Bye Bye Diesel....

J

JayDZS*

Registered User
Joined
Aug 7, 2012
Messages
64
Reaction score
11
Points
8
Location
NULL
17 months after collecting my current car and after initially looking at the higher powered diesel engine I have today placed my order for a S3!!

Order the car through Coventry Audi after getting a great deal off them through Carwow. Spec is:

S3 Sportback Stronic in Sepang Blue (another!)
  • Tech Pack
  • Comfort Pack with Park Assist
  • Privacy Glass
  • Panoramic Sunroof
  • ThroughLoad
  • B&O Sound
  • Black Inlays
  • deletion of model and tech
  • Super Sports Seats
  • electrically folding and heated Mirrors
  • Interior ligh pack
Was originally going to go for a certain exclusive colour however chickened out! Been quoted a Nov delivery so now have to play the waiting Game!!
 
  • Like
Reactions: AzR and rajazed
The s3 is a completely different beast to a diesel. What's made you change your mind?
 
Ive always chosen the sensible option when buying cars and ill be looking to get on the property ladder soon so thought I might as well do it while I can,plus once both cars were specced up there was only £1200 in it
 
What cuke said - £1200 difference with the same spec?! Find that hard to believe but will to be convinced :p

Your fuel bills are going to be a tad different though lol :)
 
1200 was with a fee un essential options taken off. Fuel bills will be worth it... I hope! I'll just have to drive less haha
 
I'm ditching my 2.0 tdi 8p for a new S3. The old bus has done me proud, but I'm sick of the diesel and want something that I can rev and have fun in. I never really considered an 8v diesel (although I'm sure they're great) but I did notice that a top spec s-line diesel was only £2.5k cheaper than the same gearboxed s3. I think you made the right decision, especially with the S3 turning in good real world economy. This was a big sell for me as poor MPG ruins the ownership experience for me, even if you can afford it.
 
The Challinor said:
What was the exclusive colour you were tempted with?

P.S think about adding connect!
Click to expand...

Merlin purple, think I'll take the plunge next time!

Don't have connect on my current car and there were options I wanted to add more, don't really think I would use it tbh
 
That's what swayed me, as much as merlin looks great in sunlight I thought it would look too dark (nearly black?) most of the time and show up all the dirt and any imperfections in the paint, scuba is bad enough with the dealer inflicted swirls!
 
Misano looks nice, not too late to change it.......
 
JayDZS* said:
That's what swayed me, as much as merlin looks great in sunlight I thought it would look too dark (nearly black?) most of the time and show up all the dirt and any imperfections in the paint, scuba is bad enough with the dealer inflicted swirls!
Click to expand...

Only ever seen merlin in person on old TT's, it is very dark. Velvet purple also looks smart in the purple range lol.
 
Soulboy said:
There is a bit of a backlash going on with diesel at the moment.
Click to expand...
Well... if they tax the alternative so much (on a pence per mile basis) that you need a second mortgage to drive to the shops, what do they expect?
 
Soulboy said:
There is a bit of a backlash going on with diesel at the moment.
It looks like they may increase the tax on it:
The great diesel scandal: how cheap fuel is choking our cities | Environment | The Guardian
Click to expand...
I'm talking about this topic a little too much, but be careful what you read at face value. These articles are generally second or third hand tripe. Most of the emissions are being produced by only a few hundred thousand lorries and buses so that should be far easier to target but they won't tax that because you'd largely put road haulage out of business.

The implicit assumption here is that petrols suffer from none of these problems but modern petrol engines in the drive for power and efficiency produce soot that requires a particulate filter and a lot of technology handed down from diesel engines and they also produce significantly more nitrogen oxides than older petrol engines despite the fixation on carbon dioxide. Keep in mind that the EURO 6 emission standards also apply equally to petrols.

Tax is highly unlikely to be increased on diesels because they will have to do it on an expanded emissions basis and that won't reflect well on a modern petrols either. If you pass EURO 6 you shouldn't have much to worry about. I suspect there is a bit of a backlash against diesels because it's the easiest thing to go for and both car manufacturers and fuel companies are a little uncomfortable that the tipping point has gone in favour of diesel but I think it's too late now. They generally like to play one off against the other.
 
I took delivery of an A3 Sportback 8V 2.0 TDI 184 S-Tronic S-Line in March this year. Scuba blue, full leather, B&O and a few more extras. I came from a manual BMW 123D which i loved and was very rewarding to drive but fancied a change. It took me less than 2 months to realise I had made a mistake. In effect I had subconsciously specced up an S3 but with a diesel engine (and 2 fewer exhausts!) and that was the one thing i couldn't get away from - the diesel engine. Don't get me wrong - the performance of the 2.0 TDI 184 is phenomenal all things considered, but the sound of a diesel 4-pot under strain when it's flat out is jarring to say the least and it really detracts from what is otherwise a great experience.
Long story short, I have a Sepang blue S3 on order due to arrive early October. It's been a costly mistake but for me I just can't keep thinking "what if" for the next 3 years. On my S3 test drive the things i loved the most were that the car purred in traffic and then rasped when i floored it, and averaging only 5,000 miles a year, that to me is worth giving up 15mpg.
I foolishly originally discounted the S3 as an option for the same reasons my last 2 cars have been the diesel version of the top-of-the-line petrols (fuel consumption, tax, insurance) but it was the car i always wanted (just like the 135M i didn't get previously). The worst thing is I didn't even look at the price - the manual gearbox version was only £200 extra...
It's been a long wait since May. I went for the S-tronic again in the end and have taken a hit with depreciation but the dealer was understandably generous with his discount for buying 2 new cars in within 6 months! I'm sure I have made the right decision. I guess I'll let you know in about 6 weeks...
 
Just one more reason on my already-fairly-lengthy personal list of reasons not to go to London!
 
  • Like
Reactions: Dtwm1
The rhetoric is always that they're going to ban 'all' vehicles, but in reality it will be vehicles which don't pass Euro 6 emission tests and petrols will also be banned older than five years or so. That's what London is doing, never mind planning to do. It has to really.

By far the biggest offenders are buses and lorries.

Mind you, if I lived in London, Paris or any main city I wouldn't have a car.
 
Last edited:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/news/11018725/This-diesel-backlash-is-completely-overblown.html

Some might want to have a go at diesels but with the economy demanded these days compression ignition engines are here to stay for some time. There's a whole load of confusion and misinformation going on. It's difficult to see what more can be dragged out of petrol engines because they've gone very much in the direction of diesel technology and ironically, petrols produce more nitrous oxides than they used to as a result. Then there's the knock-on effects - diesel engines use less fuel for the same volume, which means less tankers and transportation, less refinement and they also last far longer than petrols.
 
Most German cities and large towns require you to display an 'Umwelt' sticker in the windscreen and only those vehicles than are level 4 can enter the centre of city or town. To get a level 4 sticker a diesel engine has to have an EU5/6 engine. This applies to all vehicles including buses and trucks. It's perhaps about time we did the same and encouraged owners of older diesel to change their car and ban the offending buses in particular.

There is also an item in today's Auto Express that says Audi are developing a new synthetic fuel call e-diesel. Audi claims will "allow long-distance mobility with virtually no impact on the climate" Much better to develop newer alternatives than to just try and ban diesel vehicles.
 
Through technology nitrogen dioxide levels of diesels will come down.

But the people who are most at risk is drivers , the nitrogen dioxide has a collecting effect inside the cabin thus the drivers will breathe the highest concentration , compared to a cyclist or pedestrian.

What can deal with this is an activated charcoal pollen filter as fitted as standard to most Audi's , so why don't the powers be discontinue normal pollen filters in favour for the charcoal ?
 
h5djr said:
Most German cities and large towns require you to display an 'Umwelt' sticker in the windscreen and only those vehicles than are level 4 can enter the centre of city or town. To get a level 4 sticker a diesel engine has to have an EU5/6 engine. This applies to all vehicles including buses and trucks. It's perhaps about time we did the same and encouraged owners of older diesel to change their car and ban the offending buses in particular.

There is also an item in today's Auto Express that says Audi are developing a new synthetic fuel call e-diesel. Audi claims will "allow long-distance mobility with virtually no impact on the climate" Much better to develop newer alternatives than to just try and ban diesel vehicles.
Click to expand...

That would be a good system, perhaps a bit too sensible for us to implement over here though.

That e-diesel seems to be a bit of a con though. The synthesis of it should be nicely carbon neutral (or better) as they're talking about using excess electricity from solar generation (of which Germany has lots) to do the synthesis itself.

Ultimately though you still end up with a diesel-like fuel that's burnt at high temperatures in an internal combustion engine which necessarily means particulates (and DPFs) and NOx (and cats). It might be a pretty clean diesel, and good for the global environment but it'll still present local pollution issues in the long run.
 
Re: the comment "petrol vehicles also have to meet EU" I understood that EU6 has separate criteria for both diesel and petrol, so while the comment is true they have to meet different figures.
 
There is such a generalisation in the press and i've overheard conversations about "diesel vehicles being dangerous" in terms of pollutants. It is generally older diesel vehicles, but it's also true that huge mistakes were made chasing a low Co2 environment and neglecting all the other harmful emissions.
 
As usual, the press do not understand the details and suggest all diesels are the axis of evil. I bet the majority own one too...
 
Last edited:
You have to pay for everything good nowadays S3 included but the enjoyment of a nice car is worth it.
 
THQuattro said:
You have to pay for everything good nowadays S3 included but the enjoyment of a nice car is worth it.
Click to expand...
I agree but it does not have to be an S3 to get enjoyment. I have an A3 2.0TDI-184 s-tronic quattro and enjoy every minute I'm driving it. As I'm retired I don't have to drive in the rush hour and can choice the times when I drive. It doesn't matter if it's a short journey going out to lunch or driving 400 miles across Europe on holiday I enjoy them all just as much.

And being an Audi I can choice the engine and gearbox combination I want, choose the trim level, and choose the softer suspension. Too many other cars in this sort of price range (the Golf included) make you buy 'packages' according to the engine you choose.

Except when I took my car to Germany a couple of weeks ago and I had driven through France, Belgium and Holland and was just 10 miles into Germany on a de-restricted Autobahn when I got a puncture and then had to do the next 100 miles on a space saver at a maximum speed of 50 mph. Now that was not too much fun!
 
Last edited:
Good timing as well with that potential EU fine coming our way...
 
The Challinor said:
Only ever seen merlin in person on old TT's, it is very dark. Velvet purple also looks smart in the purple range lol.
Click to expand...


My Merlin has arrived In the uk, how long for pdi and then to the customer does anyone know? Coventry Audi said its to go to their centre then they will be in touch.

Merlin v velvet

Merlin r8



Velvet - love the colour (kind of blue/voilet) hadn't seen it until now..happy with merlin tho, once I pick up...

 
  • Like
Reactions: THQuattro
audi upgrades
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

pburv
Bye Bye S3
Replies
357
Views
27K
BarryG79
BarryG79
F
Bye Bye S3
Replies
100
Views
8K
S32B
S32B
K4RL
Bye bye S3
Replies
43
Views
5K
el-diablo675
el-diablo675
S
Bye bye S3
Replies
30
Views
5K
Primolak
P
HawkeyeS3
Bye Bye S3! Hello Q3RS!!!
Replies
18
Views
2K
Simon L
Simon L
Top
Back