New C7 A6 Question

[ti rich]

Hi there, new guy on the block here.

Just got a new A6 S-Line TDi 177 manual as a company car. Not many extras, just Bose, AMI and 19" alloys. So far very pleased but i am very concerned about the poor MPG. My last car was a BMW 330d auto and on a run that would return 50mpg. i know this car is new and tight but over the same run and speed this is returning only 45MPG. So my question is will this improve after running in?

[ti rich]

No answers at all?

[elan2s]

Hi and welcome to the Forum. Almost certainly the lack of response to your question is due to very few people here actually having a C7 (of any type) and thus of your engine size too, rather than rudeness or indifference. The majority of members of this forum are C5 owners, I have a C6 and there are not that many of those here either. Indeed I notice that the title of this Forum does not include C7 so many owners of C7 may not see it as a forum for them.

As to your question, yes the car will almost certainly deliver better fuel consumption as it loosens up. I have a TDie and that improved by more than 10% over the first 5k miles. Also BMW seems to be at the leading edge when it comes to power and economy so they are very hard act to follow. The other thing to remember is that you have gone from a big engine in a (relatively) small car to smaller engine in a larger car and therefore it will require more effort (and fuel) to overcome the weight of the A6 compare to the 330. It also seems to be the case that automatics are able to deliver better real world fuel consumption than manuals as the change points are programmed with economy in mind and it is almost impossible for the human to replicate the technology with a manual gearbox.

Ultimately 45mog ( and better) is pretty good for what is after all a large car and things like stop/start technology only work if you are in towns. Out on the open road they offer no benefit.

Hope that helps and enjoy the car!

[ti rich]

Thanks for the reply Elan2, that does help and i appreciate the reply. I am just wondering what MPG earlier A6 2.0 TDi are getting???

I know what you mean about larger car etc but the C7, with a partial aluminium body is actually lighter than the 330d and the MPG is way, way better on paper:-

330d 1675 kg 43.5 MPG (Urban official) (Actual achieved 40MPG, Average over 65K miles)

C7 A6 2.0 TDI 1575kg 57.7 MPG (Urban) official (Actual achieved 44MPG, Average so far)

So are Audi cooking the figures or will this car really loosen up a lot more? I know you can't ever achieve those MPG figures but I have always got within about 5-10% of them.

On the plus side the Bose sound system has really loosened up and sounds very good now! I do love the Audi interior, it is definitely better than the BMW and a very nice place to sit

[elan2s]

With the 136bhp TDie I am getting c42mpg (over some 29000 miles). Most of my trips are relatively short (<10 miles> on country roads with the occasional longer trips of 10-100 miles but very few greater than 100 miles. On a reasonable motorway trip I have seen over 50mpg. The big issue of course is that the "official" figures are based on a totally unrepresentative environment and I believe this is even more so now that stop-start technology coming into play. Manufacturers are designing the cars to perform well in these artificial environments so that they can meet fuel consumption and emissions targets to satisfy government legislation (and deliver lower taxes for the owner) but at the same time delivering totally misleading figures for the buyer. I wonder how long before the Advertising Standards Agency steps in to cite false advertising!

All that being said I would expect by 5k miles you will have seen an improvement in the figures.

[kid-jensen]

Easy fix....ditch the big wheels!