A4 2.0TDi Avant S-Line blah blah

Attractive looking thing but then I fail to see why everyone gets so excited by Audi interiors, that centre console looks like it belongs in a Fiesta

Ditto the climate control stuff. Design for design's sake.

Does it not fold away electrically? Mine did on my 13 plate one. It was quite a classy way of doing it. 

That  about sums up Audi inners since, well, for ever really. Only ever driven 2 (I think) Audis, which were a 2007 A3 TDI S-Line and a 2009 A4 Avant (Diesel also, unsurprisingly) but sat a quite a few over the years and never really did "get" the whole gushing euphoria about the perceived quality of them. For the (over)price(d) point then maybe they were a bit better screwed together, but anything lower in the range than 'S' or 'RS' level, not S-LINE, was no better in my eyes than similar specced BMW's or Mercs (well, mostly in Mercedes' case!)

Most cars these days are way too fussy to my eyes, the Toyota C-HR I just handed back today while the Legacy was being fixed being a case in point; far too many warning lights, buzzers and flashing icons, multiple sub-menus (and separate menus entirely!) to access some really quite basic functions and altogether too much "stuff" taking your eyes away from where they should be - on the road! 

Add to the fact that any sort of proper life-saver in cars of this type is virtually impossible, and you have a car I will actively refuse if ever offered one again. 

I think that in 2000 or so, Audi interiors were a cut above. Like this B6 (2000-2006) A4 interior. It looks cohesive. That new one looks like several bits from the parts bin stuck together badly. So, in reality, Audi have been living off that past glory.

But it's an Audi so I want one badly.

The interior does look a step backwards, not least because the lower half of the dashboard appears to be missing. I wonder if that last shot parked across the driveway should be in another thread? Could easily be an unmarked response car stopped on a raid.

This is where we're at with interiors now I think. How much "different" or "better" can they be? All the issues with interior air handling has long ago been solved, control of the hi-fi and other facilities is largely the same (the gesture thing on BMWs and others is gimmickry to prove how well it worked in the first place!) and generally a move away from accepted ergonomics will now just be reported in journals as "an ergonomic disaster" or "anachronism". I'd sound like Clarkson when he kitted that S-Class out like a country cottage if I said "we know what comfort feels like from our experience in our own living rooms". Hence cars need to look exciting on the outside and have powertrains that stir us, either with their poke or frugality. 

I have to say the interior quality on the original A3 (I had a 1.8T Quattro-flavoured one and then an S3) was really very good. Likewise on the original A6 Allroads and the B7 RS4 my father had.

I was probably being marginally unfair. It’s just that I recall both of those being particularly good.

You're only supposed to do that if you own a Skoda/SEAT/Volkswagen...