Francis007

Hello Gareth Far too old for this nonsense so I'm off . I wish you and the Forum well. Frank

Hi Gareth I agree, it would be so much simpler to head off to a Main Dealer to sort it out. Two reasons I havent done so yet. Firstly, I thought someone here might have experienced the same sort of thing and had a quick fix. And secondly, it's a faff to organise an appointment with Audi and have to leave the car there for some hours. I'm not a fan of either of my 2 local dealers, one in Southampton which is about 12 miles away from where I live and the other at Poole, about 30 miles away. Not ever dealt with their Service Departments but if they are anything like ther Sales, I havent been too impressed over the last 20 years of owning Audis. Everything thing you fear about Car Sales.....and Car Salesmen....and they have the lot in spades ! Flash, too eager to make a deal and most with very little knowledge of the product they are trying to sell you ! So, for me, if I want to sort it I will need to go the the supplying Dealership, Audi at Bury St.Edmunds who are family owned and for me, very impressive. However its a bit of a slog from Hampshire at the moment,especially in this heat so I will leave it for now. Many thanks for the input. Frank

Cliff. Yep,its a shark fin. Just checked it and its firmly fixed in the roof line. Happened again today. From start up, couldn't get any signal or any radio station. Parked the car in Pompey for 30 mins, got back to car,started it up...and all radio stations available ! Bizarre !

Hey Cliff Just looking at AI .....as you do now ! and it says there that it could be down to two things. Water ingress of the aerial ? I cannot think it's that as the car is only 3 months old and I do remember now that I had this happen on the day I picked it up on the drive back from Bury St.Edmunds to Hampshire. I thought it was me at the time being dopey with the MMI settings ! And it also went on to say that if the fault was the aerial, I would have trouble too with the SatNav as the GPS and the radio use the same antenna....and SatNav works fine. I get the feeling it might be software ......surprise surprise !!!! Cheers. Will come back

Cheers Cliff. Will investigate and get back

Car going well after 3 months and conpared to some poor folk on here ,I have had no issues with the software bar one. I sometimes cannot access any channel on my radio. This only occurs sporadically and it happens in many places, so nothing to do with signal strength. The radio will play perfectly on a local channel, Radio Solent or the other day, when I wanted to listen to the cricket commentary on Radio 5 Live. However when I sometimes go to the channel list on the MMI and try to switch to a new channel, I get nothing. No sound at all. Leave the car for 20 mins or so and it clears. Any ideas please ? And just as a general question. On my " My Audi " on my phone, my installed software is : 06.02.01/C Eveyone else got that now ?

Congratulations Tim on the purchase of your superb new car. Enjoy it ! Also for your entertaining and descriptive post. Pleased it all went well. I too , like Ron, have also used DrivetheDeal once before. I have nothing but praise for them as I bought my first Q8 through them and they pointed me to the way of Audi Bury St.Edmunds where I bought my second Q8 and this present car. So Tim , take it easy for the first 1000 miles or so and then give it a blast somewhere.....and smile ! I was in mine with my Missus this afternoon and quite gently going round a roundabout before I took a turning off which goes up a quite steep incline to the town of Romsey. It was a dual carriageway and quiet so I switched the car into the dynamic setting, the valves opened, steering and suspension firmed up, the exhaust crackled and I gave it a blast and I'm still smiling now ! There's still a little bit of a boy racer in me, even at the age of 78 years and I cannot wait till we depart for Deutschland in October and play with our German brethren on the unrestricted part of the autobahn network. Tim, it looks as though you have specced the car very well as it's almost identical to mine minus the adaptive dampers. And I only specced those as I was coming out of a Q8 with air suspension. Finally, I know you mentioned that the car is in Mythos Black and can be difficult to keep clean. Not sure if you have already gone down that route with previous cars but have you thought about a ceramic coat for yours ? I first had one applied to my first Q8 and was so impressed, had the second Q8 coated and now my S5 Avant. Worth ever penny in my book. So, enjoy the car and keep in touch. Frank

Martin Interesting post re the costs and benefits....or pitfalls....of using an Audi specialist to service and maintain your car rather than an Audi Main Dealership. May I record my experiences of using an Audi Specialist Independent. I have owned 4 Audis in the past 20 years, all bought from new . An Audi A8, 2 Q8's and my present car, a 2026 S5 Avant. I am a fastidous owner and like to keep my cars in the very best condition. Not a fan at all of Audis....or any other main stream manufactures " long term servicing regimes ". Hence I generally have and have had a service and most imprortantly an oil change every 7 / 8000 miles. I have never used an Audi Main dealer for any services all 4 cars. The reasons are that I am fortunate to have near a superb Audi Independent Garage that I know and trust. Of course their servicing rates are a fraction of what Audi charge but more importantly to me , I truly believe that my cars are better looked and maintained to a higher standard than at the Audi garage. Also may I just add that the premise that by going down the Independent route, could affect the cars resale has not been the case with me. On my last 2 Q8's I did what most folk do and went on the WeBuyAnyCars website to find out a rough resale value . I then found a couple of Indendent dealers who specialised in more " higher end " pre owned cars. Both were pretty exacting on what cars they would actually put on their website and both were quite happy that the cars had been service their entire lives with an Independent. On both cars the important and deciding factor with the Dealers was that the Independent had a known reputation, used genuine Audi parts and was able to log on and record the services on the Audi Sevice regimes. And in fact, on both cars I was offered more than the WeBuyAnycars recommended price. So I think the main dealer stamp in the old service book was quite important once but not so much now. Just my 2 penneth.

Hi Tim Nice to hear from you and no problem at all about chatting about your impending purchase of a new S5. These are my honest thoughts about the B10 S5 Avant. A bit long winded ....but that's me I'm afraid ! Am I thrilled with it ? Yes I am with just a few caveats. Coming out of big limo cruisers for the last 20 years.....2 VW Phaetons, 1 Audi A8 and 2 Q8's , to decide on a completely different type of car at my age ( 78 years ) was a big leap. However, I did alot of research and a fair amount of test drives of alternate cars. Including another Q8 , a Lexus NX, an Audi SQ5 and a BMW 550e. And I came down to the Audi S5. Reasons are that was within my price range, size , performance, styling, build quality and the fact that its an Audi ! I specced it as a Black Edition with a few extras. Mythos black , S technology pack which gives you a Heads Up Display, uprated sound system and passenger MMI, red brake calipers ( a must ! ) and adaptive dampers. I ordered the car from Audi Bury st.Edmunds in January and it came into the U.K. in April. About the spec. I woud throroughly recommend the HUD. Not had it in any car before and it's superb. The passenger MMI is useful, We travel to Deutschalnd alot in the car and my Missus is my Navigator and she loves it. And I thought the adaptive dampers would help the drive comfort of the car as we were coming out of a Q8 with air suspension. I wasn't convinced by the panoramic sunroof or the alternate red leather interior. About the infotainment system and the mmi and safety systems. I am no techy and it has taken some hours sat in the car in my drive to learn and experiment. However Tim, if I can get on top of it, I am sure you can ! And despite some very minor glitches it's all useful and very impressive. So, to sum up. I think it's a handsome car. It drives well. The power delivery is impressive. It's well planted with the Quattro system and it's well put together with no squeaks or rattles. I am well pleased and I would highly recommend it. Just one thing . The list price of mine was something like £74,000. Do not pay anything like that as there are many discounts to be had , especially if you take out a PCP. If you are still keen , please get in touch with Polly Goddard, the Group Fleet Sales Manager of the Marriott Motor Group. She is a lovely lady who really knows her stuff and is a delight to deal with. I purchesed both my Q8's from her as well. She will really do a good deal for you. I hope this helps Tim as it's an awful lot of money to spend isnt it so you have to be sure. Anything else, just ask. Frank

Hiya James So sorry to hear of your current problems with your A5 Avant. My take on it is the same as quite a few fellow owners here and as I believe you have stated yourself. My car, like yours, looks good in my opinion, is well screwed together , is comfortabe and drives well. BUT.....software, software, software !!!!! seem to be the overiding bugbear at the moment. Compared to yours, mine has had relatively limited problems. I occasionally receive a flash up on the front screen at start up to indicate that some systems are unavailable or have failed. They barely hang around for milliseconds before they disappear and the car starts up and is fine. The A5 range was I believe brought into the UK in late 2024 so yours is a relatively newish example. And because of that , may be it suffers from early software production problems ? I presume your Dealership has confirmed that you have the latest updated software ? Also , I do understand your discontent with the car. The software should have been sorted before the car was available and Audi have some questions to answer here as it seems this problem prevails in other models. Take a look at Martin Innes current problem with his new Q3 on that Forum. Think I have already mentioned this a few times so I hope I'm not being boring here but I came to the S5 from owning 2 Q8's owned over a 6 year period. Had zilch problems , software or mechanical in either car. Both felt robust and well sorted but the MMI and software was much simpler than the stuff we have on our A/ S 5's. It's technology and the future I'm afraid and aint it grand ! Hope you get your car sorted and you can enjoy it's undoubted driveability again

Hi Damian I've just looked on my map and the distance from Doncaster to Nottingham is approx 50 miles so not too far. May I recommend TTW Installations Nottingham. Fantastic auto electrical firm that I have used on my last 3 cars, all bought new. Two Q8's and my current S5 Avant. I am very fastidious on who to use and trust for work on my cars , a bit like you it looks. These guys are the very best in the business. I have had 2 channel Blackvue dash cams fitted on all 3 of my last cars and they do a superb job. Would not trust any other. They will have the experise to fit front parking sensors and rear reversing camera to your lovely S3 as they do lots of other electrical work on cars, many high end. Just look at their installations videos on their website .. Just book it in and they have a comfortable waiting room with free drinks and wi-fi. Have a look at their website. Highly recommended.

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.

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 !.

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.

Just an update on my HUD new oil temp icon I got in touch with the Service Manage of the supplying Audi dealership and after a bit of investigation he thinks that Audi performed a small software update which enabled the oil temp to be shown in the HUD. This was done without any notification to UK Dealerships ! Make of that what you will. So, if true, it looks as though it was connected to the new RS5 being made available to all European markets and supposedly all new RS5's have this feature. As well as all 2026 S5's. It was not updated on any A5's that have a HUD. Not sure whether that a HUD is a standard feature or an extra. If anyone here has a 2026 S5 or is fortunate enough to have taken delivery of a new RS5, if it's possible to check and confirm I would be interested. Many thanks