Audi Mileage Marathon: ABG wins Leg 1 with 29.4 mpg
Now that we are somewhere between Chicago and Salem, IL you might be wondering what the final tally was for the first wave of the our little cross country trek. My co-driver for the New York to Chicago run flew home last night and I'm now riding with Steve Ewing from Winding Road. Following the changeover dinner last night, the Audi staff released the points total for the trip so far and the top mileage number for any vehicle went to the A3 TDI that was in the car of the lovely and talented Denise McCluggage and Kate McLeod. They averaged 45.6 mpg and apparently weren't too concerned about hypermiling since they also had the highest average speed of 54.3 mph.
Among the A4 contingent, Yoshihiro Kimura and Michael Taylor averaged 41.4 mpg and 52.2 mph. Considering the A4 uses the same 3.0L V6 that is in the Q7 and Q5 with 240 hp and nearly 400 lb-ft of torque, that's a clear demonstration of what is possible in the real world without sacrificing performance. In the Q5s, Bertrand Bellois and Stephane Chevalier managed 36.2 mpg at 48.2 mph. Currently, though, only the Q7 TDI has been announced for U.S. sales starting early next year. Q7 #3, driven by Kelley Blue Book's Jason Allan and your humble correspondent, averaged 29.4 mpg over the four days to take the class victory. Stay tuned for wave 2.
Our travel and lodging for this media event was provided by the manufacturer.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
paulwesterberg 1:29PM (10/09/2008)
almost 30 mpg! Much better than American made cars, but quite far from exceptional given the amount of energy in a gallon of diesel.
Reply
Sam Abuelsamid 6:53AM (10/10/2008)
Diesel fuel does contain about 15 percent more carbon than gasoline. However the diesel combustion process is far more efficient than the Otto cycle. On average diesels go about 30 percent farther on a gallon of fuel. Factoring out the fifteen percent, the carbon emissions are about 25 percent lower. In our case we're seeing close to fifty percent improvement in efficiency with the Q7.
Gwido 8:43PM (10/15/2008)
Sam, how do you get that 25% figure?
If you go 30% farther with diesel than gas, it means you consume 77% of the volume to go the same distance.
Multiply that by 1.15 to take into account the 15% higher carbon content and the diesel engine emits 88.5% of the quantity of CO2 than the gas engine would emit to go the same distance. You can say that the diesel goes 13% further for the same quantity of CO2 emitted.
Obviously, these numbers will vary depending on the specific engines and cars you compare.
clarke 1:47PM (10/09/2008)
I'll trade in my Audi S4 Avant tomorrow if I can get an A4 or A6 3.0TDI
Reply
Bill 2:15PM (10/09/2008)
So how does this compare in interior room with the VW Sportwagen TDi?
Reply
Sam Abuelsamid 6:56AM (10/10/2008)
The Q7 is a full size SUV almost as big as a chevy Tahoe. It's much larger than the Jetta. The A3 is based on the same platform as the Golf/Jetta and is similar in size.
Andrew 4:45PM (10/09/2008)
I saw you guys parked on Franklin near Washington in Chicago today. Neat!
Reply
Annette 10:18PM (10/09/2008)
I cut them off on I57 this morning! ;) You guys were zipping pretty fast...have you ever been pulled over?
Reply
Sam Abuelsamid 6:58AM (10/10/2008)
The gps nav systems in a few of the cars got confused amongst the Chicago sky scrapers and they got lost. They were just making up some time. The bulk of the fleet is cruising along at about the speed limit to maximize efficiency.
Ron Wood 2:25PM (10/10/2008)
What are the rules--is the driving route pre-determined? Can you put a big airdam on the front to improve the aerodynamics?
Reply
Terry 11:27AM (10/14/2008)
I hope Audi gets some sense and sells the Q5 TDI here ASAP. I'm disappointed that Audi is showing off all of these diesel models but only plans to sell one in the next year. What a let down.
Reply