History question, type 44

[Doyt W. Echelberger]

Hello Larry.............That matches my experience, also.  In the USA, I 
drove some examples of the earlier Audi diesel and turbo diesel, about 
198?, before the model change to the type 44. They were dismally slow in 
the lower gears, and showed up in repair shops with all kinds of problems. 
I considered them terribly underpowered. Yet, I was fascinated by them.

According to the 1984-88 model 5000 Bentley manual, the diesel type 44's 
only went to Canada,   with a 2.0 liter 5 cylinder turbo diesel 
engine,  code DE for Canada. Nothing for the USA. It was rated at 82.9 BHP 
at 4,500 RPM. Produced from  March 1982 to July, 1985. Compression ratio 
23:1,  the same as the Jetta  TD's of the same era in the USA.

There were special automatic transmissions for it, coded RDB, RDS, and RDJ.

The ones I drove (before the type 44) were so slow that I considered them 
dangerous. I currently have a diesel Rabbit and several diesel Jettas, one 
being a turbo. They are reasonably geared for their weight. The Jetta TD is 
about as capable as a gasoline model for most driving conditions, and it 
gets around 40 mpg.

Doyt Echelberger  Ohio USA
82 Jetta D  now a parts car
84 Rabbit D
85 Jetta TD
87 5ktq (gasoline)
 >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
At 06:25 PM 10/19/2001 -0400, you wrote:
>Just wondering, were there ever any type 44 diesels or turbo-diesels in
>the US?
>I know (test drove one once) there were turbo-diesel type 43's, but I
>don't recall ever
>seeing a US diesel type 44.
>
>LL - NY