A car we are both happy with!

When our lease was ending in May of 2006 on an Audi A6, I was dreading the prospect of car shopping. When we leased the Audi, the kids and I voted Hubby off the island. Dragged from dealership to dealership, on the quest for the perfect car that I was convinced did not exist, car shopping that time was hell.

Well, not this time.

When he announced he knew the car he wanted and wanted me to take a test drive, I rolled my eyes, but went along. It turned out to be the simplest shopping trip of my life - and nine months later, I still love the car. The car we drove that day - the car we actually bought it turned out - was a TL in pearl white with the tan leather interior. My first impression was a quiet, nimble and quick responding ride, with sensitive braking and a clean set of interior controls that were logically placed. The gauges are blue and red and well lit and simple to read. The status display on the dashboard, which incorporates both the odometer and trip computers and tire pressure is a bit low and should not be used while driving because it requires you take your eyes off the road. The audio system, which at first glance seemed complex, turned out to be simple to use, and delivers the clearest, cleanest audio I have ever heard in a car. It handles both terrestrial radio, CD's, audio DVD's, and XM equally well, and the touch screen LCD display that serves both the audio system and the navigation system makes it simple to adjust, and provides artist and track information on discs and RDS information for broadcasts.

On the gadgetry: I made fun of my husband as having bought the ultimate geek car with the voice recognition system and Bluetooth connection for his phone, the navigation system, and all the electronics of the audio system. I take it all back. The navigation system is well thought out and works well, although the routing can sometimes fail to take into account that what looks nice on a map is not a safe neighborhood. And it came be frustrating to program on the fly. The voice recognition, which is designed to need no training, is iffy, and has difficulty with my high-pitched voice - you have to speak slowly to it, and, in my case, enunciate every syllable carefully, or you'll hear the dreaded "Pardon, I didn't understand that command". It does not work as well as the commercials would make it seem - when I ask it for "fast food resturants" it's more likely to turn down the air conditioner. This has, however, provided great amusement for my kids.

The car continues to perform well, with more than acceptable gas mileage. The shifting of the automatic transmission is imperceptable, without an hesitation or noticable change in performance, even when climbing up a very steep hill with a full load of five adults. The climate control is also flawless, quick to cool, quick to warm, and holds the set temperature for both driver and passenger individually or together. I also love the dual driver memory, so that my radio presets, and seating positions and his are individually triggered by the key fob. No more falling into the car when he leaves the seat back tilted, or having to spend time fiddling around moving things to get comfortable. Now the car remembers Driver 1 and Driver 2, and does it for us, moving the seat and the side mirrors. The only adjustment I have to remember to make is the rearview mirror.

Front seat comfort is good, with adequate head room and leg room. The driver even has a "dead pedal" where the clutch would be to rest their foot while driving. The rear seat is also comfortable for two adults, and adequate for the third, as long as everyone is normal-sized. The fold down center console is also well designed when only two are in the back seat.

Minor quibbles I have so far - the low profile tires do not handle wet roads well, although the ABS and tracking compensates partially for this, and we plan on changing to a more aggressive tire when the time comes. The height of the front end skirts makes the car look sporty, but is too low for practical driving, and the first week we had the car, the front passenger side scraped a driveway skirt while backing up - an obstacle so low as to not be a consideration with any car we had in the past. We've learned that you must drive up entrances and driveways slowly and cautiously or you will scrape bottom, even on the most gentle inclines. Over time, I can imagine that this will become a major appearence issue as the damage adds up.

I HATE the tire pressure monitor, even as I understand the usefulness of it. Changes in temperature cause changes in tire pressure (as in all cars) so that all summer long I would start the car, and get a warning that pressure was low after the car had been standing overnight, but the pressure would be fine after a few moments of driving on a warm day. At least the days of driving on tires without enough air are over, but more than once I was falsely worried that I had a flat and pulled over only to discover the pressure was a pound - (a pound!)- low.

For shorter people, the shoulder belt is surprisingly lacking in a low enough adjustment so that the shoulder belt is correctly off the neck of the passenger/driver. And the clip for the belt can be difficult to retrieve from the side of the front seats, depending upon seating position. I'm tall for a woman, so this is really surprising. It has to be an issue for petite/short adults, and teens. Potentially, this could be dangerous in an accident, although the front and side airbags deployment should be protective. Still, it worries me when riding as a passenger.

The interior leather is thin, but comfortable, although it wrinkles with seating, so far the wrinkles have not persisted. We added a dealer installed wood trim kit on the center console to complement the standard trim, and I would recommend it as a nice finishing touch to the somewhat incomplete look of the standard interior.

Overall, the car remains responsive, sporty, fun to drive and with more than enough oommmph to pull out into highway traffic and pass willingly at highway speeds. In fact, I like it so much that someday soon there will be a pair of them in our driveway!