After Years Of Defining The Industry, Have Audi Interiors Now Lost The Edge?

In *my* view, Audi still has some of the best interiors around, possibly *because* they haven't jumped on the Teutonic Starkness and Bauhaus interior design bandwagon that we see prominently featured in BMWs.

But that's about to change. The newly released Audi Q7 shows us the direction where Audi is going with their interiors. Sparseness. Starkness. Eliminating dedicated and intuitive knobs and switches from the dash and moving that functionality to the menu-driven computer screen called MMI. Today's Q5 interior is gorgeous. The spy shots of the next generation Q5, due in late 2016, show us a similarly stark theme that we saw in the Q7 with the added abundance of trendy trapezoids. In many ways, it looks like Audi is attempting to copy BMW's latest interiors, which I'm not fond of.

So while '009 bemoans that Audi has not updated their interiors quickly enough for his tastes, he'll soon be seeing the update he seeks. Sadly, I feel, Audi's new direction will tarnish their reputation for having some of the best interiors around.

If you love Audi for their rich, functional, and gorgeous interiors, get one soon, before it's too late. If you're aching for an Audi with an "updated" interior, hang onto your hat, because you're about to get a snootful!

I disagree I think the new Audi interiors as witnessed by the new TT and Q7 are even better than the current interiors. Audi has once again pushed the envelope when it comes to leading interior design and this time it has used a clean, crisp, modern and high-quality approach to do it.

Audi's interior materials quality is still far higher than BMW's and the digital dash is far better-looking than Mercedes-Benz's unit, which looks like an aftermarket screen that was tacked onto the dash.

Apologies to '009: I incorrectly attributed the linked article to him. He's just passing it on.

I love my Audi's interior; that's why I bought it. Fine quality, excellent craftsmanship inside and attention to detail.

I really liked some of the Audi interiors like the original TT, however the last few years not so much at least on some of the models I looked at. The Q5 for instance has this giant piece of plastic that seems to make up 90% of the dash and even down through to the center console. It is large and uninteresting (ugly to my eye). The best looking interiors these days are the Lexus IS350 & kin (although there are some questionable quality issues with it...still looks good), the Mercedes C class (get rid of the permanent iPad look though) and the Range Rover Evoque.

valhallakey writes: "...The best looking interiors these days are the Lexus IS350 & kin..."

This link is an photo of a Lexus IS 350 interior:
http://images.newcars.com/images/car-pictures/original/2015-Lexus-IS-350-Sedan-Base-4dr-Rear-wheel-Drive-Sedan-Interior.png

Is this what you feel is an example of a really good interior? If so, then you and I have radically different preferences.

Audi has lost its edge in every way. Meet the new TT...same as the old TT. Prologue: meet the all new design language...same as the old design language.

new generation Volvo interiors are great and the Nissan Murano interior is best for under $40K, better than similarly priced Audis.