soonerfan

Here's an update on the Side Assist: Dropped over to the dealer, and as suspected my Audi Specialist had not found time to check on the memo as he's too busy selling three vehicles today. However the General Manager, God Bless him, checked his updates and found nothing mentioned. He went to the Q5 order matrix and found Side Assist (FY1) and we called Audi Support. The person said that YES, it IS available and will not affect the delivery of my unit. She wanted them to send an eMail to them requesting the addition to my order and it was done while I stood there. Whether or not this sticks will remain to be seen.....but we have a fighting chance.

idale

Good luck, I hope you do get it!

gtwagon941

The memo I was sent from my dealer was dated June 10, 2013. It had the following 2 references on the Q5 section, on Page 11:

"Premium Plus models will have Audi side assist available as a standalone option."

"• Audi side assist available as a standalone option on Q5 Premium Plus models"

Further, this is when you can expect your "confirmation" since you seemingly don't believe the June 10th memo:

"Later this week, on June 13, a second communication will be issued detailing MY2014 vehicle sales programs and AFS finance & lease rates."

From p1 of the memo titled "Audi MY2014 Pricing Announcement"

idale

Don't take it personally, there's a lot of conflicting info normally and this whole Side Assist mess is all very strange how it was there, then it wasn't, now apparently it is, and there's not much communication going around. Footnotes can easily be missed when updating a template for release, and so it's hard to know whether it's accurate or not.

Hopefully the "second communication" includes an update to the order guide, and with Side Assist showing in the order system again, and at least one person at Audi confirming, hopefully the option makes its way back onto the order guide, too, when they're adding the pricing on.

Skepticism is healthy, better to be pleasantly surprised that it's indeed available again rather than being unpleasantly surprised that it's still not.

soonerfan

I never doubted the veracity of your post and very glad and appreciative of your efforts and thoughtfulness with sharing the information. Sometimes the information we seek is difficult to pull out of their computer. My general manager went looking for the memorandum and ended up looking in the Q5 order matrix....it IS there....at least for now. Hope it sticks....and this close to production, there likely won't be any slippage.

Mark P

I'm quite surprised. Of course, I don't want my V1 detector constantly going off, so it's of no interest to me either way

soonerfan

One can turn it off completely.

Mark P

Negative - from what I understand the radar still emits, regardless if the LED is turned off or not (short of pulling the fuse). Not that it makes a difference for me anyway...

soonerfan

Interesting.........if I used a radar detector I'd omit the option as well....but I drive very close to the speed limits as a rule. Side Assist is going to be such a prevalent item as a rule, I would think that the option would be well worth having now. Many new cars have it as a standard item....resale might benefit in the long run.

gtwagon941

I have a Q7 loaner with Side Assist at the moment (RS4 is at the dealer for 65k service) and I thought it was cool for a bit. But I've had 2 instances now where there was NO ONE in the blind spot for a lane change yet that light went bizerk...which caused me to momentarily pause and triple check. I'm not a fan. I guess if you don't like to move your head at all and/or can't set the mirrors right it might be nice, but to me, it is just a distraction. Maybe I just need to get used to it...but the flashing lights when the road was clear wasn't doing it for me.