A8 D3 Sport - 3.0 or 4.2 TDI?

[AKA8]

M5Sime said:

AKA8 said:

I still get 28mpg out of mine on the motorway consistently doing 85 leptons per hour.

Hi.... And you have the 4.2 V8 Petrol? or the TDi and get 28mpg..

I plan to drive it briskly for 110 miles of motorway and some A roads each weekday... Are the official figures of 30 and 33 mpg for the V8 and V6 diesels respectively achievable?

Thanks

Sime

I've got the petrol and I run it on 98RON - probably out of neurosis - but I do feel it runs better and the mpg increase outweighs the costs.

There's no way I could get close to dilliga's 3.0tdi mpg wise. However, a (relatively slow driving) friend of mine has an non-remapped 3.0tdi and gets around 35mpg on longer journeys, which sounds in line with the official figures. The remap will probably make the car more efficient I expect.

There are always the same arguments with these cars, diesel being more pricey when you fill up, and a diesel car being more expensive in the first place. I was warned off the V8 tdi because I was told it won't be any more efficient than my petrol 4.2 in reality. However, the V8 tdi got very good press reviews with some saying that the extra torque of the diesel makes it better than a 4.2 petrol.

Horses for courses I guess, but I'd take a petrol and enjoy the engine, particularly if the difference in efficiency is 35mpg (without remap) and diesel costs more to fill up.

This could be significantly off piste, but hopefully it helps. There's a few others on here who are 4.2 petrol devotees, they might be able to help on this.

[M5Sime]

Thank you all for the comments in this thread! Certainly does help. seems the V6 TDi is the most parsimonious, but the V8 TDi the most tempting :-))

I wonder if these need a remap to deliver better economy?

Cheers

Sime

[Seez]

I wouldnt bother getting a remap for economys sake, it wont happen in reality unless you are a cabby, only get a remap if you want the extra performance, then it is worth it and you will be too busy enjoying to care about fuel economy which will go out of the window when you are giving it the beans all the time...

[benmc]

I purchased a 3.0 TDI A8 about 3 months ago. I came from a Elise but wanted loads of comfort as I have to drive around the M25 every morning.

As yet I have no issues with performance, plus when I was looking there were loads of 3.0 TDI and very few of the 4.2.

Reading this thread has got me thinking about Chipping. Who has everyone used to chip their cars?

Ben

[Escort2dr]

benmc said:

I purchased a 3.0 TDI A8 about 3 months ago. I came from a Elise but wanted loads of comfort as I have to drive around the M25 every morning.

As yet I have no issues with performance, plus when I was looking there were loads of 3.0 TDI and very few of the 4.2.

Reading this thread has got me thinking about Chipping. Who has everyone used to chip their cars?

Ben

Used Shark Performance for my old Passat - very, very knowledgable guy.

[Escort2dr]

Seez said:

I wouldnt bother getting a remap for economys sake, it wont happen in reality unless you are a cabby, only get a remap if you want the extra performance, then it is worth it and you will be too busy enjoying to care about fuel economy which will go out of the window when you are giving it the beans all the time...

Utter nonsense. Had my 2.0tdi Passat remapped and easily got 3mpg better economy with sensible driving and my overall average remained the same (included some thrashing, so balanced out).

Edited by Escort2dr on Tuesday 1st December 18:16

[Seez]

Escort2dr said:

Seez said:

I wouldnt bother getting a remap for economys sake, it wont happen in reality unless you are a cabby, only get a remap if you want the extra performance, then it is worth it and you will be too busy enjoying to care about fuel economy which will go out of the window when you are giving it the beans all the time...

Utter nonsense. Had my 2.0tdi Passat remapped and easily got 3mpg better economy with sensible driving and my overall average remained the same (included some thrashing, so balanced out).

Edited by Escort2dr on Tuesday 1st December 18:16

It might have been useful having declared my comment 'utter nonsense' if you had then gone on disagree with my comments, but you have just restated what I said!

Drive it sensibly and you might see a small increase, but in reality you won't and as you have proven not achieve any extra economy!

So the reason for you getting a remap was what exactly, if it wasnt for the extra performance your economy reason isn't working out so I am left wondering what the hell you are talking about you smaill brained grapefruit!!

Edited by Seez on Tuesday 1st December 21:01

[AKA8]

Out of interest, what do other people get out of their 3.0tdi's economy wise? Anyone close to Dilliga's 45mpg?

[ukdennis]

Yep, mine gets about that too. Had the same Bromsgrove-based outfit do the remap as Dilligaf's. It improved 10% on the 100 mile run back home from getting the remap done. Very happy with the result, both performance and economy (bonus).

[Dilligaf10]

AKA8 said:

Out of interest, what do other people get out of their 3.0tdi's economy wise? Anyone close to Dilliga's 45mpg?

Bear in mind that most of the time I have clients on board so the driving has to be a little sedate although motorway cruising can be as high as 85 - 90 leptons.

It does have a spirited drive at times when I am empty just to clear the air filter of Corsa's, Saxo's etc. I do find they clog the filter very quickly!!

[AKA8]

Dilligaf10 said:

AKA8 said:

Out of interest, what do other people get out of their 3.0tdi's economy wise? Anyone close to Dilliga's 45mpg?

Bear in mind that most of the time I have clients on board so the driving has to be a little sedate although motorway cruising can be as high as 85 - 90 leptons.

It does have a spirited drive at times when I am empty just to clear the air filter of Corsa's, Saxo's etc. I do find they clog the filter very quickly!!

I thought that was the case, I can't imagine a better car for you. I only do about 4k miles per year though, and it tends to be motorway trips out of central London, so I average better mpg than most 4.2 petrol drivers I guess. Average in the last 10k miles has been 18.5mpg, which includes a blast to Frankfurt and back maxing out for much of the way, the odd UK motorway tour, and plenty of central London driving (average mpg of around 12mpg).

I once had an A6 tdi in Germany when I was having my car serviced, and even in standard tune, it was bloody quick. On the autobahn the speed was reading over 260km/h with more to come!

[benmc]

Based on my first 5000 Miles the trip computer is saying 32mpg out of a 3.0 TDI

AKA8 said:

Out of interest, what do other people get out of their 3.0tdi's economy wise? Anyone close to Dilliga's 45mpg?

[Dilligaf10]

AKA8 said:

Dilligaf10 said:

AKA8 said:

Out of interest, what do other people get out of their 3.0tdi's economy wise? Anyone close to Dilliga's 45mpg?

Bear in mind that most of the time I have clients on board so the driving has to be a little sedate although motorway cruising can be as high as 85 - 90 leptons.

It does have a spirited drive at times when I am empty just to clear the air filter of Corsa's, Saxo's etc. I do find they clog the filter very quickly!!

I thought that was the case, I can't imagine a better car for you. I only do about 4k miles per year though, and it tends to be motorway trips out of central London, so I average better mpg than most 4.2 petrol drivers I guess. Average in the last 10k miles has been 18.5mpg, which includes a blast to Frankfurt and back maxing out for much of the way, the odd UK motorway tour, and plenty of central London driving (average mpg of around 12mpg).

I once had an A6 tdi in Germany when I was having my car serviced, and even in standard tune, it was bloody quick. On the autobahn the speed was reading over 260km/h with more to come!

Doing a motorway run into Central London and back today so will let you have mpg later. I have just brimmed the tank so will fill upon return for a true figure against the computer readout.

[jasperwade]

ukdennis said:

Yep, mine gets about that too. Had the same Bromsgrove-based outfit do the remap as Dilligaf's. It improved 10% on the 100 mile run back home from getting the remap done. Very happy with the result, both performance and economy (bonus).

was that ch****d uk?

I had my 330d remapped by them.

How much if you don't mind me asking?

I get around 33mpg on a tank mixture of driving. Never seen above 40mpg even on a long run so it may be worth having

[Dilligaf10]

Dilligaf10 said:

AKA8 said:

Dilligaf10 said:

AKA8 said:

Out of interest, what do other people get out of their 3.0tdi's economy wise? Anyone close to Dilliga's 45mpg?

Bear in mind that most of the time I have clients on board so the driving has to be a little sedate although motorway cruising can be as high as 85 - 90 leptons.

It does have a spirited drive at times when I am empty just to clear the air filter of Corsa's, Saxo's etc. I do find they clog the filter very quickly!!

I thought that was the case, I can't imagine a better car for you. I only do about 4k miles per year though, and it tends to be motorway trips out of central London, so I average better mpg than most 4.2 petrol drivers I guess. Average in the last 10k miles has been 18.5mpg, which includes a blast to Frankfurt and back maxing out for much of the way, the odd UK motorway tour, and plenty of central London driving (average mpg of around 12mpg).

I once had an A6 tdi in Germany when I was having my car serviced, and even in standard tune, it was bloody quick. On the autobahn the speed was reading over 260km/h with more to come!

Doing a motorway run into Central London and back today so will let you have mpg later. I have just brimmed the tank so will fill upon return for a true figure against the computer readout.

Computer readout: 42.7mpg
Actual Consumption: 41.1 (Brim to Brim)

[ukdennis]

jasperwade said:

ukdennis said:

Yep, mine gets about that too. Had the same Bromsgrove-based outfit do the remap as Dilligaf's. It improved 10% on the 100 mile run back home from getting the remap done. Very happy with the result, both performance and economy (bonus).

was that ch****d uk?

I had my 330d remapped by them.

How much if you don't mind me asking?

I get around 33mpg on a tank mixture of driving. Never seen above 40mpg even on a long run so it may be worth having

That's the one. They've been taken over now by a bigger company starting with a "V". Cost me £250 but that was a special offer on one of their regular tuning days. Mine also never used to get above 40mpg (on motorway trips) but now it does with ease. Best I've had is 47.5mpg on an easy journey.

[jasperwade]

cool thanks

[benmc]

Has anyone tried one of the BlueFin remaps that just plug in?

[Bish]

I have recently sold a 3.0, 4.0 and 4.2 litre Audi A8. They are all great in their own right but the 4.2 is just so much better. The engine feels much more refined and it has another 65 bhp than the 4.0 litre diesel.......but the same torque figure of 479lb ft. Had the 4.2 re-mapped to 398bhp and 585 lb ft of torque and it was laugh out loud quick and was still returning better mpg when not be driven like and idoit.

The only downside to the 4.2 is the price so I would recomned a re-mapped 4.0 litre (331bhp & 575 lb ft) and you are laughing. I always felt the 3.0 litre was struggling slighlty but that was after driving a 4.2 for 3 weeks.

[Orichalon]

Haven't tried the 4.2 tdi, but my 3.0 is excellent - decent amount of torque and power, doesn't sound too tractor-like and is quite economical (~40 mpg out of town driving). Can also be hustled surprisingly quickly down a twisty b road.