A3 Newbie - Wet behind the ears !!!

[Geronim0]

Hi All, Just a few questions ref my latest motor. I have an A3 1.8T Sport and want to know the following...

1. Does the turbo produce torque rather than turbo lag - sorry if this is a little stoopid question. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh_roll.gif

2. I am averaging around 31mpg..... is this good??? I have just changed from an Rover 216sli so the rides are a little different. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/beerchug.gif

3. Sometimes I get 3 beeps from the rear of the car and dont know what these mean. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif

Thanks in anticipation.

Simon. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/woohoo.gif

 

[IanL-RS3]

1) torque and lag a two separate things. lag is the amount of time for the turbo to spin up and deliver the power. generally speaking a bigger turbo can give greater power but takes longer to spin up and kick in so the delay from putting your foot down to the turbo kicking is called lag. your car has relatively small turbo and very little lag. which is very good /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif
explaining torque is a little more difficult without getting all techy.
but a simple way of thinking about it is.
horspower determines your top speed
torque determines how fast you can accelerate.
a high torque figure at lower revs is all good (eg compare your car to civic type r) because it gives you better in gear acceleration. a civic type r would be faster than your car if driven to its strength (high up in its rev band), but if you were to put your cars in 5th at 30 and see who accelerated past 60 first - you would win.
not sure if that is a very good explaination but hope it helps

2) 31mpg would seem to be pretty good. i have an s3 and get about 26 but i do a lot of town driving and average 22mph. there have been plenty of disussions previously on the forum re fuel economy. do a search.

3) again i am sure in the past few months this has come up. i dont have any experience myself. and i cant remember the details as it didnt affect me!!

anyway - welcome to the forum. you have a very fine car with great potential. see rich's a3 turbo. its pushing out over 300bhp and healthy dose of torque too /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif (his user name is richa3turbo - have a look at this posts for details on his car)

have fun /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/ok.gif

 

[imported_monkeytrousers]

A very good explanation of turbo, here's my comments on horsepower and torque:

Horsepower has an effect on speed but the weight of the car is important too (this is how the Vauxhall VX220 does 0-60 in 4.7 secs yet has the same horse as S3).

Torque is affected by acceleration, weight and pulling power combined. Turbo diesels have high torque but not necessarily high horsepower. Sorry - that's a hopeless explanation.

Welcome to the forum.

 

[Geronim0]

Thanks Ian, I will look around and see what advice is available.

Cheer Simon

/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/dancing.gif

 

[Geronim0]

Thanks monkeytrousers.

Anyone tell me how to stick a piccie of my car on my details..... NEWBIE !!!!

Thanks /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/bravo.gif