2018 Audi Allroad

Started by MiniDave, June 18, 2024, 10:02:27 AM

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MiniDave

As the title suggests, I've added a new car to my stable - a 2018 Audi Allroad. My 2009 Clubman was getting quite a few miles on it and was in need of some fairly serious money spent on it if I were to keep it "forever", I decided that a newer car might be a better investment.

We have a 2014 Allroad that we've owned for 4 years now and have had zero issues, problems or things needing to be fixed - can't ask for much more than that. We bought it in July of 2020, just as the pandemic was getting going and before everything in the automobile marketplace went crazy. It had 70K on it and 4 years later has just turned over 80K.....no she doesn't drive much and most of the rest of the miles we put on our cars are in my MINI/Minis. The 2014 era Audi cars don't have a stellar reputation in terms of reliability, but we owned a 2004 Allroad, which most pundits claim as the worst car ever made, and ours was mostly trouble free- I did have to replace one of the air suspension bags - 6 times! - but that's because I believed the "buy American" hype and replaced the OEM one with one made in Florida. To their credit they honored their lifetime warranty and sent me new ones each time one failed, but it got old replacing them. Anyway, we've had good luck with our Audis.

So......with all that said, Rose found this one at a local Ford dealership, we drove out to see it, liked it and the next day I traded the MINI and a big check for it and drove it home.

It's a one owner, 2018 with 14,500 miles on it. Yep, I verified the mileage with Audi before I bought it, and it checked out - all the services were done by Audi, and it's had three so far - 10, 20 and 30K majors with oil changes at 5k intervals in between. They traded it on a big Ford diesel dually pickup.....must have horses or an RV to haul. The Audi was an extra car that sat at their vacation home, hence the low miles and absolutely clean condition.

I'm planning to use this thread to document all the incredible amount of tech on this car, most of which I haven't figure out how to use!

Teaser Photo.....

Complete failure at retirement

1989 Cooper Racing Green
2009 Clubman S
2014 Audi Allroad

94touring

Have you figured out the tow lights yet?

MiniDave

#2
There are some interesting differences between this car and our 2014, both have the 2.0L 4 cyl turbo motor, but the 2018 has 252hp and 275 torques, vs the 2014 at 220/250.

The 2014 has an 8 speed automatic gearbox, the 2018 has a 7 speed dual clutch gearbox - and there def is a difference in how it works and feels - I'm not sure yet which I like better. The 8 speed is super smooth and efficient - we've seen as high as 30 mpg on long trips with it. The 2018 is rated for 3 more MPG, some of which is due to the gearbox and some due to high tech - such as stop/start - which I don't like. The problem is you have to shut it off manually with the switch every time you cycle the key (start the car). I'm looking into whether I can turn this off permanently with the VAGCOM or not.

The 7 speed dual clutch - for those who don't know or haven't driven one -  is actually a manual gearbox with a hydraulically operated clutch, so no clutch pedal, but very definitely a manual gearbox, and depending on how you drive it, can snap off really quick gearchanges or be so smooth you can't even feel it. It also has a set of flappy paddles and a manual mode, along with an "S" mode. When you pull away from a stop it feels very much like someone letting out the clutch, tho it's super smooth and never bogs down. The engine makes boost just off idle but pulls strongly all the way to the 6700 limit, so it's very easy to drive, but sometimes the rising boost catches me unaware and it accelerates harder than I want it too - the 2014 can do this too. Depending on how you drive it, you can feel the shifts as you go up thru the gears, or if you're real easy on the go pedal, you almost can't tell that it shifted. One other thing I'm still getting used to is that when driving around town it upshifts till it's only turning 1200 PRM or so. At idle at a light or in park you can't hear or feel the engine running and it's quite a bit smoother and quieter than the 2014 which is a little growly.

The 2014 has a normal shifter, but the 2018 has the goofy electronic shifter style knob, similar to a BMW. It's ok once you figure it out, but switching back and forth you do have to stop and think first....it'll be ok once I've had it a while. This car also has Audi's MMI (Multi Media Interface) which is fairly easy to use also once you learn what all the buttons do - and it has one more party trick - the top flat surface of the knob is also a sort of writing tablet, that lets you enter numbers and letters by drawing on top of it.
Complete failure at retirement

1989 Cooper Racing Green
2009 Clubman S
2014 Audi Allroad

MiniDave

Quote from: 94touring on June 18, 2024, 10:39:37 AMHave you figured out the tow lights yet?

Not yet, been too damn hot outside to work on them, but I have the PWM box, so I'm halfway there!
Complete failure at retirement

1989 Cooper Racing Green
2009 Clubman S
2014 Audi Allroad

MiniDave

So I need to wire in some trailer lights for the upcoming trip to MMEMW this July, the wiring in the Audi is very complicated, not just because it's multiplex coding but it also ties into all the other systems, like the backup camera, park distance sensors, the sensor under the car that opens the deck lid and on and on.....

So, while I have a multiplexing box, tying it into the car's wiring harness is proving to be very complicated. But as always, getting onto the right forum provides the answers in the form of a very cool device to integrate the trailer lights without even tapping into the vehicle wiring. The module has 4 sensors that you put the intact wire into and it reads the voltage by induction. The control module learns which voltage does what and feeds the correct signal to the trailer lights. It's a little spendy - around $200 - but not clipping any of the car's wires means I don't have to program anything. Slick.

I have one on order now, should be here in plenty of time to get it installed in the car before the trip.

https://www.tekonsha.com/product/119251_zero-contact-universal-modulite
Complete failure at retirement

1989 Cooper Racing Green
2009 Clubman S
2014 Audi Allroad

MiniDave

#5
We drove the silver Audi to dinner tonight, and Rose was reading the manual and trying several of the various goodies to see how to work things, here's tonight's discoveries.

First, she was disappointed to find that it does not have a heated steering wheel - not that we drive that much when its super cold out, but she was looking forward to trying it. We have heated seats front and rear, heated windshield and headlight squirters, and heated mirrors but no heated steering wheel.

Next, we found that the car can recognize traffic signs, like speed limits and such. Why I need this ability I don't know yet but there it is. It did something interesting tho, as I was going down a long hill my speed crept up and at some point a  little green lite came on - a foot pushing on the brake pedal. We guess it was because I was more than 20 mph over the speed limit. Didn't make any beeps or buzzes but I did notice it.

Things it does NOT have - and I'm grateful about - the lane warning thing, where it nudges the steering wheel if you drift to close to the line. Doesn't have the speed sensitive cruise control where it watches how close you get to the car in front and changes your cruise setting to match. I hate that!

Does have little beeps if you're too close to a wall or another parked car - adjustable no less - in front and of course the beepers for when you're backing up, along with a really clear back up camera.

In the pic below you can see a row of buttons (with plenty of them blanks too)....the left button (Drive Select) changes the suspension settings. Choices are Offroad, Auto, Comfort, Dynamic, and Individual. I haven't tried offroad yet, but like Goldilocks, I found Comfort a little too soft, Auto seems just right for most driving, Dynamic not only stiffens things up but also changes the responsiveness of the steering, shifting, brakes and accelerator. Individual allows you to change all of these parameters to your own settings.

The next button (with the red light on) turns off the start/stop feature.

Next one turns off the skid control

Next one puts up a menu to change the park distances and how loud it beeps.

Next one is hill descent control - not sure yet how that works as I haven't been offroading with it yet.

The last one turns off the display above the dash - where all the menus read out and the nav is.

In that pic you can also see the start button, a place to plug a USB in to charge a phone or play music, and a 12V socket. The white lines in the cupholders light up so you can find them at night and don't spill your drink trying to put it back in the holder at night! The little open book emblem between the cupholders? Those are all over the car - I guess to tell you to go read the manual to learn how to use your cupholders or other bits? Wait till I show you where the manual lives!

I got one bit of good news today, the dealer got the title, so tomorrow I can go pay the state their ransoms and get it registered and plated.

BTW, I've only scratched the surface of all the stuff it has!



Complete failure at retirement

1989 Cooper Racing Green
2009 Clubman S
2014 Audi Allroad

94touring

"Things it does NOT have - and I'm grateful about - the lane warning thing, where it nudges the steering wheel if you drift to close to the line. Doesn't have the speed sensitive cruise control where it watches how close you get to the car in front and changes your cruise setting to match. I hate that!"


I've had some rental cars with these features and hated it!

MiniDave

So I got the Tekonsha device and I have it partially wired in - it requires a constant 12V supply so that it doesn't lose its memory. I've got that done and have the box mounted in the car, but I don't know which wires are for what function in the tail lights - rt turn, lt turn, brakes and running lights. I don't want to probe wires with my 12V deadlight as if they are multiplexed wires it could kill a computer.....I have a friend up at school where I used to teach and he said he can get the info for me tomorrow.

So I'm kinda stopped on this project, the only other thing I can do is start figuring out where to send the 4 wire plug out and mount it.

I found one other button, the one that turns off the rear view camera and distance warning beepers. I don't know yet if they'll activate with the car behind on the hitch or not, so that's an experiment I have yet to do too.
Complete failure at retirement

1989 Cooper Racing Green
2009 Clubman S
2014 Audi Allroad

MiniDave

#8
Whada pain in the ass......

I'm trying to find 3 or 4 tiny little wires in these huge bundles, and it's an awkward reach to even get to them so I can spread them out and look for the right colors......I even had my wife looking at them with her much better eyes. I pulled the tail light assembly off the car so I could see what wires actually go to it, and that matches the wiring schematic I got, but these wires are so small it's difficult to see if I'm looking at a black wire with a green trace or a green wire with a black trace.

I've peeled the tape off the big bundle so we could spread them out more.....it's not helping a lot yet.

So far I've found the one wire I need on the right side, haven't figured out how to get the connector over there yet......

They're in these bundles somewhere.....I think!

I also haven't figured out how to get the 4 wire plug out of the trunk and down to the hitch ....

Complete failure at retirement

1989 Cooper Racing Green
2009 Clubman S
2014 Audi Allroad

Brit_in_TX

Quote from: MiniDave on June 18, 2024, 06:23:38 PMNext, we found that the car can recognize traffic signs, like speed limits and such. Why I need this ability I don't know yet but there it is. It did something interesting tho, as I was going down a long hill my speed crept up and at some point a  little green lite came on - a foot pushing on the brake pedal. We guess it was because I was more than 20 mph over the speed limit. Didn't make any beeps or buzzes but I did notice it.

This a European safety requirement that cars need to recognize speed limits and visually warn you that you are going to fast over the speed limit. Sounds like they just have kept it on their US cars.  There is a proposal in Europe in the future that if you continue to drive over the speed limit the control unit will reduce the engine power available to bring your speed down. 

My wife's new car (2024 Honda) has the speed limit recognition feature, but it very inaccurate. On the way to drop off my daughter at daycare, it consistently says that a 35 mph sign is 85 mph.  Also it recognizes school zone speed limits, but that is only useful when it is active!

Brit_in_TX

Quote from: MiniDave on June 18, 2024, 06:23:38 PMThings it does NOT have - and I'm grateful about - the lane warning thing, where it nudges the steering wheel if you drift to close to the line. Doesn't have the speed sensitive cruise control where it watches how close you get to the car in front and changes your cruise setting to match. I hate that!

Interesting you do not like the adaptive cruise control, I love it and have it in 2 of our cars.  It makes driving on busy highways so easy!

I am with you on the lane warning thing, the 2017 Honda we have it is very intrusive in the amount it shakes the steering wheel. In the 2024 Honda, it is much more of a nudge and also appears to be much less sensitive, if you get close to the line it says off, it is only when you are tracking to go over it that it kicks in.

MiniDave

#11
Just got home from about a 1700 mile tow with the Audi - I used it to pull the Racing Green to Spearfish and back and it did terrific......very smooth and quiet and the fuel mileage was pretty good till we hit some incredible headwinds on both legs home - really cut the milage down from the high 20's to mid 22's. Still, I was happy for the comfort, quiet and cool cabin.

That's why my hot rod Mini will have cruise control, A/C and lots of sound insulation. I harbor no illusions about it being Audi smooth and quiet, but I'm hopeful I can make it somewhat better than the Racing Green.

The Audi now has 16,650 miles on it!
Complete failure at retirement

1989 Cooper Racing Green
2009 Clubman S
2014 Audi Allroad

MiniDave

We did a 3 hour tour.....erm.... drive to Lake Ozark to see the bride's brother on his birthday. The boys went along and mostly just slept all the way down and back. We had a nice visit - his wife is heading down the dementia path and we didn't know how this visit would go but they had her on some new meds and she was in good spirits and able to be part of the goings on. We have no illusions about her long term future, but this visit was nice, and in case we don't see her in this shape again it will be a good way to remember her.

About an hour from home we started seeing lightning in the sky ahead of us, on checking the radar on our phone we thought we might just miss it as it was moving north and east and we were going straight west, but just as we got to the outskirts of KC we drove right into it - rain so hard traffic was down to 30 mph with the flashers on - we cleared that but in the terrible downpour I missed our exit to the south bypass around town so we took the next exit and figured we'd just drive straight across on city streets. However, we were headed right into part of town that was notorious for flooding - I figured since it was just a quick storm we'd be OK but sure enough we hit a flooded road and didn't realize how deep it was till we were in it! The car almost came to a stop and I was concerned we might flood out and be stuck there, but it plowed on thru and never missed a beat - we hit one more puddle like that but it was much shorter in length and the rest of the way we were clear.

It added about 15 extra minutes to the trip and we unloaded the boys in the downpour, of course 30 minutes after we got home it was over. My rain gauge is the birdbath, it was dry when we left and full to the brim after the storm, so we got a LOT of rain!
Complete failure at retirement

1989 Cooper Racing Green
2009 Clubman S
2014 Audi Allroad

MiniDave

#13
So I used the 2018 Silver Audi to tow the Racing Green Mini to South Dakota - it worked perfectly the whole trip - narry a stumble.

When I got home, the very damn next day I get all sorts of warning lights. I ran it down to one of my buddies who has a much more sophisticated code reader than my cheap little HF version and it pulled up pages of codes for all sorts of crap.

TPMS was the first thing I saw so I checked all the tire pressures, they were all spot on. Over the next few days we noticed all sorts of failures in addition to the TPMS - the start/stop wasn't working (no big loss there!) a light blinked whenever we were stopped at a light with my foot on the brake, the rear park distance sensors were offline, the outside temperature reading was gone, the check engine light was lit and a few more that I can't remember.

The car started and ran properly, but every time you started it you got 6 different warning chimes going off and all sorts of warning messages.

Today I was able to get it up on JP's drive-on 4 post lift - it won't fit on mine, it's too wide for the lift arms to reach the lift points - the first thing I noticed was that several of the fasteners were missing off the under panels - typical dealer shenanigans - only put in enough to make them stay on and throw the rest in the bottom drawer of your tool box! I ordered a selection of these various fasteners - $38 worth!  :banghead:

The second thing I noticed was that the liftgate "kick" sensor wire in the rear was cut in two - I had someone helping me to install the trailer hitch and how he did this I'll never know. Today I went to Audi to see if I could buy the sensor as it just plugs into the module - nope - have to buy the entire rear car harness to the tune of $500! Ima see if I can splice it, but I'm not hopeful - I think there's an impedance involved due to the type of wire - it's similar to co-ax.

So, I managed to get the front most (of three) panels off the bottom of the car so I could see the wiring - I figured a squirrel got up in there and chewed some wires......bingo! Found the outside temp sensor and the wire was broken to it. I managed to get the wire released from its clip so I could get enough slack to get it down where I could strip it back and splice it, and got the other chunk off the sensor. I appreciate how far car manufacturers have come with water proofing wiring, but why does every clip have a different way of being held on the damn part? Some you push down on a tab, some you lift up, some you pull a tab out - it goes on and on and it's really frustrating when you can't even see what it is you're trying to unhook! Anyway......I got the wires spliced and taped up and went to start the car - OMG! Everything is now working correctly!

So what the heck does the temperature sensor have to do with TPMS and park sensors, let alone start stop and a whole host of other issues? Mind you, it's the outside temp sensor, nothing to do with the motor temp sensors.

So, it's all buttoned up and since this is the car that Rose wants for her daily, having all those warnings go off every time she started it was disconcerting to say the least - so happy wife, happy life!  :cheer:  :dance:  :celebrate:  :great:  :13:

She's still worried that there are things wrong with her car - I made the mistake of telling her about the rear sensor wire - but maybe after a few weeks of it working correctly she'll stop worrying...... maybe - not likely.....

Oh, and I took the hitch back off (how I found the cut rear sensor wire), I may put it on the white 2017 - which has been designated my daily now - but I don't know if I'm going to need it to tow the green Mini or not. Maybe if I go to the CMU event in April, or if I wind up doing a Texas run with you all.......I'm not sure yet.
Complete failure at retirement

1989 Cooper Racing Green
2009 Clubman S
2014 Audi Allroad

MiniDave

#14
The dealer had quoted me over $500 for the rear harness to the car, he had said that was the only way to get the part I needed, but in fairness I think he misunderstood what part I was talking about cause today I went online and saw the part available from numerous sources - I also learned the correct name - liftgate kick sensor.

Today I went down and sure enough the fourth parts guy who tried found it, so I have a new one on order and it should be in tomorrow. Once that's fixed that should be it for the car - she's been driving it and reports that not only is everything working correctly, there seems to be even more "stuff" in the instruments and on the dash that she might not have noticed before. At any rate, as I said before - happy wife, happy life. She really likes the car and in fact is surprised how much more she likes it over the 2014.

Speaking of the 2014, it's still unsold on the Mercedes dealer's lot, tho we noticed they've backed the price off $500 from the stupid high price they put on it initially, I think they're still several thousand high on their asking price, even considering the car was absolutely immaculate and needed nothing and the miles were reasonable for the year 80K on a 10 year old car would be considered low mile - and being a Texas car it didn't suffer the corrosion that it would have gotten if it lived it's life in KC.

https://www.aristocratmotors.com/inventory/used-2014-audi-allroad-2-0t-premium-plus-quattro-4d-wagon-wa1ufafl8ea097676/

Complete failure at retirement

1989 Cooper Racing Green
2009 Clubman S
2014 Audi Allroad

94touring

Giving up on flat towing all together or just not going to keep trying to get this electric nightmare figured out?

MiniDave

Neither.....no place I need to tow the car to right now, till maybe next spring. And then it will be with the 2017  white car, so when I install the hitch I'll have another go at the wiring. One of the guys on the Audi forum posted some pretty good pics and diagrams that I think will let me get it sorted.

You're taking the VW bus to Hallet next weekend?
Complete failure at retirement

1989 Cooper Racing Green
2009 Clubman S
2014 Audi Allroad

94touring

Yeah I'll have the bus and vespa over there.  Suppose to be low 80s in the day and mid upper 50s at night according to the 10 day forcast.