[urq] Future Audi : is there a TDI planned ?

[George Selby]

At 03:00 PM 4/13/2011, you wrote:
>The better mileage works out to the fuel being cheaper per mile in most
>cases. For example an A8 TDI gets 40mpg where a gas A8 is nearer to 20mpg.
>The fuel isn't twice as expensive, around here it's not much more than 93
>octane (maybe 40 cents per gallon more).

Plus you have to add in the normally significant premium to obtain 
the diesel engine on top of the base price of the car.  For instance 
from a base Jetta to a Base TDI Jetta is nearly $8,000 - 50% of the 
purchase price of the base car.

According to my calculations based on mixed highway/city mileage and 
current gas/diesel prices, it costs $152 in gas to drive 1000 miles 
in a base Jetta, $122 in diesel in a TDI.  So you would have to drive 
266,000 miles to make up the diesel premium!  That's assuming you pay 
cash for the car, not finance it.  That's a long payoff for a high 
upfront investment in diesel.

George Selby