Talking to an Audi rep, and Diesels in the US

[Andrew Duane]

My recent trip to France had some interesting Audi side-effects.

On the airport shuttle bus, I happened to sit next to one of the
VW/Audi regional factory reps, and we got to talking. After I vented
a bit about my treatment by AoA and my dealer when my timing belt went,
we started talking about TDIs in the US.

I've always been mad that Audi doesn't import it's diesels into the US.
I love my A6Q, but 20-22MPG just doesn't cut it. He indicated that there
are problems with diesel fuel specs in the US, which made it hard to make
most new TDIs work well. That seems to be getting fixed, and he indicated
that some new A6 and/or Q7 models with TDIs might be here soon.

On arriving in France, I discovered my rental car was a Peugot 307 TDI
wagon. A very nice car, almost the equal of my A6. Handled well, ran
smoothly, quite decent pick-up. And, when I refilled at the pump, I
discovered that I got between 40 and 45 MPG, twice what my A6 gets! 

Now more than ever I wish Audi would get this ball rolling. Why waste
money with hybrids of questionable longevity and $$$$ required battery
replacements, when TDI technology is decades old, and gets an HONEST
40+ MPG in a decent inexpensive car? It would be a no-brainer for me to
get an A6Q Avant TDI as my next car.

Rant off, back to my jet lag.......

-- 

Andrew Duane            Member Technical Staff - SPG
SavaJe Technologies     andrew at savaje.com
100 Apollo Drive        p: 978.856.4943
Chelmsford, MA 01824    f: 978.256.8386