Clean Climate Controls - 2015 Audi A3 Long-Term Road Test

Edmunds.com

Clean Climate Controls - 2015 Audi A3 Long-Term Road Test

The super clean climate control layout in the 2015 Audi A3 is a welcome change from the overly complicated setups in some luxury sedans.

Read the full story here

chol92594

You forgot to cover the actual design of the air vents. It seems trivial, but I looked at an A3 at a local dealer last month and the vents can actually be adjusted indefinitely in a circular motion, not just the usual left/right/up/down movement of the vent slats. I think you also twist the bezel of the vent to close or open it to airflow. It's a small detail, but it easy to direct the air exactly where you want it. Almost makes you wonder why more cars don't have the same design.

ebeaudoin

It's crazy how much variation there is between makes and models for such a common, simple feature. I can't tell you how many times I've sat in an unfamiliar car and scrambled to find the climate controls. Audi seems to have it down.

allthingshonda

"The fact that it's on Audi's least expensive sedan makes it all the more impressive."

I'm sure the climate control module is an Audi parts bin unit. Make it good enough for the A8 and place it in all vehicles. It seems like it is a very expensive high quality part, and it is, but it costs less to make one good unit than to make a cheap one and and expensive one. Very smart economical move and others should do it. I've noticed Chrysler now does this also. The climate control module in the $50,000.00 Jeep Grand Cherokee is also used in a $28,000.00 Chrysler 200. The high quality feel of the new 200's interior seems to be a common topic with journalist.

darthbimmer

You would think "How to design a good climate control panel" is a skill automakers would have down cold since they've been doing it for decades and have sold, together, 1 billion-plus units but surprisingly it's not. Obvious, direct-access controls for temperature, mode, vent selection, and fan speed. Automakers who bury these controls in a menu driven system drive me crazy!

lid1

I dislike the complicated controls on the new cars and I'm tech savvy. On the other hand,
my 73 year old father just bought a new Lexus RX and could not figure out how to adjust the temp...quite funny actually! He had to wait until one of his kids came over to set it for him. The A3 controls would be great for the old man

allthingshonda

Honda used to be this simple when they had hard buttons for controls instead of the current screens. My Acura has Auto, Off, Mode, Front and Rear defrost, recirc,temp and fan rockers, and A/C.

335abuser

The Audi A3 actually has a bespoke climate control panel and interior design that was exhaustively tested. There is material on the Audi Global site that goes into detail. For example the knobs and their action was tested for over 300 hours to get the right click and feel. In fact, the A3 actually is better made than most of the range they have in production currently (Q7,Q5,Q3,A4, A5, A1 come mind). The vents and automatic climate control also work better than pretty much any car for sale currently. And yes I owned a Compact Coupe Quattro 1.8T A3 that I drove for 25k miles and it was about as perfect a daily driver you can get.