Comments on: Audi A3 TDI Is Bound for US

By: dan_23_ca

dan_23_ca — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 08:32:58 +0000

Who wants to drive the same car for 200,000 miles?

If you drive more than 20 miles a day, the luxuries of the Audi will be well worth it in my opinion.

Currently I drive a Toyota Corolla 04 Type S Manual. It drives much like a Prius (except that the engine stays on when stopped). It is as reliable as people say and averages about 36.5 miles per gallon (mostly freeway driving). However, its ride quality, road noise, and general cabin comfort leaves MUCH to be desired not to mention its lack of handling and lack of power when more than 2 people are in the car. By lack of handling, I especially mean the degree at which you have to turn the steering wheel to get the car to turn (really bad for u-turns, its like driving a bus).

I think if you can get the luxuries of an Audi, keep it for only 5 years to avoid the large maintenance fees later in its life and benefit from an averaged 40+ mpg, why the hell not?

I think the Prius needs to ditch pursuing solar panels on the roof to cool the car... especially since solar panel production is only like 20% efficient wasting most of the raw materials... and slowing production of the cars. Instead, they should focus on luxuries that cars like the Audi have.

Also, what is so bad about a clean diesel hybrid? Wouldn't it get like 60+ mpg ?

By: Mike Shields

Mike Shields — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 23:51:25 +0000

Diesel engines produce power as efficiently as most electric power plants can make the equivalent KW power of electricity, and certainly diesel makes cleaner power than 80 percent of power generating plants. That is a hard point to swallow, but it is true. It is the reason the Eurozone has gone to diesel. So unless electric power is atomic generated, with all the hidden costs, diesel power is very viable alternative. Conversion to diesel will reduce dependency on foreign oil by about 30%.

One problem for the states is our refiners mainly use cracking towers biased to gasoline production, whereas the rest of the world uses a process that does about 15% more diesel and 15% less gas. This is currently why diesel is more expensive in some regions of the US. The good news is all new capacity is being constructed with the diesel biased process.

From both a technical and an environmental view, the modern, high pressure injection Diesel is in every way superior to gasoline engines. Very, very clean, 30% more fuel efficient AND they are very powerful. There is an old saw, "You buy horsepower, but you drive torque." Diesels make huge torque, much more than a gas motor and can actually be quite fun to drive, if say a 3 liter size. At 1.8 liter you get 45-50 mpg and 230-250 ft-lbs torque. Just the ticket.

By: D. John McCarthy

D. John McCarthy — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 18:45:40 +0000

When you add in the environmental cost of the batteries the A3 is a much greener car. It is also a lot more fun to drive and when you drive at real highway speeds gets better milage then the Prius. The faster you go the better the A3 is.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 07:46:04 +0000

I’m biased, being a VW TDI driver, but I really think the diesels are better. Good economy, and surely more fun to drive while getting said good economy (LOTS of torque there). Here’s an interesting read for you: http://blogs.motortrend.com/6229114/auto-review/fun-and-50-mpg-in-the-audi-a3-19tdie-who-needs-a-prius/index.html

By: Jack Blackman

Jack Blackman — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 02:49:10 +0000

Diesel is a long term solution. It can be made from peanuts, soy, pine trees, wheat, corn, petroleum or any mixture of the above and diesel vehicles can burn straight vegetable oil as well.

The big advantage of using bio-sourced diesel is that it produces less CO2 than the source plant absorbs. You reduce CO2 emissions by burning more bio-diesel!

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 02:45:34 +0000

My first car was a 1984 VW Rabbit (diesel of course). For the past 8 years I've driven a TDI Jetta. True, the price of diesel is above gas (RIGHT NOW...), but there is no way anyone should purchase a hybrid over a TDI.

Hybrids, while in theory are a great idea, simply don't live up to all the hype in real life. Spurred on by the righteous and media. They are extremely difficult to repair, unreliable in the long-term, and unless driven in the most cautious, old lady manner, end up with fuel economy signigicantly poorer than many gas vehicle (ex. "Top Gear" test drive, Prius vs. BMW, BMW had better fuel economy...).

Diesels are proven technology, reliably deliver economy in the 45 MPG range, last FOREVER (my 1984 Rabbit still runs and still gets better MPG than my sister's camry), and still can deliver exceptional performance (torque-y turbo diesel has a lot of snot...).

Buy a diesel not a Prius (remember, lemmings fall off cliffs...)

By: LG

LG — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 20:31:56 +0000

I was in France studying for two years and I bought a used Peugeot 207 TDI. It is a tiny car and took me a while to get used to it and stop felling girly, but everybody drives those things there and soon you forget about it.
I filled it up once every other month or even less, and I used the car to go everywhere, but of course everything is small there, never did more than 20miles per day.

I would buy a TDI over a hybrid without hesitation any day now... what is going on with this hype? a hybrid Escalade????? please!!!! let's bring the common sense back

By: Javier

Javier — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 20:15:00 +0000

I forgot to mention, diesel and unleaded prices in Spain have been more or less the same for the last three years, diesel having a clear tendency to be a little cheaper.

Also remind you that we sell 93, 95 and 98 octanes gasoline only, 87 and 91 were forbidden by the EU long time ago to dramatically reduce the emissions in the whole continent.

By: Javier

Javier — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 20:01:58 +0000

I am currently living in the US although I have been living in Spain for my whole life. I drive a Jeep Patriot 2008 here now, unleaded gasoline with manual transmission which gives me a 25 mpg in highway max.

Right before I moved to the US I was driving a Nissan Almera TDI. this model is not sold here as all the other diesel engine models in their line. I remember I was able to make a solid 1100km with a full 48liters tank, which translates more or less to 50mpg.

I saw the other day an ad online with the new model of the Ford Focus they are selling now in Spain, the first car in its category capable of doing 100km with 4 liters of diesel, do the math guys, that means around 60mpg.

There is one BIG downside of diesel engines in Europe, obviously the high costs of gas there, around $1.5 per liter ($6 per gallon, $5 per gallon lately with the hugh drop of 2008).

With all of these I still don't understand why the resistance to high efficiency diesel engines in the US. Even with diesel at $3 per gallon you will still save 50% in gas throughout the year, and we can also talk about the reduction on the emissions when you can do double the miles burning the same volume of gas, install a brand new catalytic unit and you are doing even less.

By: RKRB

RKRB — Sun, 18 Jan 2009 02:38:23 +0000

-I agree with Shines. The diesel engine should be durable and sporty, even with an automatic gearbox, but A3 reliability and maintenance should be big question marks, based on Consumer Reports history and "the word on the street."
-We owned a Mercedes 190 turbo-diesel for many years and the engine was tough. The rest of the car, though, was a modern Mercedes, and that means you'd better not lose your mechanic's phone number, and you'd be wise to budget considerable non-maintenance expenses if it's out of warranty. We could have made new-car payments with what we spent on maintenance, but some people will just not rest until they drive German. "Engineered like no other." That's their choice. It's no longer ours. We were happy when we sold the Benz to a guy who was happy to get it.
-pre-1985 Mercedes diesel cars (and German cars in general) were often simple, extremely durable, and cheap. Newer cars from MB, BMW, Audi, and VW will probably be complex, delicate, and expensive, including the diesels. They have German engineering, so will always have a market, but buyers should not kid themselves they are buying a predictably cost-efficient car.
-Resale value depends on the price of fuel. We found our Benz diesel very difficult to sell in a low-fuel-price environment and it wound up depreciating as much as a comparable car from GM.

-One word of advice: pay whatever they want for the extended warranty.