Pollen Filters and you get what you pay for.
 

As part of the recent service I bought some pollen filters from an online source. Good price, (£9.85 the pair) but when compared with the Hengst (German but manufactured in Czech Republic) filters i removed they were lightweight and probably lacking in activated charcoal. Which accounts for their white look against the darker (but clean) look of the removed filters. The new ones will probably do but I feel they are not as good construction.

The difference between the two is due to one being a carbon activated filter.

Between each fin is something (I'm not sure on its name) and it filters the air and removes bad smells.
They are always heavier and worth the extra expense.

The new,cheaper ones certainly seem to be just paper filter whereas the Hengst were of a woven material impregnated with charcoal.
I now see that eurocarparts has two versions of this filter. One is listed as Crosland (but the one in the picture is Hengst) reduced from £56 to £20 and now at £13.50. The other is a Mann filter at £45. Neither advert makes it clear whether thats per filter of for a pair.

That's a massive price drop from Eurocar parts.

I will always get carbon filters over the normal paper ones.
I think it makes so much difference.

Get the part number from the manufacturer?

The Audi part no is 4D0 819438A. ECP number is 507440128 for the Crosland and ..129 for the Mann.

The Crosland filter is their own cheap brand (they bough the rights to use Crosland name)

Pollen filters for this car are usually boxed as a pair -

Mann denote this with the part number ending in -2
Mann filters, the K in the part number denotes Karbon
CU2949-2 - non carbon, 2 filters in box
CUK2949-2 - carbon, 2 filters in box

Thanks for that Dave. I do note that ECP do state clearly that a photograph of the item does not mean that you get the brand seen! (The photo is clearly of a Hengst filter.)
As always you need to be careful buying off the internet.

....Mann are £28.50 a pr off Amazon:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Mann-Hummel-.../dp/B00252KEKM

I saw your post and was excited about getting pollen filters for just under £10, thanks for updating us that they are not so great, I'm not sure now may go for the Hengst ones.

went to the dealer today, with a discount a pair from the dealer is £41, so I got the Mann ones from amazon instead. With postage added it came to £30.