Q5 navigation

Maybe this is what should have been in the redesigned (R56) MINI …
The first pictures shows the “normal” view during navigation, showing the map view with cyan-highlighted route. Zoom level can be adjusted by rotating the control knob on the center console – it also “auto-zooms” in to provide detail during turns.
On the left of the screen is the current location, and the next few navigation details (here, the first item is warning of traffic issues, then the next two upcoming turns are detailed). On the right there is also a compass (repeated in the rear view mirror), indication of distance to destination and arrival time, “TMC” shows traffic data is available, and finally the mountain indicates that we are 40ft above sea level (Boston’s quite low lying!)

In front of the driver / steering wheel, between tachometer and speedometer, is a second display which, during navigation, also shows route / turn information:

Here we see that we should continue for 1.4 miles; during turns various pictures show the needed turn (including some quite detailed ones showing for example a rotary with multiple exits, highlighting the way we should go).

In some cities (for example the center of Boston), the Audi Q5 navigation has “3D” data which allows it to render the outline of buildings. I’m doubtful that this feature would be very helpful for navigation, but it looks cool 🙂

There’s loads of other great features, like the way it shows a picture of an upcoming highway split / exit, indicating all the lanes with an arrow showing the required route and, of course, the voice system which has impeccable pronunciation (my TomTom 900 is pathetic in comparison – most of the time we have no clue what TomTom speaks!)

So far, traffic information has been poor-to-useless, telling me of traffic events that aren’t there, and for example today staying silent about an accident on 93S just below 128, which caused back-ups for miles in both directions (the Audi uses Sirius traffic data).