Well guys, I FINALLY made the choice to suck it up and purchase a new instrument cluster (aka speedometer). Yes, retail price from Audi is $630-800 depending on who's selling it to you. My dealership offers me 20% off ALL parts I order. Install rate is @ $90/hr. Estimated install - 1 hour. My total was around $800 for part & installation.
Clusters are not hard to remove or reinstall - however, for everything to be "legal", you MUST have Audi install it. They use a machine on the brand new cluster (with "0" miles) to enter your cluster's current milage in kilometers. The machine converts it into US miles and then programs the new cluster. Any questions, feel free to ask! :-)


Pics of the Old & New Clusters!

 

Though mine's not as bad as yours was... mines' still about 60-70% readable. Course I turn it off most of the time because it's distracting to me.

But man, 800$ for that is a boatload of cash. It looks great, but man, paid in blood for it. :P

 

You have to understand, though - when it comes to my Audi...I am a PERFECTionist lol I don't like her to be "sick" in anyway. Besides, can always get the $800 back (which isn't that much) when I eventually go to sell her. I'm sure the new owner would appreciate it was done and he/she now doesn't have to worry about it. To me, that is the car's brain - tells you everything you need to know - including if something is wrong. What's the point if you can't read it?

 

How do you go about turning it off?

 

Prizmatik, on your right-side control arm (where your wipers are), on the bottom side of the arm is a little button that controls your instrument cluster. Pushing it once at a time will flip between MTE (mi to empty), Instant MPG, Avg MPG (mi per gal), Avg MPH (mi per hr), Traveling time (hh:mm). If you have avg mpg, mph or time active, and hold in the button, it will reset them to 0 and recalculate their values. If you have MTE, instant mpg active and hold it in, it will shut off the display. Hope this helps )

 

Cool. Thanks for the information. I am in the middle of fixing the transmission right now, but I will try that out once I am done.