Hello John, Got A New Motor?

I went down to the Audi dealer today and was relieved to discover that the new steering-column has fixed the fault I found last week. The steering wheel position can now happily be adjusted vertically, not just horizontally.

The arrival of our new car meant that I was finally able to properly fit our Maxi-Cosi PrioriFix car-seat that we purchased in January. The PrioriFix seat is fitted using the ISOFIX system, so that it is anchored to the actual chassis of the car. Because there’s no need to use seat belts any more, the seat is more firmly held in place and becomes virtually impossible to fit incorrectly. This latter point is important, when you consider that something like 60% of child car-seats are fitted incorrectly in some way or other, rendering them anything from less effective to downright useless. Eloïse should be able to use this seat for the next few years.

Anyway, apart from the ISOFIX system (which is still non-standard on Audis and so has to be ordered as an extra), some of the other features I’ve played around with so far are:

• the satellite navigation system, of course. The DVD is dated September 2005, so it should be up-to-date with all of the one-way systems and other nonsense that sometimes confused the navigator in our borrowed car. I noticed that this version also has an altimeter. That’ll be handy in a country under sea level!

• the DAB radio tuner. Unfortunately, there are relatively few radio stations in The Netherlands broadcasting in DAB, but the publieke omroep (public broadcasting company) does. Coverage isn’t national yet, though, I believe.

• the analogue/digital TV tuner. I had this fitted in case I want to get a paid DVB-T subscription later on. Right now, all I can get in this country are Nederland 2, Nederland 3 and a few local news channels, but it’ll still be handy for when I’m parked somewhere, waiting for Sarah to return to the car. Nederland 2 is available as a free-to-air DVB-T channel, so the quality is consistently good. The tuner even includes teletext capability, which makes me feel really spoilt.

• the car phone. Rather than arse around with car-kits and cigarette lighter adapters, I opted for the built-in phone. I can dial numbers from my steering wheel and even read SMS messages. Yeah, I know; not exactly safe whilst driving. At least you need to pull over and pick up the handset to actually send an SMS. I have a DuoSim card, so I can share the same number between my mobile phone and the car phone.

• advanced key. This is Audi’s name for not requiring that the key be inserted in the door to unlock it, nor be in the ignition in order to start the car. One need only have the key in one’s pocket to gain entry to the vehicle and start it. It sounds like a gimmick, but one gets used to this convenience very quickly.

• voice recognition. I can talk to my car and tell it where I want to go and who I want to call on the telephone. It then obliges me by programming that destination into the navigation system or by calling that person. Next year’s model will drive there on autopilot and hold the conversation for me, too.

The car contains much more cool gadgetry than just the above, but I’ve only driven a handful of kilometres so far, so I have a lot more to try out and become acquainted with in the coming weeks.

On the way home from the dealer, I stopped off briefly at PCH to transfer the parking permit from the borrowed car to the new one. Then, I headed home to show off the car to Sarah, who seems to like it. She’ll like it a lot more, of course, when I pull my finger out and take her on a road trip in it.

It’s a real luxury to have your own car, especially one that you ordered brand new from the factory after picking out all the specific features you wanted, then waited more than three months for it to be manufactured and delivered. Hopefully, it will provide us with many years of reliable service.