Starting to see a very clear trend of lack of care for the US market in specific things with their string of launches this year.
1*. Q6 Etron US pricing/order availability (supposedly this thing is coming Q4) yet mum’s the word on being able to order the thing.* 2. No fabric interior options on their new models. Why is Europe getting cool fabric interiors but the US not because it would be so difficult to let us have more choices? 3. No Avant A5 not even an already really 4. Not adapting their lighting system to new US regulations to let us have adaptive full-time high beams like Europe. We’re gonna have crap headlights forever, just auto on/off high beam. 5. No MHEV system on the new Q5/A5s in the US. Why would they lock the biggest improvement to the ICE models overseas…what is that? I guess we just need to buy an EV.
The illumination is due to the US government, and the cloth does not work as well here as in Europe. Audi is often associated with luxury, however the fabric isn’t actually that.
The law governing adaptive high beam lights has been updated, however it imposes additional limits and criteria that Europeans do not. Audi does not want to bother adapting their lights to meet them, and I can’t blame them because the extra rules are simply more difficult to implement, i.e. the lights must detect things outside of their range completely before adapting, and the allowances for the light vs. blacked out area are much tighter. IE to keep anyone from seeing that the highlights are on at all (never blinding). US drivers can’t even manage powerful led headlights in low beams; they believe they’re already “high beams” in terms of brightness because they’re driving other cars that have crap headlights and constantly flash their high beams at me.
To be honest, none of these come close to their main flaw. Audi’s customer service is perhaps one of the worst I’ve ever had. First, I stepped into the dealership, and one of the salesmen was snooty as fuck, implying I couldn’t afford one. After my car was in an accident, I had it hauled to the dealership, which had a collision estimate facility. They quoted me an absurd amount, so I was going to have it towed to another shop. When I met the tow truck driver, I noticed a large fucking scratch on the other side of the car. It was about a foot long and created with a sharp instrument. When I complained, the Audi service manager yelled me out and called me a liar. He also said I was “some fuckin loser trying to scam him.” This was all at Audi Tysons Corner, Virginia. This is supposedly one of their premier locations. My next car will probably not be an Audi.
The Audi service manager yelled me out and called me a liar. He also said I was “some fuckin loser trying to scam him.” This was all at Audi Tysons Corner, Virginia. This is supposedly one of their premier locations. My next car will probably not be an Audi.
I have had a positive customer experience both locally and with corporate, so I can’t say it’s horrible, but I wouldn’t call it outstanding or stand out.
