After One Week

After One Week

I’m beginning to write this after only one week of having my new car.  The first opportunity I had to take my Audi somewhere other than work or a grocery store was on Labor Day.  I worked the weekend with what may be the worst schedule I have ever had... 7am to 7pm during absolutely perfect weather.

Fortunately, Labor Day was pretty good, too.  I decided that since it was one of the few opportunities I’d have to do so, I would drive up to Elkhart to eat at Das Dutchman Essenhaus and then drive up to the Audi dealership and see if someone there could help me understand some of the more complicated aspects of the on-screen controls.  Essenhaus was not busy at all, which was surprising to me.  On the drive there, I tested out the radio.  Now my new thing is to play hard rock and metal really loudly while driving.  Maybe I need to call in to the station and request Faith No More “Midlife Crisis.”

I continued on to Mishawaka, which was nearly traffic free all the way to the Audi dealership.  They were a bit short staffed that day, and I got to speak directly to the manager... who recognized me.  It is a little bit unusual for someone to recognize me.  In the past, when I went to multiple wrestling shows every weekend, it was far more frequent.  Back then, even the wrestlers would say “hi” to me.  This instance was remarkable in that the manager was the guy who had sold me an Outback eight years ago (and then another one three months later when I totaled the first one.)  We discussed his remarkable rise in the past eight years while I silently pondered my own lack of career advancement.  He couldn’t help me, though, because he had only recently been bumped up to Audi and didn’t have as firm a grasp on the older cars.

I left, with my lack of functioning air conditioning becoming more of an issue, making a side trip to a park before driving on to my destination.  It was a good day.

The next day at work, I saw one of my friends who has a newer Audi, and is also an enthusiast.  We discussed our cars for a while, and he mentioned that he had an extra connection wire for the auxiliary audio system.  One I could use for my old iPod.  After work, we looked, and apparently I don’t have anything that would work with that.  However, I explained that I couldn’t get the keyless start to work.  I figured out that if I had my key in my pocket, I could simply touch the handle and it would unlock the car.  Remarkably handy and really cool.  This is also the time when I noticed that there is no actual spot for a key to go for unlocking the car.  I assume that if the battery in either the car or the remote goes, then I am stranded with a massive three ton brick.  I still haven’t found the car battery.

Anyways, back to the keyless start thing.  My friend casually points out that the instructions on the screen say to press on the brake when starting the car.  With the key, it was never an issue, so I didn’t do that when pressing the start button.  Well, pressing down on the brake pedal and pressing the button worked perfectly.  There is another button for shutting down the engine.  Pressing it once shuts off the engine but leaves all the accessories on, which is less than ideal.  Pressing it twice shuts down all the accessories, but brings up a screen asking if I want to press it a third time to engage the steering wheel lock.  I just use my key.

On Wednesday I returned to the Audi dealership, which had more salespeople, and asked if someone could help me figure out my car.  I was surprised at how enthusiastic the sales people were to help, despite the fact that it was virtually impossible for them to close a sale with me.  One of them came out to my car and sat in the 95 degree heat, helping me connect the bluetooth, and to find the location of the trip computer.  I had hoped that there would have been something more to the main computer, like an oil level checker or something like that, but apparently not.  If you weren’t just skimming this, you would have noticed earlier that I mentioned not having any working air conditioning.  The sales lady gave me her card, so if anyone reading this is shopping for a new Audi, VW, Mercedes, or Sprinter van, let me know and I’ll give you her card.

Now my phone is connected to my car.  After leaving the dealership, I was starving, so I went to dinner, but after dinner I tested out my new car-sized phone.  It’s a fully functioning car, but I can also use it to make phone calls!  The first rather unfortunate part is that it does not auto-import all of your contacts.  The second rather unfortunate part is that I have all of the previous owners contacts, who are all really middle eastern sounding names, and stuff to do with medical things.  So, using the main controller knob, I dialed my dad’s phone number and made a call.  It connected and worked for a little while, but I think that maybe my signal was bad.  I also called my mom, and had the same problem.  I will have to investigate this a bit more, but for the most part it was a success.  I make or receive maybe 3-5 calls a month, and drive less than 20 minutes a day, so the chance that I will be in my car when I need to make or receive a call is unbelievably remote.

I did accidentally find another feature of the car.  As I was driving home with the windows down, a couple of big bugs hit the windshield making a big mess.  When I used the wipers to clean the windshield, none of the cleaning fluid blew into the car.  While this is cool, of course it would (literally) be cooler if the AC was working, but it is a nice feature nonetheless and shows to me that they were really serious when they designed this car.

Each of the trips I took to Mishawaka used roughly 1/4 tank of premium fuel.  I know for a fact that I will be breaking records for amounts paid at the pump pretty soon.  Doing some basic math, it appears as though I am getting similar mileage to my truck right now, but I am also doing a lot more fast starts and things like that, so the 6-speed transmission may end up being a help.

Next time... Will I manage to find the battery?