Well my eyebrows are back on after the last visit to my dealer for re-occuring Battery warning light. Battery was shot after only having the car for 16 months. Now what I am trying to figure out is if the ancillary stalks-turn signal, cruise, wiper stalks are supposed to be lit up when the lights are on. Is it me or do I remember the icons on the stalks lighting up when driving in the dark? They are not now. Did they ever?

New version CIP is 24.1 in the car presently.

 

Nope.

 

I think it is you... no lighting on stalks (at least on my car - dated April 05)

 

You were dreaming
(Although it's a nice idea)

BMW don't even bother to illuminate the ventilation turn-wheels... so why would they illuminate icons on the ancillary stalks...

 

That's what's always bugged me as well. After driving 2 previous Audi A6s, this feature was really nice as you do need to adjust them at night as well as day and so why shouldn't they be illuminated? Real penny pinch of BMW IMO :thumbsdown:

Was it always that way with previous 5s ?? - I don't know as this is my first BMW.

I have to say though I do love the car despite my little rantette above.

 

Audi also tend to illuminate ashtrays, armrest compartments, lighter sockets etc.
In fact the quality of their interiors is very impressive in general and shows more attention to detail than many other manufacturers (BMW included).
I agree that it's a shame BMW don't spend the extra few Euro to finish the job as it always feels like they are 'almost' there with fit and finish.

 

I used to agree with you on this one and that's part of the reason I drove 2 A6s for 3 years each, a 2000 and 2003 model. Howver, I have to say when I looked at the latest A6 I was not impressed at all by the interior quality. I think Audi have really started to cut the quality in this department. Maybe they realised that they were over-engineering the quality element where others incl. BMW and Mercedes weren't but they were'nt losing sales because of it! Well maybe MB did when they took cost cutting too far!!

The quality of the dash plastics esp. around the dials on the new A6 was very poor IMO. The nice little touches that I had on mine like the fold out twin door bins had gone in favour of a one-piece moulded affair like the E60. I had illuminated red lights on the door jams so that they could be seen easily by oncoming traffic - these had been replaced by cheap red reflectors. Etc, etc.

Still one good thing is that it steered me to the E60 which I now don't regret for a minute, not being a fan of BMWs before - I now am. I just thought the E39 was a tired old design and all series; 3, 5 and 7 were just different size vehicles of the same basic shape and design and back then the A6 was much more avantgarde.

Seems that BMW have taken a tip from Audi about good design and Audi have taken tips from BMW about only going just far enough but not overkill on the little quality touches.....

 

They used to (E28 or was it E34?) and I miss those too.

 

Interesting views... I am more familiar with the QA level in the A4 and old A6. I did go to see the A6 when it was launched and remember thinking the upper dash plastics looked a bit cheap for an Audi... I must have a closer look at it. It would be a shame if Audi are gone down the same road as the others.

Apart from the fact that Audis just don't drive as well as BMWs, I find their recent designs very 'undynamic'. The A6 looks like a boat, the new TT has totally lost the 'cool factor', the Q7 is just... well... huge and ugly.

 

Hey, if they can't be @rsed with the windscreen wipers on RHD cars....

ABC