the cards formatted? FAT16 or FAT32
Does the system a) ignore or b) read the names of folders.

e.g - if I arrange mp3s into folders A-E, F-G etc, will that show up?

Could you post any screen shots of the menus?

 

[TuffLittleUnit]

I started both cars this morning.

The 1.8 without satnav says 'Audi Information System' when you start it.

The 3.0 with satnav says 'Audi Multi Media Interface'.

However, satnav aside, I really cant see any difference between the two systems. All the functions of the MMI seem to be on the AIS as well.

That said, none of the cars have an ipod connection so I can't offer much information on that.

Cheers

JUST SHOWS THE QUALITY OF THIS FORUM WHEN WE CAN CALL ON MEMBERS WHO HAVE TWO A5'S TO HELP US OUT!!! Nice one, JockTheRock, that's incredibly helpful particularly as you also took the time to compare the two menus.

Does either of the cars have the B&O sound system fitted?

 

[TuffLittleUnit]

31K for 1.8T and no Sat nav???

I doubt there are many 1.8Ts under £30k. Pretty much everyone would go for the sport option @ £27,475 and most will add the trademark Xenons/LEDs back on @ £775 which gives a base starting price of £28,250. Add the Sat Nav and you're immediately over £30,000 (for our friends in the US, that's over $55,000)

List price of my fairly modest config is a fraction over £31,000 and this doesn't have Sat Nav+.

I guess this is why I "bite" some times when there are suggestions that the 1.8T is cheap

 

[Chaswick]

Hi Chaswick - sounds good. Can you confirm a couple of techy details for me:

How are the cards formatted? FAT16 or FAT32
Does the system a) ignore or b) read the names of folders.

e.g - if I arrange mp3s into folders A-E, F-G etc, will that show up?

Could you post any screen shots of the menus?

I have posted picture of the screen on my lastest thread.