Which engine to choose potential new owner

[nutter2]

Hi all,

After selling my golf gtd mk8 I'm in the market for my next favourite car audo a3.
I love the looks like, but I'm torn what engine to go for my old Gtd was 200ps standard and decent mpg and the nearest engine on the a3 8y is 150bhp.
Will I be underwhelmed by its performance ?
I'm also considering the 40tfsie with it's petrol and plug in hybrid it may suit my needs, without losing out to much performance.
I'd be very interested to hear both owners opinions of these models particularly around mpg of the 40 tfsi around town and extra urban
Thanks

 

[AdamInKent]

Hi all,

After selling my golf gtd mk8 I'm in the market for my next favourite car audo a3.
I love the looks like, but I'm torn what engine to go for my old Gtd was 200ps standard and decent mpg and the nearest engine on the a3 8y is 150bhp.
Will I be underwhelmed by its performance ?
I'm also considering the 40tfsie with it's petrol and plug in hybrid it may suit my needs, without losing out to much performance.
I'd be very interested to hear both owners opinions of these models particularly around mpg of the 40 tfsi around town and extra urban
Thanks

I really like my 150bhp mild hybrid (petrol) 8Y A3: it’s a very civilised engine when pootling and cruising but with enough grunt to get the car moving when I need it to (surprisingly smoothly and swiftly at times). Then again, I came from a 1.4l TSi (122 PS) Golf mk vi, so your expectations might be higher than mine. I get an average of 40 mpg in the city and 45 mpg for longer journeys (over 13k miles so far, tracked using the RoadTrip app).

 

[nutter2]

Thanks for your reply, sounds good mpg for around town

 

[KXL]

If you live somewhere where you can charge the car routinely, then yes probably 40 TFSIe (or even the 45 TFSIe) should fit your needs. You mentioned urban and extra urban, then the PHEVs should suit (on assumption you can charge routinely). And if you live in a house and you can go on those 'EV' tariffs with (7.5 - 9p / kw) in the wee hours of the night, then maybe even better. Mpg I recall another poster on a different thread showed mid-high 50s mpg even on a dead battery on motorway speeds, and maybe close to 100mpg combined. I 'think' the e-motor itself can generate 110bhp on its own but not sure.
I'm guessing you won't be considering the 30TFSI (which I have) but this one can do 58-60mpg motorway, up to 70mpg extra urban and generally over 40mpg in city with medium traffic.
Once upon a time there was even the A3 40TFSI (2.0) in UK, but no more.

 

[Sparks43]

If you live somewhere where you can charge the car routinely, then yes probably 40 TFSIe (or even the 45 TFSIe) should fit your needs. You mentioned urban and extra urban, then the PHEVs should suit (on assumption you can charge routinely). And if you live in a house and you can go on those 'EV' tariffs with (7.5 - 9p / kw) in the wee hours of the night, then maybe even better. Mpg I recall another poster on a different thread showed mid-high 50s mpg even on a dead battery on motorway speeds, and maybe close to 100mpg combined. I 'think' the e-motor itself can generate 110bhp on its own but not sure.
I'm guessing you won't be considering the 30TFSI (which I have) but this one can do 58-60mpg motorway, up to 70mpg extra urban and generally over 40mpg in city with medium traffic.
Once upon a time there was even the A3 40TFSI (2.0) in UK, but no more.

It's strange that Audi no longer use the 2 Litre 190 HP Engine as it's available for Seat and Cupra

 

[nutter2]

Hi I do have electric available but not on a ev tariff and current supplier doesn't offer this.
It's such a shame that they don't have the same engine power in the a3 just different turbo and injectors I think

 

[audi8y2021]

I also own the 35TFSI MHEV. From what I've experienced, the car is quite quick. I cannot compare it to anything else as this is my first car. I believe that the electric motor provides some additional torque. Also, if you use the paddles on the steering wheel and know when to change up or down, you can extract significant performance from the car.

 

[nutter2]

Thanks, I'm really not sure what to do I'm new to electric hybrids and I'm not sure I want to charge the car every other day which will no doubt see an increase in electric bills direct debit lol
Which is why I was going to go back to a diesel tbh
So what mileage are you getting from the tfsie's I guess using just petrol and electric and petrol if you can so I can compare

 

[audi8y2021]

You don't need to charge the 35TFSI MHEV as it charges itself through regenerative braking (that's the technical term for it). For a more detailed understanding, you might fancy watching this video from Audi's media centre: https://www.audi-mediacenter.com/en...audi-a3-sportback-48v-mild-hybrid-system-4986, which elaborates on the MHEV functions.

 

[nutter2]

Very interesting thanks will take a look

 

[nutter2]

If anyone can help with mpg and hiw much per tank your getting will be interested for the 35tfsi mhev

 

[SamB2020]

If anyone can help with mpg and hiw much per tank your getting will be interested for the 35tfsi mhev

I might be able to help here.
when the A3 8Y first came out I took delivery of a S-Line 30tdi saloon manual ( no longer available to order) I did over 35k miles in just over 2 years. I traveled mainly on motorways and I averaged just over 65mpg. A few months ago I traded it in for a new A3 Edition 1 35tfsi s-tronic doing the same journeys I now average around 56mpg. At the time of ordering my new car diesel was 22p per litre more expensive.

 

[nutter2]

That's great thanks so much! So nit really a huge difference I'd say only about 10% of my journeys are motorway, so I guess hardly any difference local trips then ? Mmm food for thought there. Thanks so much

 

[AdamInKent]

That's great thanks so much! So nit really a huge difference I'd say only about 10% of my journeys are motorway, so I guess hardly any difference local trips then ? Mmm food for thought there. Thanks so much

If you are mainly doing local trips then a petrol engine is probably the better option (not to forget more environmentally friendly for town driving).

In answer to your question of range. On average (over 13k miles and 2 years) I get a bit over 400 miles from the 50l tank in my 35TFSI MHEV (usually filling with 45-47l each time). However, 450 miles is not rare (I did that with my last fill) and I’m pretty sure that, for longer journeys, it can be closer to 500 miles.)

 

[KXL]

You don't need to charge the 35TFSI MHEV as it charges itself through regenerative braking (that's the technical term for it). For a more detailed understanding, you might fancy watching this video from Audi's media centre: https://www.audi-mediacenter.com/en...audi-a3-sportback-48v-mild-hybrid-system-4986, which elaborates on the MHEV functions.

My experience with my MHEV is that it's not uncommon for the car to coast with engine off (especially if coming to a red light off a dual carriageway) for almost a min (offically i think up to 40 sec ish), while not losing speed quickly either. It tends to restart the engine when speed goes as low as 6mph (unless brakes are applied). Oh and the small parcel boxed sized battery of this 48V system is under the drivers seat.
I can 'feel' the electric boost come in as at lower rpms, the car is still picking up speed when accelerating but rpms strangely dont' quite correspond. eg the increase in speed vs rpm increase is not proportionate (it's a weird feeling).

 

[nutter2]

Thanks mate what miles are you getting to a tank and mpg average ?

 

[audi8y2021]

My experience with my MHEV is that it's not uncommon for the car to coast with engine off (especially if coming to a red light off a dual carriageway) for almost a min (offically i think up to 40 sec ish), while not losing speed quickly either. It tends to restart the engine when speed goes as low as 6mph (unless brakes are applied). Oh and the small parcel boxed sized battery of this 48V system is under the drivers seat.
I can 'feel' the electric boost come in as at lower rpms, the car is still picking up speed when accelerating but rpms strangely dont' quite correspond. eg the increase in speed vs rpm increase is not proportionate (it's a weird feeling).

I only drive in Dynamic and mostly with S transmission.

 

[KXL]

Thanks mate what miles are you getting to a tank and mpg average ?

Mines a 30tfsi mhev though. Filled to click car 'thinks' I can do 585 miles from 45 litres. Doing the calculations, this would mean 59mpg. It's possible on a motorway run. Realistically with city driving Inc, just shy of 500 can be done. Mpg average over 4k miles long term is 49 mpg

 

[nutter2]

I've been looking and am I right in saying I can't get an edition 1 in tfsie? Not that I can find anywhere. Shane I was warming to the idea of a mhev but love the look of edition 1

 

[SamB2020]

From what I remember the tfsie is only available in hatchback form and not as an edition 1. My saloon edition 1 is 35 tfsi which is mhev 48v battery under the driver seat.
if you want a tfsie they are plug in hybrid.

 

[KXL]

in UK at least, TFSI-E (PHEV) you get it in Sport and S-line with 204PS (or bhp, not sure) and there is a S-line Competition (not sure what difference with Edition 1) which has it tuned up to 245PS/bhp. The latter only comes with 18inch wheels (I think diamond cut ones) and the other 2 lower power trims you have choice of 18 or 17in.
Wonder if it's more that as Edition 1 only comes with 19s, these are not suitable for TFIS-Es?
Also I 'think' these TFSI-Es only come with standard suspension, no option for 'S' suspension, so it rides higher than standard S suspension cars.

 

[Vic20]

I have had my TFSIe for 18 months now and love it. If you can regularly charge at home, do short commutes and have solar power or a cheap tariff such as Octopus Intelligent it's a no brainer. The engine is along for the ride.

On a 320 mile journey, setting off with full charge and fuel tank, I have achieved 72MPG, leaving over half a tank still available.

Super quiet, smooth and refined. If thats what you're after!

Sent from my Pixel 7 Pro using Tapatalk

 

[KXL]

On a 320 mile journey, setting off with full charge and fuel tank, I have achieved 72MPG, leaving over half a tank still available.

Assuming since you used the Sat Nav, the car depleted the battery to almost 'empty' after 320 miles?

 

[Vic20]

Assuming since you used the Sat Nav, the car depleted the battery to almost 'empty' after 320 miles?

It did, yes, I recall having about one mile left at the end of the journey. Traffic can catch it out though as it prefers to use battery when crawling / stop-start as presumably it's more efficient. Coasting adds to the efficiency a great deal.

Sent from my Pixel 7 Pro using Tapatalk

 

[llordlucan]

Hi all,

After selling my golf gtd mk8 I'm in the market for my next favourite car audo a3.
I love the looks like, but I'm torn what engine to go for my old Gtd was 200ps standard and decent mpg and the nearest engine on the a3 8y is 150bhp.
Will I be underwhelmed by its performance ?
I'm also considering the 40tfsie with it's petrol and plug in hybrid it may suit my needs, without losing out to much performance.
I'd be very interested to hear both owners opinions of these models particularly around mpg of the 40 tfsi around town and extra urban
Thanks

Hey @nutter2 . I came from a Mk7.5 GTD to 35tfsi MHEV. Sorry to say i dont really like it. The breaking is awful with the regeneration it feels like it "lets go" during the breaking faze and lunges forward.. I also miss the torque of the GTD. But the Audi does get there and its a nice drive. I have an annoying squeek when gears change up feom turbo or gearbox thats being investigated. Standard wheels look like hub caps awful and nothing but problems with MMI keep loosing favourites despite latest firmware. Why did you sell GTD ? I was looking to change back to a mk8 but too pricey. No good ?

 

[cvp99]

I've had my TFSIe 40 for nearly a year now and I've been very pleased with both how it drives and consumption etc. I posted a fuller response in this thread: https://www.audi-sport.net/xf/threads/hybrid-modes-battery-hold-vs-charge-battery.434752

But to summarise:

• Local journeys where total expected mileage up to 30 miles - leave in pure EV mode
• Journeys where total mileage expected up to say 120 miles - start in hybrid mode. If there is much battery left on the way home, I switch to pure EV mode to use up any remaining battery.
• Extended journeys I put in Battery Hold mode from the start. Again, on the way home switch to Hybrid or EV mode to use up remaining battery. On a recent week away, with no easy access to charging, I used Battery Hold mode the whole week (about 800 miles) of mixed driving. I still had over 1/4 battery left when I got home and each day averaged between 50-60 MGP (40 TFSI e).

 

[nutter2]

Hey @nutter2 . I came from a Mk7.5 GTD to 35tfsi MHEV. Sorry to say i dont really like it. The breaking is awful with the regeneration it feels like it "lets go" during the breaking faze and lunges forward.. I also miss the torque of the GTD. But the Audi does get there and its a nice drive. I have an annoying squeek when gears change up feom turbo or gearbox thats being investigated. Standard wheels look like hub caps awful and nothing but problems with MMI keep loosing favourites despite latest firmware. Why did you sell GTD ? I was looking to change back to a mk8 but too pricey. No good ?

No very nice car 200 bhp standard, and decent mpg but lots of faults relating to steering wheel had 2 replaced in past 18 months and sos errors software updated with infotainment just property buggy far to advanced. Such a shame really it spoilt our ownership.
Thats thr same across the whole mk8 platform to. Hopefully mk8.5 be better

 

[helicopter_red]

You will never be happy with less power.
I have the 35 diesel its fast enough but not going to satisfy a 200 bhp version.
usually average between 63 to 67 mpg on a longer journey in the summer without trying and doing 70 mph etc with air con on. in the winter its a bit lower around 57 to 63 mpg
My long term average over around 30,000 miles is just under 61 mpg
My best is 74mpg taking my time on the A14 M11 as i was too early for a meeting
Diesel engine is nice and responsive and fairly quiet.
I personally would go for the diesel, but thats as it suits my Job and i make a slight profit claiming for mileage due to mpg returns, i intend to get the diesel mapped once the warranty has expired to move it upto a 40 or 45 power range.
Never driven a Petrol version so cannot compare.
Good luck

 

[nutter2]

Thanks I think I will go for 35 tdi and get it remapped to bring it back upto what power I'm used to

 

[helicopter_red]

Just be careful with the maps i believe Audi can detect some types of maps that invalidate the warranty, unless its an urban myth??

 

[nutter2]

They certainly can be

 

[helicopter_red]

Forgot to say my car is a manual 2022 model s line
You can’t get manual diesels 35’s anymore not sure what the autos are like

 

[JKP]

I came from a Mk7.5 GTD to 35tfsi MHEV. Sorry to say i dont really like it. The breaking is awful with the regeneration it feels like it "lets go" during the breaking faze and lunges forward.. I also miss the torque of the GTD.

Funny how different opinions can be depending on which way you're coming from. I swapped Golf Mk7.5 to A3 8Y, but from 1,5 EVO to 35 TFSI. The Golf was the first car to introduce coasting with shut-off engine - but without the starter generator. It was using the old-school start instead, which soon became frustrating. Even though it could be then switched off by disabling start-stop, I wasn't too happy with it and it also had less power than the Audi with the same engine. I felt the MHEV tech fixes almost all the downsides I had in the Golf, even though I don't like the braking feel either. I think the swap to Audi was a real upgrade. Golf 8 is something I can't tolerate, the all-touch based userface with the inforaiment is an extreme example of unusability and for me it destroys the whole car.

 

[AdamInKent]

I think the swap to Audi was a real upgrade. Golf 8 is something I can't tolerate, the all-touch based userface with the inforaiment is an extreme example of unusability and for me it destroys the whole car.

I was originally going to buy a mk 8 Golf (a no-brainer, as I really liked the mk 6 that I was upgrading from). But a single test drive was enough to put me off: the lack of buttons combined with the non-intuitive software interface was awful (and I love high tech stuff). If you are thinking about it, definitely spend some time playing with the software when you take it for a test drive (climate controls, navigation, radio, etc) to make sure that you would be happy to live with it.

 

[llordlucan]

@AdamInKent sorry to hijack this but Adam i would like to chat to you about my car and compare some odd characteristics as i believe we have the same (35 tfsi.)
(I am in Kent also lol) how can we do that i cant seem to send a PM.

 

[AdamInKent]

@AdamInKent sorry to hijack this but Adam i would like to chat to you about my car and compare some odd characteristics as i believe we have the same (35 tfsi.)
(I am in Kent also lol) how can we do that i cant seem to send a PM.

Hi. You should now be able to PM me. That said, there are lots of people here with that engine who could also share their experience - and others who might be able to learn from yours - so it might be better to start a new thread to swap experiences?

 

[Statiker]

Hey @nutter2 . I came from a Mk7.5 GTD to 35tfsi MHEV. Sorry to say i dont really like it. The breaking is awful with the regeneration it feels like it "lets go" during the breaking faze and lunges forward.. I also miss the torque of the GTD. But the Audi does get there and its a nice drive. I have an annoying squeek when gears change up feom turbo or gearbox thats being investigated. Standard wheels look like hub caps awful and nothing but problems with MMI keep loosing favourites despite latest firmware. Why did you sell GTD ? I was looking to change back to a mk8 but too pricey. No good ?

I agree with your comments on the braking, it is awful. I've almost had a couple of accidents coming up to traffic lights on a slight downhill stretch. I've started to brake and the brake pedal feels 'normal' and the car slows as I'd expect, coasting then cut in and there is a sudden reduction in braking force and I had to really push hard on the pedal to stop in time. There is a comment in the owner manual about loss of engine braking but I don't understand how Audi think this is acceptable. I've also seen owners complaining about the same thing on some VW forums.
I came from an A3 8v 2.0 Tdi and also miss the torque!

 

[KXL]

I got used to this braking 'quirk' after 6 months. Generally I learn to press the brakes with say 30% force, then expect to press it a little bit harder when i see the rpms drop to 0. However, generally I will be slowly braking to a stop with the engine completely off anyway as long as the approach to slowing is gentle (and nobody cuts in front of me last min) which would trigger the engine on.

 

[bobcat12]

I've got a 45 TSFI e and as others have mentioned I can get 70-80MPG driving on hybrid mode. The power output is 250 BHP which is more than enough, at lights/roundabouts it will pull away fully electric then the engine will kick in if needed.

It's by far the best car I've owned in terms of power and economics.

 

[KXL]

I've got a 45 TSFI e and as others have mentioned I can get 70-80MPG driving on hybrid mode. The power output is 250 BHP which is more than enough, at lights/roundabouts it will pull away fully electric then the engine will kick in if needed.

It's by far the best car I've owned in terms of power and economics.

Can it do 30 miles on a full charge on city / extra urban (non highway) roads where speeds are 20-50mph?