3 hours ago, MartinInnes said:

Research indicates it's the Volume knob in the centre console.

That's the one!

Thank you so much -

It works, and is used more than my Indicators.

Well - now completed 500 miles.

The car in driving mode is fantastic. Nippy, comfortable, quiet, and a pleasure to drive - a real pleasure.

The downside -
It would not start last week - the alarm also went off - and woke up the whole street. It stopped without intervention after around 2 minutes. Then, trying to get it into drive mode took at least 20 minutes. Turning ignition on and off, and all the usual tyre kicking. It eventually worked.

Apple CarPlay - I am sick to death of having to reconnect the phone, and I have tried 2 others and all the same problem.

Every time the car is started, having to tap a confirmation on the screen - or the app's MMI is unavailable. It's not my wording - that is what is displayed on the screen.

The annoying routine of having to go through every safety feature to turn off all the nanny prompts.

The worry of going towards the car, wondering what is going to go wrong next.
If I want to go to Tesco with the wife, I make sure I get to the car first - hoping to sort any problem and turn off all the nanny prompts before she gets in. Then the worry is what problems are going to be thrown up when we leave the store.

So - The best car to drive - but the one I don't want to drive - fearing what will go wrong next......

I should have also added -

Faith in someone or something is paramount.
Consistency is important.

Going to your house and never knowing if the door lock will work, or the alarm will go off, or the smoke alarm will be activated. These are important things.
And the same applies to the second most important thing after a house, a car, that people buy.
Audi has failed me - but I doubt they are any different from other car manufacturers.
Mercedes is on its last legs as a company, along with Porsche, and all the premium brands are losing money or market share. Too cheap Chinese cars - that seems to just work. Premium brands are time-limited, in my opinion. But - seems that's the short-term future of large organisations now.

I jump in my sq5 , start it up , press to start the mmi. Then drive it . No faff , no fuss , it's been faultless , even with Audi sense activated. Think maybe OCD is the issue here . ☺️

Edited 8 hours ago8 hr by Audisq524

Hi Martin

Sorry to hear about the problems you are experiencing. Do you think the failure to start and alarm activation could be something to do with the Ghost immobiliser I recall you had fitted?

The settings message on start up does appear superfluous but if you put the car into drive is should disappear.

The phone connection problems you are experiencing seem to be a common issue so hopefully Audi will be aware of it.

Unfortunately the driver assistance aids are now mandatory on EU vehicles and are obtrusive. I think whichever new car you buy you will be faced with the same necessity of deactivating them each time you start the car. Audi have in their favour made it easy to access them through a single press of a button.

I hope the problems you are experiencing will be resolved quickly.

An interesting and informative post by Martin.

May I mirror Martins thoughts and opinions about his new Q3 in my new S5 Avant.

My car, like Martins drives well. It's well put together, with no squeaks or rattles, looks good to my eyes, is well planted on the road and is reasonably powerful enough.

Where I slightly agree with Martin is in the software although I havent had the more serious glitches that he has had in the Q3. I have had various warnings flash up on the MMI about system failures but mine last barely a second before they disappear and the car starts up.

Coming from 2 previous Q8's where the systems were simpler but to me much more robust , this has come as a surprise.

Also, to mirror Martins other thoughts re the various safety features that you have to disable on each start up. After 2 months ownership it is almost routine now to disable the speed warning, the distraction warning, the fatigue warning and the lane departure !

All !Removed! useless and unwanted by I suspect the great majority of owners. I drive in Deutschland a fair bit and I like to think I am a competent driver. When travelling there on the Autobahn and on the unrestricted part of the network I like to drive the car at speeds of 100 mph plus so you need to have your wits about you as that isnt a great speed to many of our German friends who come up fast in the outer lane. So, I always make doubly sure when moving from an inner lane out to an outer lane by leaning forward and moving my head to check in the nearside mirror that there isnt anyone in that blind spot....just in case !

And simply by doing that, the camera behind the steering wheel, detects that I have had eye movement to the left.....and Bong.....the distraction warning flashes up !

So, to sum up....a superb car that drives well. But the software is a little fragile in mine at least. If you are not experiencing any problems then just accept the fact thatyou are fortunate.

Thanks, Frank -

I just had a visit from Audi. They confirmed my issues and said they are slated for future software updates.

Regarding my gripe and the alarm triggering and not getting into Drive - The Ghost may well have been the problem. If I have the same issue again, I will have it disconnected to eliminate it from the equation.

Frank - I mentioned your Q8 compared to the S5 Avant.
It seems that the Q8 were techy problematic in the first year until the software improved.
Seems, the likes of us who buy new models are the guinea pigs...........

4 minutes ago, MartinInnes said:

Thanks, Frank -

Frank - I mentioned your Q8 compared to the S5 Avant.
It seems that the Q8 were techy problematic in the first year until the software improved.
Seems, the likes of us who buy new models are the guinea pigs...........

Hi Martin

Re my Q8's. I think that the " Edition 1 " units that Audi first supplied to the Dealerships when the Q8 first came on to the U. K. market in 2019 did have numerous software glitches. That's why I kept away from those models until they were all sold and more " basic " specs were available.

I also believe that has happened to the " Edition 1 " S5 units that first came into the U.K. in 2025. Looks like Audi use them as guinea pigs to sort things out.

Looking on Autotrader recently, ony one Edition1 S5 is now still available for purchase. All the rest are Black Editions or Vorsprung.

So, in January I ordered the car to my exact spec, making sure it was a Black Edition with extras.

Good to know Audi have been in touch and please let us know about any future software updates that should hopefully sort things out. In the meantime enjoy those 256 horses !.

I know how you feel Martin.
In the first few weeks I had my Q3 it seemed I was emailing Audi nearly everyday with another new MMI software issue, all minor stuff, but annoying at the time. It took the enjoyment out of owning a new car.
However, over the last few weeks things seem to have settled down and I now rarely get any issues, just occasionally the radio may not come on, or the drivers display will revert back to the rev counter from my chosen screen. As a result, I am starting to really enjoy the car and look forward to driving it (but maybe not as much as riding my motorbike 😉)
It was mentioned on another forum that perhaps too much is happening in the software at initial start up resulting in some functions failing. Recently, I've taken to pushing the start button to bring the MMI on whilst I fasten my seat belt, then start the car, whether this is the reason I'm having less issues, or perhaps there has been an 'Over The Air' update to fix some minor issues, I don't know.

Regarding Francis' issues regarding various warnings flashing up momentarily on the MMI about system failures - I've had this happen 2 or 3 times, again, I've put it down to the software being slow to boot up, with certain systems showing as failing, then correcting when it fully boots.
You get something similar if you manually reboot the MMI, various features show as failed, such as the Navigation system, but they all come back as the system completes it's reboot.

Hey Bob

That's a good point about the software being slow to boot up. Not thought of that as the occasional yellow flash ups that I have experienced barely last milliseconds before they disappear.

Thankyou for that.