New Audi Owner - General Maint Q's
 

All,

2013 Audi A5, 24000 Miles, FWD, Cabriolet

First Audi bought for the the wife. I have zero exp with an Audi. I feel that I am better than average DIYer with cars. Have troubleshot and repaired many different cars over the years: Saturn, Toyota, Chrysler, Ford, Nissan and Jeep. Have done work from brake jobs to full transmission replacements and everything in between.

I have some Q's on the Audi:
1. Reset Service alarm. Do I need some special hardware for this? Will dealer to it for free? The interface I can reset oil change reminder, but not the 'Service Due' indicator.
2. Oil dipstick. Is there an aftermarket stick? I like the electronic level, but I wanna see the oil.
3. Cabriolet soft top. At 25k miles the soft top has some creases where it folds into the trunk. I suspect this will leak before the next 5 years - any idea on replacement cost?
4. MMI screen/radio (?) is there a replacement interface screen? Wife wants one with Nav.

Thanks for your time!

Any takers? Did I post in the wrong forum?

Nahh. I was going to take a stab at it but I don't have much experience with some of the newer models. However, I will say that the "service" alarm reset has to be done by a VAG-COM device. The dealer will probably NOT reset it for free. But it doesn't have to be a dealer. Most other shops that service German cars will have the VAG-COM equipment.

Regarding the oil dipstick, I hear that some manufacturers are moving away from probably the most reliable instrument ever devised for checking oil levels. I think it's a huge mistake but it's yet another way that manufacturers are relying WAY too much on electronic devices for such a critical system. Adding dipstick to an engine that wasn't designed for one is not going be easy with the engine in the car. Not mention the engineering involved. Most of the newer Audi oil pans are not that deep so the oil level is actually above the top of the pan. So the dipstick is going to have to go into the block. NOT recommended at all. Unless the block was engineered for a stick and simply has the hole plugged, any other way is just going to be a PITA.