Slow Traffic Updates - 2015 Audi A3 Long-Term Road Test

Edmunds.com

Slow Traffic Updates - 2015 Audi A3 Long-Term Road Test

Real-time traffic data is great, as long as it's delivered in real time. That doesn't always happen in our 2015 Audi A3.

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jfa1177

I'm not sure where the issue would lie; with the system that provides the information or with the car and how often it 'pings' the system.
Especially if its across multiple manufacturers.

yellowbal

Waze has superior traffic detection and re-routing, plus it shows you where cops might be. Android Auto is a step in the right direction.

kirkhilles1

Do I really have to mention it again? This is what happens when automakers use 90's technology. You get this and those "it's hot outside" and "there's an accident on a different highway in the opposite direction 15 miles from you" warnings. These types of systems are worthless because you cannot trust them. Either roll the dice with Apple Maps (they screwed me over one too many times early on), Google Maps or Waze (owned by Google). Only real options.

miata52

Google Maps or Waze on my phone update incredibly quickly. Has there EVER been an car-based traffic reporting system that's worth a darn? I haven't seen one yet.

zakgolfer

As far as I can tell, that is not an A3 dash or center console...

locke42

@zakgolfer
You would be right. That is also definitely not the map used by the A3 navigation system.

Also, I usually find the A3 is on-time with its traffic updates, or within 10-15 min or so. HOWEVER, its granularity leaves MUCH to be desired. It will label an entire stretch of freeway as "green," when in reality only the first 1/3 and the last 1/3 of that stretch is green, and there is about a quarter-mile of bumper-to-bumper traffic smack-dab in the middle. (Ok, that's a bit hyperbolic; it's more like it shows the traffic as orange, when really yellow or green at the beginning or end, but completely red in the middle.)

dldave

Yeah, I have a 2015 A3 and that picture is not an A3. If I had to guess, I think it might be the GTI..

socal_eric

The SiriusXM-based traffic info is really poor compared to Google/Waze and slow to update. The FM radio-based RDS traffic info is a lot faster to update but depends on the system integrating and using the data to interpret and accurately display it. I've got a drawer full of old stand-alone GPS devices and expired subscriptions for satellite coverage on built-in navigation on a couple cars, and besides Google Maps the only one I found accurate and useful was an old Navigon unit (no longer offered in this market) that used RDS for traffic info.