When the A3 TDI joins the Q7 TDI as the second clean-diesel model in Audi showrooms in December, it will usher in the era of the 40-plus mpg luxury performance car.
The A3 TDI will have an MSRP of $29,950 and is EPA rated to achieve 30 mpg in city driving and 42 mpg on the highway – simply unprecedented for a luxury brand vehicle.
While “energy independence” gets kicked around like a political and environmental football, Audi is doing something about it. One part of the solution: “TDI.” It stands for Turbo Direct Injection, but it means a whole suite of technologies that could make diesel the real fuel of the future.
“Several solutions for reducing America’s dependence on foreign oil have been introduced, but few are as convenient, accessible and fun as simply switching from regular gasoline to clean diesel,” said Johan de Nysschen, President, Audi of America.
That’s no small claim, but when you glimpse what’s at play here and then test drive an Audi TDI model, you’ll never look at diesel the same way. Which way is that? Well, let’s be honest here: Audi knows what many Americans think when they hear the word “diesel” – trucks and buses belching sooty, smelly exhaust or even decades-old luxury cars of the past doing the same while chugging slowly along and making rattling engine sounds.
If you could wave a magic wand over a diesel vehicle and turn all of those cons to pros and still get the great fuel economy, you’d probably do it, right? That’s basically what Audi has done with TDI.
Let’s start with the thing that really peeved people about the old-fashioned diesels - the exhaust.
With sophisticated piezo-electric fuel injectors and a very high-pressure fuel system, Audi TDI sprays a finely atomized fuel stream into the cylinders. Coupled with turbocharging and other precisely controlled technologies, this results in cleaner exhaust to start with. Then, downstream in the exhaust system, special catalysts and particle filters clean up the rest. In the Q7 TDI, a special spray of AdBlue liquid splits oxides of nitrogen – a key ingredient of smog – into harmless nitrogen and water.
The result? Clean diesel meets the same stringent emissions requirements as gasoline engines, and you cannot see visible exhaust.
Next, remember when “diesel” meant slow? No more. One reason trucks have long used diesel is that it produces more torque. Gasoline engines hardly come close. In old diesels, all that torque was produced s-l-o-w-l-y, which was reflected in lower horsepower figures and, hence, slower performance. Audi TDI technology renders slow diesels obsolete, too.
The Audi TDI models deliver both impressive horsepower and really, really prodigious torque. The Q7 TDI model’s 406 lb/ft, for example, is the equivalent of a large gasoline V8, and the A3 TDI’s 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine belts out 236 lb/ft – on par with some gasoline 3.0-liter V6s. No large V8 SUV can come close to the EPA highway rating of 25 mpg for the Q7 TDI, and no luxury passenger car can touch the A3 TDI’s 42 mpg.
With an MSRP of $50,900, the revised 2010 Audi Q7 features the third generation Multi-Media Interface (MMI), which provides richly detailed 3D maps, along with SIRIUS Traffic and joystick control. The system also features voice-based destination input control and voice inputs. Now, simply saying things such as, “I’m hungry,” “I need gas” or “I need coffee” will point you to the closest options. The Q7 is also one of the safest SUVs on the road with a National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) five-star crash safety rating and Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) “Top Safety Pick” designation.
An Audi TDI clean diesel can equal or surpass even the high fuel efficiency of gasoline/electric hybrid vehicles, but without the complexity of the hybrid powertrain. Lower fuel consumption reduces carbon emissions compared to gasoline engines by 20 percent in an Audi TDI.
Finally, how about that awful rattling sound diesels used to make? Gone. Sit in an idling Audi TDI or stand next to it, and you won’t know there is anything but a quiet, smooth Audi engine purring under the hood.
Come in soon and hear that purr for yourself. Then feel the amazing performance of clean diesel with a test drive.
