[GlennSmith]

Planning to order new A5 1.8TFSI Sport next month.

Some of the extras im adding include hill assist, bluetooth, cruise, interior light pack, hologram inlays, rain sensitive wipers, xenons with running lights, tyre pressure monitor, 6 cd changer, heated front steats, valcona star silver leather.

Anyone any views on whats hot and whats not!

Thanks
G

 

[Ess5ive]

The heated seats are pretty hot?

 

[Ess5ive]

The S5 came fairly well spec'ed, so included things like auto wipers (wouldn't have selected them but actually excellent), auto lights (same), 6 cd changer (superfluous with AMI - which was a must-have for me but a robbery at £2500 inc Nav) and interior light pack, which just adds that air of 'specialness' to the car.

From others on your list, I hear that hill assist is pretty good and wish I'd ticked that box, bluetooth, don't have it but that's cos I don't use the phone much in the car, cruise, selected it and wouldn't be without it, not least for the many 50mph SPECs-controlled motorway sections, hologram inlays - whatever floats your boat!, xenons with running lights - must-have IMO, in a car of this class, tyre pressure monitor - might be useful on occasion and not terribly expensive - but neither's a tyre gauge, heated front seats (yup - see comment above , and valcona star silver leather - seen it, looks nice but you may end up hating your kids and denim in general.

Think you've made some good selections!

 

[GlennSmith]

Many thanks for your feedback. hmmmmm your point about star silver was what concerned me.....denim in particular with sests turning blue!!!!! may opt for light grey milano leather
Cheers again
Glenn

 

[scratch113]

Glenn,
My 2p-worth:

Must have:
Cruise control (depends on how much M-way driving you do)
Xenons with DRLs (really make the A5 stand out on the road)
Hill Hold Assist (excellent for the price)
Parking+ (ie front and rear sensors - it's very difficult to judge the long nose on the A5!)
B+O sound system (just awesome!)
Heated seats - fantastic in the winter, and also loved by my wife and her bad back!

Worth considering:
19" Y-design alloys (I think even 18" wheels look small on this car )
Interior light pack (particularly useful having puddle lights for entry at night)
Storage pack (I'm going to add the shopping bag hooks to my boot as they look excellent - I'd also like the netted side cubby, but it looks a bit expensive)
6 CD Changer - worked well in my old S4, but now I use almost exclusively iPod through the AMI)
Bluetooth - probably depends how wired-in to your phone you are. I just turn mine off or silent when I'm driving and let the voice mail take a message - if they don't leave one, it couldn't have been worth the call in the first place!
Adaptive lights - excellent if you drive out in the country much - if not then drop down to not worth it!

Probably not worth the money:
Any inlays other than standard - the hologram ones aren't that different to standard to my eye.
Valcona leather - the standard Milano is just fine really.
Tyre pressure monitor - use a gauge or just check your tyres regularly.
Satnav+ (sadly way too expensive for what you get - if I was ordering agian, I'd probably not bother and get a Dension system for my car, saving around £2000!)
Auto wipers - can't stand them myself as they're completely unpredictable. I wish there was a way to turn off the sensor and get manual control back!

 

[ccompton]

Many thanks for your feedback. hmmmmm your point about star silver was what concerned me.....denim in particular with sests turning blue!!!!! may opt for light grey milano leather
Cheers again
Glenn

Hi Glenn,

A quick search with the keyword "denim" returned this post:

http://www.a5oc.com/forums/showthre...nterior-275/index.html?p=2814&highlight=denim

It has actually been discussed a couple of times...I'd be careful with the very light colors and jeans, kids, passengers, sitting down...

 

[TuffLittleUnit]

I know everyone has their own tastes but I think the money you're spending on the following could be better spent:
- hologram inlays
- rain sensitive wipers (these are standard)
- tyre pressure monitor (gimmick - doesn't measure the pressure, just if it's going down)
- 6 cd changer (consider MP3s on the SD card)
- valcona star silver leather (milano is fine so spend the money on toys!)

From the options I have, here's my list of priorities based on a rough price/function ratio:

Must have:
- Hold assist (cheap and great but ought to be standard)
- Xenons/DRLs (not standard on 1.8T in the UK as you'll know)
- Sport pack (esp. for the seats - wonderfully comfortable)
- Electric Seats (especially when regularly letting kids in/out)
- Storage pack (much better value than it first sounds)

Nice to have:
- B&O (stunning but pricey)
- Cruise (for speed limits)
- Interior light pack
- Parking plus (not really using the display nor the front sensors as much as I thought I would)

Things I wasted money on:
- Auto dimming mirror: got this because I wanted light/rain sensors but after ordering found out that these are standard on the UK model. £200 for the mirror alone is a rip off.

Things I wish I'd got:
- Bluetooth prep

Things I would have added if I had the money (in this order):
- 3.0TDI inc Quattro
- Heated seats
- Advanced key
- Comfort pack
- Adaptive lights
- Sat Nav + AMI

Things I would have added if they were out:
- DSG (above everything but the DRLs)

 

[AndyD]

Tuff - is the love affair waning with the 1.8TFSi.

Get the impression from your day in the hills ?

Andy

 

[TuffLittleUnit]

Tuff - is the love affair waning with the 1.8TFSi.

Get the impression from your day in the hills ?

Andy

No, no, no, not at all. I absolutely love the car - for over 90% of my driving it's absolutely perfect. In everyday use it's faster and much quieter than I'd expected. Cruising on the motorway it's a dream and its economy now meets my expectations. The "hills" post was just a bit of post traumatic stress - given how the car has exceeded my (already high) expectations across the board I was just stunned by this experience as it was completely unexpected. I'll bet that if I went back now and ragged the car around for a bit without the wife and kids in then I'd get to grips with things and wouldn't be so bothered. I already knew the car lacked a bit of midrange "umph" although as I get more familiar with it and gear changes become more intuitive then this too has become a non-issue for me.

Being absolutely honest there's a little bit of me being eaten away because I chose not to go for the 3.0TDI. We moved into our new house the week before Christmas so having to replace my company car the following month meant I had to be cautious about my outgoings. In retrospect the 3.0TDI would have been well within reach but it was impossible to know that at the time, particularly as the house move was on a bit of a whim (we did the whole thing from soup to nuts in under 7 weeks ... i.e. 7 weeks earlier we had no intention of moving home).

Anyway, absolutely loving both the car and the house. I still maintain that the 1.8T is a surprisingly competent solution for the A5.

The only thing that's really worried me was the HAL moment with the cruise control. I've got another long motorway trip ahead tomorrow with no kids in the car so will see if I can repeat the experience!

 

[RedorDead]

Many thanks for your feedback. hmmmmm your point about star silver was what concerned me.....denim in particular with sests turning blue!!!!! may opt for light grey milano leather
Cheers again
Glenn

The light grey isn't grey, it's a pale cream colour. I've got a well worn pair of jeans and even they transfer blue onto the seats. Always had dark leather before and never even thought about this problem. Bit concerned about how long I can leave it before cleaning. Will it leave a permanent stain?

 

[RGBArgee]

5 weeks with Star Silver has been fine. Cleaned it 3x takes 30 seconds.. sorted.

Must have:
- Hill assist
- Xenons/DRLs
- Sport pack (esp. for the seats - wonderfully comfortable)
- Advanced key
- DVD Sat Nav MMI + AMI & iPOd link
- Parking plus
- B&O (superb -worth every penny)
- 3.0 Tdi Engine
- Quattro


Nice to have:
- Cruise (for speed limits)
- Interior light pack
- Storage pack (much better value than it first sounds)
- Heated seats
- Comfort pack part mirrors great elecric seats crap. Not worth the money IMHO
- Adaptive lights

 

[Highrisedrifter]

For me, the must haves are:

AMI
Sat Nav
Bluetooth Phone Prep High
Advanced Key
Heated Seats
Parking Plus

Nice to haves but not bothered are:

Hill Hold
B&O
Storage Pack
Interior Light Pack
Cruise Control
Voice Control