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Thanks for everyone's advice, was very helpful. I did some youtubing and realised it's way above my talent level. But almost certain it is the cooler gasket. Booked it in with my Audi man but can't see it for 3 weeks so off the road for now. I'll update when it's fixed 👍

My tuppence worth. Problems with the 25MY B10 are well documented and although it shouldn't happen, and in my opinion should have been addressed before the 26MY was released, to Audi's credit, they have acknowledged the software issues. It's something I would have been able to ( and still am ) reject the car. Outwith the software issues, my car came with a couple of faults - sticking brakes and an annoying rattle from door panel, both of which were rectified at dealership. That can happen to any car regardless who the manufacturer is. A smearing windscreen wiper typically means both the rubber and the glass need cleaned. First thing I've done with every VW group car I've owned is replace the wipers with Bosch aerowipers, but thus far it's never been required with this A5. (They look very similar to the Bosch ones) Software: I don't get as many system failures since the 'open/close' door solution but I'm led to believe that the software fix for MY25 is now being rolled out - EV cars this month, ICE next month. You should be notified via My Audi app when the update is available. It'll require a dealer visit. Regarding the battery. Welcome to modern cars. Our other car is a Toyota hybrid, one of the most reliable cars on sale. That too has already undergone a battery replacement due to the battery management system. The 'fix' if you can call it that, is the car now notifies me when the battery needs attention and the car has to be driven to charge the battery. Modern cars don't seem to be able to cope with sitting doing nothing for 2 weeks as they're constantly monitoring themselves. If you're knowingly going to leave the car sitting for several weeks or more then best solution would be to put it on a trickle charge. That goes for any modern car but especially for those that you're able to communicate via a mobile app. Hope that's of some use.

Head gaskets would be a whole new world of wallet pain but your description was very precise giving no indication of system pressurising, looking forward to a glowing success. Steve.

Yes, TRW for brakes, etc. Lemforder is basically what’s on the car just now, just stamped as Audi. 14 part arm suspension pack is £550 give or take, then you have labour to factor in. For arguments sake let’s say 6-8 hours. Yes car is low mileage, but suspension is rarely straight forward with bolts refusing to budge, especially the pinch bolt on the strut leg. Once all that’s done, the car needs tracking alignment. The irony is you could still do all this work and still have a creak. The suspension shock absorbers will be original, bump stops, and the top mounts. I don’t think you’re anywhere near a front end refresh yet, it’s 40k miles. I’ve done front end refreshes on a A2 and A4 diesel, both around 120k miles. It’s a labour of love and rarely goes to plan. I looked into that Chassis Ear tool, but that’s basically a workshop tool when the car is in the air. Your garage sound like they are doing the right thing, especially if not advocating ‘swap out the entire lot’ approach. Get them to look a specifically at universal joint on steering shaft (grease it), or friction at the steering column's bulkhead seal, (silicone spray).

That's great news Steve, thanks 😊

You’re running a 3.0TDI V6 up front, so you’re dealing with a heavy engine. It’s not just age, it’s how the car is driven and the reality of British roads. We’re not suggesting to completely refresh the suspension, but unfortunately this is the reality with multi link suspension. If you were renewing lower front arms, do both, front and rear arms. As suggested, these are usually hydrabushes, difficult to tell if they’ve failed unless you see a leak, or get in with a pry bar. I’ve read snake oil remedies about silicone sprays on bushes to remove squeaks. That will be short lived and probably age the bush given it’s petroleum based. The only grease you can use with rubber is red grease. Similar to brake rebuilds. You could try on some of the ARB bushes as it’s a relatively cheap fix, but does mean a little bit of work if your spanner handy.

Few new pics below.

So progress has been made thanks to a friend of a friend who knows an ex Audi Master Technician. It appears the issues are well known. He got me to remove the battery negatives , leave the car 30 minutes, reconnect and try again. Did this and now the car is working perfectly, it charges, reports correct battery levels, all back to how it was before it went to the Audi dealership. He called it the Control Alt Delete fix. So for now I have a working charging system.