http://www.autoblog.com/2008/02/26/audi-announces-the-44mpg-tt-2-0-tdi-quattro/ Autoblog Comments for http://www.autoblog.com/media/feedlogo.gif http://www.autoblog.com en-us Copyright 2008 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/http://www.autoblog.com/2008/02/26/audi-announces-the-44mpg-tt-2-0-tdi-quattro/http://www.autoblog.com/2008/02/26/audi-announces-the-44mpg-tt-2-0-tdi-quattro/ that]]>Feb 26th 2008 8:43PMhttp://www.autoblog.com/2008/02/26/audi-announces-the-44mpg-tt-2-0-tdi-quattro/http://www.autoblog.com/2008/02/26/audi-announces-the-44mpg-tt-2-0-tdi-quattro/Feb 26th 2008 8:59PMhttp://www.autoblog.com/2008/02/26/audi-announces-the-44mpg-tt-2-0-tdi-quattro/http://www.autoblog.com/2008/02/26/audi-announces-the-44mpg-tt-2-0-tdi-quattro/Feb 26th 2008 8:59PMhttp://www.autoblog.com/2008/02/26/audi-announces-the-44mpg-tt-2-0-tdi-quattro/http://www.autoblog.com/2008/02/26/audi-announces-the-44mpg-tt-2-0-tdi-quattro/K not sure what the other post's mean but this is an awesome news bit. The TT is one of the most refined sporty cars on the market- it blows the BMW z4 and mBenz out of the water just on fit and finish. The interior quality and comfort cannot be touched in this price segment and you can get around 40 mpg. Im in!]]>Feb 26th 2008 9:10PMhttp://www.autoblog.com/2008/02/26/audi-announces-the-44mpg-tt-2-0-tdi-quattro/http://www.autoblog.com/2008/02/26/audi-announces-the-44mpg-tt-2-0-tdi-quattro/
remember, this is a manufacturer claim for the highway fuel consumption - in Europe manufacturers can publish their own fuel consumption figures; if it comes in US, I bet the fuel rating is going to be south of 35mpg (highway), which is equivalent to a gasoline consumption of 31mpg, normal for a gasoline engine rated at 170hp; I'm sorry to disappoint you, but this engine is not going to bring anything new.]]>Feb 26th 2008 11:30PMhttp://www.autoblog.com/2008/02/26/audi-announces-the-44mpg-tt-2-0-tdi-quattro/http://www.autoblog.com/2008/02/26/audi-announces-the-44mpg-tt-2-0-tdi-quattro/
where did you get that? Europeans have a fuel economy test that all manufactureres use. You know that the EPA only tests 10-15% of all cars? The European test is different than the American test and is likely more realistic. The European test has lower city figures and higher highway figures. This TT would easily get 40-50 mpg on the highway in real life driving. Stop making up crap.]]>Feb 27th 2008 12:45AMhttp://www.autoblog.com/2008/02/26/audi-announces-the-44mpg-tt-2-0-tdi-quattro/http://www.autoblog.com/2008/02/26/audi-announces-the-44mpg-tt-2-0-tdi-quattro/
Thats WRONG
in Europe manufacotrs have to claim the fuel consuption and CO2 rating after a exact routine called Euro Norm... All cars have to drive exactly the same test routine for that reason for all manufactor count the same rules if quoting consuption. The only thing that is unrealistic this test run is driven with everything turned off.. no air condition running, no radio on, no lights on..nothing that increase the consuption. But this routin is still more realistic as every US consuption claim... the magic numbers claimed in the USA by some companys specialy for Hybrid model are from Fantasy Island and NEVER reached in Europe.
]]>Feb 27th 2008 1:10AMhttp://www.autoblog.com/2008/02/26/audi-announces-the-44mpg-tt-2-0-tdi-quattro/http://www.autoblog.com/2008/02/26/audi-announces-the-44mpg-tt-2-0-tdi-quattro/
How again are you saying US ratings are unrealistically high compared to European ones?

nagmashot, I think you are incorrect in your assertions.]]>Feb 27th 2008 1:28AMhttp://www.autoblog.com/2008/02/26/audi-announces-the-44mpg-tt-2-0-tdi-quattro/http://www.autoblog.com/2008/02/26/audi-announces-the-44mpg-tt-2-0-tdi-quattro/
what are you talkin'about?

First of all in EU the companies do the testing and nobody controls them. In US companies do the testing but EPA verifies the major vehicle configurations and the figures that do not fit their models. It just happens that the number of configuration verified by EPA is 10-15% of the configuration on the market. So what's your proposal to improve EPA procedure? not testing anything?

Second, the EU tests themselves are completely outdated and of course inaccurate. I am an EU citizen and I have been a direct "beneficiary" of these tests for years. I can honestly say they are a load of crap, not representative of fuel consumption in any way. Five years ago I moved to US for work. In US have been travelling a lot (and renting cars a lot) and I have driven pretty much every sedan on the market (except the luxury segment). What I noticed was that although the fuel consumption was underestimated in EPA figures, at least it was underestimated by the same percentage across all companies. More recently, the new EPA figures are in my opinion spot on, they match my experience very well.

Take a look here and compare the testing procedures in EU and US (for US click the last tab, "Detailed Comparison"):

EU:

http://www.vcacarfueldata.org.uk/information/fuel-consumption-testing-scheme.asp

US:

http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/fe_test_schedules.shtml]]>Feb 27th 2008 2:04AMhttp://www.autoblog.com/2008/02/26/audi-announces-the-44mpg-tt-2-0-tdi-quattro/http://www.autoblog.com/2008/02/26/audi-announces-the-44mpg-tt-2-0-tdi-quattro/
MOTORTREND test drove the Audi A3 TDI e in the UK in and around London!

The Audi A3 TDI e is rated at 52 US mpg after EU Norm!!!!!

Motortrend reached on 50miles drive on the M25 motorway around London a average consuption of 50.5 US mpg and easy beat the all time best testresult from Motortrend the Prisu Hybrid 47 mpg.

The A5 3.0l V6 TDI won the Challenge Bibendum in Shanghai. The A5 TDI finished first overall the handling, acceleration and emissions categories and did well enough in other areas to capture the class victory. In the fuel consumption tests, the A5 managed 40.6 mpg (US) which is pretty respectable for a mid-sized sport coupe.

A3 crosses Australia at 71.3mpg
The World Solar Challenge in Australia this year featured a Greenfleet Technology division for high mileage alternative fuel vehicles. One of the top competitors was the Audi A3 TDIe powered by a 1.9L four cylinder diesel. The team of drivers covered the 3,543 km distance from Darwin to Adelaide Australia with an average mileage of 71.3 mpg (US) with peaks as high as 90.4 mpg.

The A5 3.0 TDI is rated at 32mpg EU Nrom..in the UK MSN Cars reached 37mpg average consuption during their road teat.. the worst they get was 33mpg driven realy hard...


ALL this news are from autoblog and autobloggreen and are from international non German press.. befor someone claims national bs ]]>Feb 27th 2008 2:34AMhttp://www.autoblog.com/2008/02/26/audi-announces-the-44mpg-tt-2-0-tdi-quattro/http://www.autoblog.com/2008/02/26/audi-announces-the-44mpg-tt-2-0-tdi-quattro/
The US consuption test is more crap as the Euro test for a single pretty simple reason.. in the US test FTP75 the maximum speed reached is 90km/h (56mph) in the EU consuption test (NEFZ) the maximum speed reached is 120km/h (75mph) ..the japanese test completely suck because they only drive 80km/h 50mph ..

Even more crap is the japanese city consuption test.. only driven with 20km/m 12.5mph and 40km/h (25mph)

even the 120km/h of the EU Norm are completely out of reality.. no one drives so slow.. ]]>Feb 27th 2008 3:16AMhttp://www.autoblog.com/2008/02/26/audi-announces-the-44mpg-tt-2-0-tdi-quattro/http://www.autoblog.com/2008/02/26/audi-announces-the-44mpg-tt-2-0-tdi-quattro/
Read the links dude, the maximum speed in the EPA test is 80mph (~130km/h). There is no doubt that the EPA test is more comprehensive, accurate and consistent over all manufacturers that tests done in EU, stop deluding yourself:

http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/fe_test_schedules.shtml]]>Feb 27th 2008 3:45AMhttp://www.autoblog.com/2008/02/26/audi-announces-the-44mpg-tt-2-0-tdi-quattro/http://www.autoblog.com/2008/02/26/audi-announces-the-44mpg-tt-2-0-tdi-quattro/Feb 27th 2008 7:26PMhttp://www.autoblog.com/2008/02/26/audi-announces-the-44mpg-tt-2-0-tdi-quattro/http://www.autoblog.com/2008/02/26/audi-announces-the-44mpg-tt-2-0-tdi-quattro/Feb 26th 2008 8:44PMhttp://www.autoblog.com/2008/02/26/audi-announces-the-44mpg-tt-2-0-tdi-quattro/http://www.autoblog.com/2008/02/26/audi-announces-the-44mpg-tt-2-0-tdi-quattro/
They're fine when just tooling around, but when pushed, well, it's a 170HP car.]]>Feb 26th 2008 9:10PMhttp://www.autoblog.com/2008/02/26/audi-announces-the-44mpg-tt-2-0-tdi-quattro/http://www.autoblog.com/2008/02/26/audi-announces-the-44mpg-tt-2-0-tdi-quattro/Feb 26th 2008 9:14PMhttp://www.autoblog.com/2008/02/26/audi-announces-the-44mpg-tt-2-0-tdi-quattro/http://www.autoblog.com/2008/02/26/audi-announces-the-44mpg-tt-2-0-tdi-quattro/
Despite the education that most Americans get, many foolishly go against what they were they were taught and would rather have someone tell them what's good, what's right, what should happen, instead of doing the research on their own. Throw in some slick advertising and sound bites and suddenly they are Pavlov's Dog.

And yes, this is coming from a fellow American. Sometimes, people just stop thinking for themselves here.

Having said that, who's leg do I have to hump to get that car here!?

(I won't touch your comment on BMW diesels. I'm not knocking them. It's just not worth debating.)]]>Feb 26th 2008 9:33PMhttp://www.autoblog.com/2008/02/26/audi-announces-the-44mpg-tt-2-0-tdi-quattro/http://www.autoblog.com/2008/02/26/audi-announces-the-44mpg-tt-2-0-tdi-quattro/
Uh, maybe because we can't buy any?]]>Feb 26th 2008 9:34PMhttp://www.autoblog.com/2008/02/26/audi-announces-the-44mpg-tt-2-0-tdi-quattro/http://www.autoblog.com/2008/02/26/audi-announces-the-44mpg-tt-2-0-tdi-quattro/
Maybe it's because it doesn't make financial sense? It doesn't make financial sense, it doesn't really make environmental sense, and it doesn't reduce our dependency on oil significantly either.

In the cases where it does make financial sense, heavily used vehicles esp. high-consumption vehicles like certain trucks, Diesel is quite well accepted in the US.

It has been difficult to sell Americans on efficient vehicles in general. Why? Because most Americans don't have a lot of problem affording driving inefficient vehicles. These high-mpg Diesels have little advantage over similar gas cars (improved driveability at low RPMs being a notable exception). It's just that these high-mpg gas cars aren't made for the US market. There was never a 170HP TT made for the US, let alone one with the higher pressure tires and taller rear end necessary to keep fuel mileage up.

If Audi is successful in bringing the economical car back from only the cheapest econobox corner of the US market, more power to them. But I think there's plenty of engine solutions that could be offered there, and many of them will be a lot more affordable to buy than a direct-injected turbocharged Diesel.]]>Feb 26th 2008 10:00PMhttp://www.autoblog.com/2008/02/26/audi-announces-the-44mpg-tt-2-0-tdi-quattro/http://www.autoblog.com/2008/02/26/audi-announces-the-44mpg-tt-2-0-tdi-quattro/
1) Unlike Europe, diesel is much more expensive than gasoline here. It's $3.75-$4+/gal right now in California compared to about $3.25/gal for regular. Sometimes the difference is as much as a dollar or more.

2) Diesel is not as widely available at every station here.

3) Diesels can be more efficient in some ways, but also pollute more in others such as particulate soot and oxides of nitrogen.

4) To combat those pollutants, expensive urea injection, particulate filters, and catalysts are required to treat the exhaust for an already more costly engine configuration.

5) Diesels have a bad reputation as noisy, dirty powertrains to many Americans.

6) Paying more (in many cases now, a LOT more with all the emissions controls) for an engine that uses more expensive, harder to find fuel and is in most cases, slower than its gasoline counterpart is a hard selling point for many consumers. Especially when you look at the break even point for initial investment with the higher cost of diesel fuel and how long most people own or lease cars, and it doesn't make a lot of financial sense either.

Despite this, I think that big torque number will be a great selling point in larger vehicles such as trucks and SUVs that need to do heavy work like towing, hauling, and offroading. There are still some compromises to that scenario, but I think it's the only feasible way those vehicles can be sold in a 35mpg CAFE world. It would make them more purposeful while encouraging those that don't need such a large vehicle to look elsewhere.]]>Feb 26th 2008 10:28PM