Edmunds dealer partner, Bayway Leasing, is now offering transparent lease deals via these forums. Click here to see the latest vehicles!
Options
2014 Audi Q7 Problems - DO NOT BUY THIS CAR
My new Q7 has so many problems, I don't know where to start.
First of all, it drives and handles okay, although somewhat sluggish. It is quiet at high speed.
Now the bad. The electronics are horrible.
- The GPS input takes longer than the average distance to the destination i.e. we are often almost there before we can get the address entered. AUDI - USE A TOUCH SCREEN! AND USE A STANDARD KEYBOARD. Voice recognition does not work.
- You can't turn the car on without the radio coming on. Took it to the dealer, and they say nothing they can do. Ambiance.
- Backup camera takes so long to come on after the car is in reverse that I am already out of my garage by the time it shows up. Useless.
- Door locks don't work unless you have the keys. So if the car is in the garage, and you need something out of the trunk, and the driver door is open, you have to climb over everything to get in the trunk.
- Garage door opener doesn't work unless the car is on. Why?
- Cruise control - good.
- Traveling hot spot -wifi. If you pay for it, it's good. But it's pricey, and when you don't pay, it ruins your cell phone coverage in the car.
- Climate controls - horrible. The dealer tech couldn't figure out some of them. If you push the defrost button the fan comes on really strong, but then you have to go through a few buttons before you can turn down the fan speed - and you have to do it twice, once for the drivers side, and once for the passenger side. Very distracting.
- Storage space - missing. In the drivers seat area, there is not a lot of space to put anything.
- My son lay down in the back seats and put the shoulder belt behind him. The seat belt then tightened around his waist and we couldn't get it unhooked. We almost had to cut the seat belt to get him out. It was very scary.
Overall I have found that I am constantly struggling with the electronics to the point that my focus is inside the car and not on my driving. It is dangerous.
I am curious if others are having these same problems and find this to be a dangerous car.
O
0
Comments
I rarely use GPS from the car but use smartphone one. With the radio hit the DVD button or aux button will switch radio off. The other option is to turn off the navigation system when leaving the car and turning it back on after you started the car which is a pain. I believe the door lock and garage door opening issues are security features. Climate control is normal as driver and passenger have their own control buttons. I do not have a audi Q7 anymore, but trying to go by memory about your concerns. My current vehicle has the radio, climate control, and even backup camera features you are concerned about._
It looks like I’m very late posting here, but since this post is still coming up with a quick google search, I will respond.
Many of the issues you are having can be solved with a quick perusal of you owner’s manual. When we first stepped up to a complex car like our Audi, we understood that this vehicle would be nothing like the Jeeps, Chryslers, and other cars of our past. This Audi was technically beyond any car we had owned before. Therefore, we had to read and understand the manual. It took a bit of getting used to…like swapping from Windows to Apple, but that doesn’t mean different is bad. It just takes some learning. With this learning curve, Audi has a very in depth owners website to answer and help with any of its equipment with video.
GPS: There is a voice recognition tutorial and calibration that can be run. There is a long tutorial on the Audi site, and one the entry via the dial is learned, it takes much less time for us to enter than the “old” way. The idea behind no touch screen is to avoid distracted drivers.
Car Radio: Audi likes to return you to the setting that you previously had in. Therefore, if you were listening to a CD when you got out, you will pick up where you left off when you return. Press and hold the volume control on the center column to turn off. You can change this setting in the MMI, or you dealer can do it for you. This info is in the owner’s manual also.
Backup camera coming on slowly is a weird thing. If you turn on the car, put on seat belts, before you start backing up, things should be ready to go. Every car ever manufactured should be started and left be for at least three to four seconds minimum before shifting and driving. Especially now with all the computerized calibration, it takes a second to boot up all the parameters and get a good sample before the trip starts.
Door lock functions are a safety thing. It keeps things secure. All of these setting are changeable within the MMI. Instructions are in the owner’s manual, or the dealer can do this for you.
Garage door function is to prevent activation of the garage door if your car is broken into while it is NOT IN your garage. Again, it is a safety function.
There should be no effect of your cell phone coverage by the traveling hot spot. Just as two cell phones next to each other do not effect each others connectivity.
Climate control: read your owner’s manual. You can set the defrost to come on slowly, but, again, Audi has seen that when one needs defrost (defog), they select the fan to be at full blast nine times out of tem, so this happens automatically for you. A simple touch of the fan and spin of the dial will slow the fan down. If the other people in the car have set their fans at speeds you do not like, press and hold your fan control for a few seconds, then you will have control over the entire car. Yes, all of this is in the owner’s manual. You NEED to read it.
Storage space: We have found the pocket in the door to be absolutely massive, and are happy with the center console. If the car did not meet your requirements…you bought it; so don’t be mad at the car. We have found that the little storage compartments hidden all throughout the car are pretty neat.
I am an accident investigator and your son’s seat belt incident is…well, when traveling in a car, the shoulder belt is to be worn over the shoulder, otherwise it is a violation of the law. Besides this, all seat belts made after around 1997 have a ratcheting effect if pulled all the way out then released. It seems as if he did this, and like all cars on the road, it began tightening. Just like every other car on the road, you slow to a stop and open the door, the belt will be released. That is also in the owner’s manual.
Again, this car is so technically advanced, if one just jumps in without getting used to the controls and functions, they will be a danger on the road, and will most likely ruin the vehicle and hate it along the way. As a pilot, I understand that aircraft are different, and I must get comfortable with the differences before I take off in the newer aircraft. Don’t be a typical person who doesn’t grasp the fact that you are strapping yourself into a two ton high tech piece of machinery that is equally beautiful and deadly. Humans take driving so lightly that being anywhere near a road is twice as dangerous as it should be. Be a professional driver. Learn you car.