Follow the Audi Mileage Marathon starting Monday morning
by Sam Abuelsamid on Oct 5th 2008 at 6:15PM 
At 9AM Eastern on Monday morning, a fleet of 23 diesel-powered Audis will roll out from Manhattan's Tavern on the Green on a trans-continental trek to demonstrate diesel efficiency. I'm in Manhattan this afternoon preparing to spend the next week in an Audi Q7 TDI on the way to Denver and will be checking in regularly from the road as we pass through Washington, Cleveland, Chicago, Memphis, Dallas and Amarillo along the way. Audi plans to launch its fifty-state-legal Q7 TDI in the US market next spring and it seems likely that some of the other vehicles on this trip may not be far behind.
I'll be on the first two legs and Sebastian, Damon, Drew and Jonathan will take over for the second week of the trip to Los Angeles. You can also follow along at the Audi Mileage Marathon site where there's a Twitter feed following the participants as they cross the continent. There is also a live map showing our location on the road along with two blogs, including one from Audi of America boss Johan de Nysschen. Twitter users can follow audimarathon to see what some of the 200 participating journalists are saying.
Gallery: Audi Mileage Marathon
[Source: Audi Mileage Marathon]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
coolremo 6:52PM (10/05/2008)
ironic that to show how green these cars are, they are driving 23 of them around the country.
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TDi 7:20PM (10/05/2008)
How is it ironic? These cars driving across the country wont make much more of a difference, when you consider how many people drive everyday when they could just use a bus or some other kind of public transport.
coolremo 7:53PM (10/05/2008)
i didnt say its harmful. i said its ironic.
Keith 8:18AM (10/06/2008)
Your right. I'd rather see them walk it, instead.
coolremo 4:14PM (10/06/2008)
"your" retarded. learn to spell. and while you're at it, look up the definition of irony.
vkchu 7:04PM (10/05/2008)
sounds like fun. id love to get away from work to drive cross country in someone elses car
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TaylorV 8:10PM (10/06/2008)
Wow that's crazy I live right outside of NYC, on the right between NY and NJ and on my way to work down probably 3-4 mornings ago, on Rt.17, I saw those cars, a W12 and a new Q7, getting off an exit and I was wondering what the hell those all audi's were badged up for, thanks for the answer Autoblog
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sdcarnut 12:07AM (10/06/2008)
I just would like to know one thing ! and hope there honest about it, are they going to drive like normal auto writers (crazy) or are they instructed to drive like grannies doing the posted speed limits only, with an egg under there foot ? so when Audi posts all there famous mpg figures from this adventure is it going to be real world mpg numbers or super effiicient mpg numbers ?
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why not the LS2LS7? 3:19AM (10/06/2008)
The latter. They're not doing this to show a VW Jetta getting the rated mpg, they're out there to show you can get almost 60mpg if you drive like you really care about mpg.
montoym 7:56PM (10/06/2008)
Judging by the previous posting about this, it will probably be somewhere in the middle.
There is a contest to see which team can achieve the best real-world mileage. But, these aren't people who are typically world-class hypermilers either. So, don't expect any 58mpg outcomes like the Jetta we read about last week.
But, that said, I think the figures will still be quite good and probably actually achievable by the average driver.
Pablo 7:18PM (10/09/2008)
Just saw one in downtown Chicago in front of the "W" hotel!!
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Jon 4:57PM (10/08/2008)
Just caught "the number four", a Q7 3.0TDI, on the Kennedy Expressway in Chicago about 20 minutes ago. Something I found puzzling was that they were heading east rather than west.
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mister falcon 6:18PM (10/08/2008)
while making a run to breezewood and back for work yesterday, I saw a couple of Q7's and A4's on the turnpike. The Q7's were hyper miling, and the A4 was being driven like a regular car. It was kind of cool.
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