Test drove 2.0 manual

I test drove a 2008 2.0 manual S-line yesterday, of course I liked it, but there are a couple of things I wanted to mention. The wiper control stalk seems a bit flimsy and a bit confusing. The rear wiper was on intermittent and we (salesman and I) didn't figure out how to stop it until we triggered every other wiper function. I'm not worried about the confusing part but wonder if others have had problems with the wiper control stalk breaking or any other switch for that matter?

The 6 speed shifts nice enough, but there is a big drop in revs from 3rd to 4th and hardly anything from then on. It makes we wonder what 6th is for and what's with those cars having 7 and did I hear someone has an 8th gear! Is their a close ratio box available?

Oh and one last thing, all the cars at this dealer (Advantage Houston TX) had sunroofs. The cabin is a bit small so I'm wondering how much headroom is lost to the sunroof?

Re: wipers, when I first got my car, I accepted the fact that a lot of the controls would be unintuitive and complex.  And I was right for about 3 weeks...now I'm not only used to the stalks and buttons and their functions, I'd be disappointed if I got a car that didn't have all of them.  I've gotten used to them and they're easy to me now.
 
Re: Open Sky, this was a tough decision for me, but I got to side-by-side compare.  You do lose a good amount of head room (probably an inch or more, and moreso in the back seat), but having glass up there makes for more perceived room.  I didn't get my car to sit in the back seat, anyway  
 
Be more concerned with heat insulation.  Don't get Open Sky in south Texas unless you're dead set on some good tint.

I'll chime in on the gear box.   Third gear will pull all day long, and then 4-6 progressively get longer, but not by much.   I personally would like to have a taller 6th gear too, but I've done 150mph and 6th still had a little room, so don't worry about that.
 
 
Cheers!

Does the car in question have rain-sensing wipers? (Do they all have that now in 2008?)   Here in the notoriously wet Pacific NW I just leave the wiper lever in the intermittent position and they do an excellent job of starting, stopping and adjusting speed as needed without my intervention, including going to high-speed.  So I only touch that lever to control the trip computer.
 
BTW, this lever is identical in function (both wipers and computer) to our 1999 VW Passat (but no rain-sensing on that one), and it is very similar to my previous 1993 BMW, so no confusion there.  I suspect that the ever-methodical Germans have some sort of design standard for the various switches and controls.

It was an overcast and warm day. The fronts were not wiping so I suspect no automatic rain sensing and I don't remember reading that in any brochure.

The black/black car at least proved the AC worked good. I have no intention of ever getting a sunroof.on any car ever. I'm just hoping there is a bit more head room. At 5'9" I'm not tall but only had about 1-2" of clearance with the sunruoof option.

A close ratio box would help me to select gears better, I'm willing to let 5th be an overdrive, but 6th seems useless. I only got it to 70mph and didn't see any rpm drop from 5th to 6th and kept thinking I was missing gears while down shifting. So a little shorter 4th and 5th would suit my style of driving.

I'll also mention that the Audi dashboard really lights up with lots of info. The salesman asked me what the problem was as I was scanning all the readouts. So yea a few weeks of orientation will be required.

Also speaking of wipers they had these ugly blue ones and I was told they have lots of theft problems so they put these cheap ones on. Stealing wiper blades, man that's desperate.

If you get the 6 sp manual chipped, you will never have another harsh word to say about 4th or 5th gears. With the chip, 5th pulls like a champ from freeway speed limit upwards! Needless to say, in 4th you'll have a passion for passin' (ok, that was lame, but there you have it).

x2 on the chip.  Big difference!  I came to the A3 from a TT 6spd so I was fairly familiar with the controls and layout.  It takes some time to get used to it, but then you'll be working on auto-pilot.  Because suddenly it all seems so intuitive.
 
I've got the Open Sky and I'm the same height and I don't feel cramped at all.  I would imagine that without the open sky it would seem more spacious.  You can raise and lower the seat height and that helped me anyway.
 
I kind of like only turning about 2400 RPM in 6th gear at 65+.  I can easily pass and never have to downshift.  If I do, I can kick serious booty.

quote:

ORIGINAL: byrun

The black/black car at least proved the AC worked good. I have no intention of ever getting a sunroof.on any car ever. I'm just hoping there is a bit more head room. At 5'9" I'm not tall but only had about 1-2" of clearance with the sunruoof option.

 
Don't be to quick to praise the AC in the A3. 
 
And if you are 5'9" and only less than 2" of clearance, then 1 of 2 things (possibly both) is the cause.
1) The seat was raised (almost) all the way up. 
2) You have a disproportionally long torso in relation to your height.
 
I'm about 6'1" and have plenty of headroom.  Seat isn't even all the way lowered (and no, it's not pimped all the way back)

Ditto on the seat issue:  that seat may not have been all the way down.  I'm 6'0 and headroom isn't an issue, even w/ opensky.  Regarding the stalks, I initially thought the placement of the cruise control stalk was really lame (virtually hidden from view and way too close to the turn signal).  I have since gotten used to it and rather appreciate its location.  It's actually very easy to get to by feel alone.
Agreed about 6th gear, but it's still nice to be able to drop the revs even slightly at cruising speed.