whittya4

Hi all, my lease on my 2014 A4 is coming to an end. I decided to order a 2017 Premium Plus though my dealer in the exact color combo that seems to be hard to find (Florett Silver with Nougat interior with the sport package) One option I decided against was the Technology Package. I have the navigation package on my current A4 and never use it. I was wondering if someone could post a photo of the CarPlay screen with the Apple Maps and just the CarPlay home screen, to get an idea of what it looks like on the non-technology package equipped screen. Thanks so much!

yareally

You could just go to a dealer and ask to plug in your phone and try it out. That's what I did for Android Auto at least.

drewba

I have the technology package and honestly, I use Apple Maps more often than the built-in navigation. They both have their strengths, but the convenience of looking up items on my phone and navigating to them outweighs having navigation in the virtual cockpit to me. I'm also preparing for not having traffic information in the MMI navigation when my Audi Connect expires. I wouldn't hesitate to order the car without navigation if you're OK with bypassing the other advantages of the virtual cockpit.

Anyway, here are the images that you requested. I've masked the street names, but each balloon on the map would include the name of the street.

superswiss

Is that with iOS 10? Still looks very bare bone and may I say ugly compared to the MMI and even Google Maps. You can still look up destinations on your phone and navigate using the MMI. Just tap the share button in whatever app you are looking up a destination, then select the MMI connect app and send. Then select it from the myAudi destinations in the car. Does Apple Maps finally reroute around traffic congestion and accidents? It didn't on iOS 9. It's still very hard to make out traffic, though. I don't know why they insist on the barely legible dashed lines instead of the more prominent green, orange, red highlighting of the roads like everybody else does. There is also no heads up on traffic. The MMI shows upcoming traffic on ones route and Google Maps announces it and reassures that you are still on the fastest route. Apple Maps is my least used map app. I only use it, because if I search for something in Siri it opens it in Apple maps and so do other apps. Some apps I use are configurable and I have them all open Google Maps.

drewba

Yes, it is iOS 10. I agree that it is pretty bare bones, but it is functional. It does reroute based on traffic conditions and displays traffic en route as orange and red on the road.

The problem with the MMI connect app is that is requires a subscription to Audi Connect, as does traffic in the MMI navigation. I've used the app a couple of times to send destinations to the navigation, but I'm not intending on paying for Audi Connect when my 6 month trial expires.

My hope is that 3rd party navigation apps eventually come to CarPlay so that we have additional choices.

superswiss

Sounds like some improvements were done. It's definitely better than it used to be. It's finding stuff now that I'm searching for and it's nifty that it automatically remembers where I parked my car. Not that I ever really forget where I parked it, but it's a nice piece of mind for unfamiliar areas.

whittya4

Thank you for the information as well as the pics. It's hard to find actual pics online of a non Tech package equipped model that shows the MMI screen and the instrument panel without the virtual cockpit. I'm beginning to wonder now if it's too late for me to add the Tech package to my already ordered vehicle. I'm not even sure of an exact date that my new car will be ready.

DirkM

Without the Tech package you are not only using VC and Navigation but also the bigger MMI screen (the smaller screen and a wider frame to keep the overall size the same), the color DIS (the monochrome DIS is white only with a much lower resolution) and a few other things that make the car's interior look really different. I would recommend to check out a car without navigation at the dealer before devising on this.

superswiss

It's hard to find pictures of the interior w/o the tech package, but I found this on audi.de. The standard driver information display is now color, so it doesn't look as bare as previous generations looked without the tech package, but the center display is actually physically smaller without the tech package. It's not widescreen. Without the tech package you get a lower grade MMI, that besides no navigation loses other features as well. Not sure about the 2017 A4, but on past models w/o the tech package you lost the backup camera, Bluetooth audio streaming, Drive Select Individual mode and a bunch of other stuff.

DirkM

It might not be as low res anymore but it's still white only and much smaller

compared to the color DIS