A3 1.4TFSI COD real world mpg and DSG roughness

[rambu]

Hi guys, I'm from Australia and new in this forum.

Today I got myself the above mentioned car to keep for a day for test driving. It is a very impressive car. I really like it.

There are a couple of things that concerned me a little and that's why I'm here. The car is brand new and only has 95km in the odometer.

I reset the L/100km and took it out for a drive at night (70% highway, 30% town)and there wasn't much traffic. I drove it like an old man - pretty gentle with the gas pedal. After 40min of driving I got home and I noticed that the fuel consumption was 7.0L/100km. So what's going on? Is it because the car hasn't run in yet or the Audi fuel consumption figures are a scam? May I know if you guy had been able to achieve 4.1L/100km on freeway and 4.7L/100km combined?

There was also another thing that bothered me with this car. During the first 30min of driving, the DSG wasn't smooth at all while changing gears. It felt like an automatic gearbox. But after 30min, it became smooth - just like any DSG gearbox. Again, is this normal? I haven't experienced anything like that in our brand new Golf 6 103TDI and Golf 6 R. Our cars were smooth to drive home straight from the dealer.

It didn't take 30min for the car to warm up. The car warmed up just after 10min of driving. The ambient temp of where I live is 10C at night. Is it because it's new?

I really like this car but the fuel consumption figures and DSG issue are bothering me. There is an Audi sale right now in Australia and I would like to get this particular demo car as it is a few thousand dollars cheaper than a brand new car in showroom.

 

[jbs2472]

I have the 1.4 COD S-tronic and averaging 45.5mpg which is mostly A & B roads (non-motorway) during the week and motorways at weekends. I use a mix of Auto, Economy and Dynamic modes.

Other than being sluggish on acceleration in Economy mode which is to be expected I have no issues with the DSG.

 

[Psyman79]

Probably not much use as i'm in a manual but i'm averaging 37.7mpg after 4100 miles.

Not sure what that works out at in l/km and not too sure how much defference there is between manual and dsg.

 

[jasonc]

For anyone who doesn't know to get an approximate conversion between imperial (UK) mpg and L/100km you just divide 282 by your figure, works both ways.

i.e.
7.0L/100km = 282/7 = 40.3mpg
4.7L/100km = 282/4.7 = 60mpg

45.5mpg = 282/45.5 = 6.2L/100km
37.7mpg = 282/37.7 = 7.5L/100km

Just thought that might be useful to the odd person...

 

[cuke2u]

Don't believe Audi's mpg figures, they aren't a scam just obtained under rolling road conditions, simulating a headwind and ambient temperatures. The manufacturer's figures are only there to compare one vehicle with another not to be reflective of real world motoring...

 

[oufc1976]

I have the 1.4 COD S-tronic and averaging 45.5mpg which is mostly A & B roads (non-motorway) during the week and motorways at weekends. I use a mix of Auto, Economy and Dynamic modes.

Other than being sluggish on acceleration in Economy mode which is to be expected I have no issues with the DSG.

For comparison purposes only I get the exact same mpg on the same types of roads...in the 2.0TDi

 

[arad85]

For comparison purposes only I get the exact same mpg on the same types of roads...in the 2.0TDi

I'm not far off that in the 184 Quattro in Dynamic mode. 25 mile journey mornings and evenings, A, B & m/way - 45ish if I'm reasonably careful (I do like to floor it when accelerating ).

 

[steeve]

Perhaps if your driving it so slowly your not using four cylinders? That might also account for the bad gear changes too.
Go out and drive it normally, then see what both consumption and changes are like.

 

[RossR]

The DSG box adapts to your driving style (or so they claim). Perhaps the previous driver had driven very aggressively and it took 30 minutes to adapt to your gentler approach.

 

[veeeight]

It doesn't "learn" as such, it "adapts" to its internal parameters (eg:to account for wear on the clutch plates), you can set it to Ground Zero to re-adapt from scratch with VCDS.

With regards to actual driving - it uses a map (or multiple maps) to deliver an output, according to various inputs (throttle position, rate of change of throttle, road speed, incline, driver input, engine torque etc. etc.). There are lots of algorithms within the box and maps, and a degree of fuzzy logic.

But it would be inaccurate to say it "learns", more accurate to say it "adapts" to its internal parameters, not the driver.

Jerkiness was one of the symptoms in hot/humid climates, of the synthetic oil issue in the DQ200 DSG7 box.

There is a VW campaign to replace the synthetic oil in this box, with mineral oil. Perhaps this particular car missed the campaign.

 

[screenbubble]

It doesn't "learn" as such, it "adapts" to its internal parameters (eg:to account for wear on the clutch plates), you can set it to Ground Zero to re-adapt from scratch with VCDS.

With regards to actual driving - it uses a map (or multiple maps) to deliver an output, according to various inputs (throttle position, rate of change of throttle, road speed, incline, driver input, engine torque etc. etc.). There are lots of algorithms within the box and maps, and a degree of fuzzy logic.

But it would be inaccurate to say it "learns", more accurate to say it "adapts" to its internal parameters, not the driver.

Jerkiness was one of the symptoms in hot/humid climates, of the synthetic oil issue in the DQ200 DSG7 box.

There is a VW campaign to replace the synthetic oil in this box, with mineral oil. Perhaps this particular car missed the campaign.

Very informative reply veeeight. Thank you.

 

[RossR]

Did I say it "learns"?
The distinction between "learning" and "adapting" isn't clear cut anyway - but this is a car forum, not an AI forum.

 

[veeeight]

No you didn't.

But you did infer that it adapted to driver/driving style.

I was merely trying to de-bunk that internet myth, not having a go at you.

 

[JohnM100]

Actually I am with RossR on this. Mine seems to adapt to my driving style over time. I drive in Individual mode and the main time I notice this is when changing driving mode *and then changing back to individual*. This also continues after an ignition off.

After going back to Individual from dynamic the gear changes are snappier than when in Individual mode previously but it takes a while before the box goes back to holding higher revs on the over-run rather than obsessing with low revs.

This is not a D/S thing nor is it sneakily staying in Dynamic mode.

Is it adapting or is it just resetting some parameters when changing gearbox mode? I don't know.

However the Individual mode I go back does not initially feel the same one I left and it takes a few days to return to that.

John.

 

[cuke2u]

No cars 'adapt' to how they are driven as they simply do not have the processing power or the software to be able to do this. All the ecu is doing is adjusting the timing of the ignition or the valves in response to signals recieved from sensors. Once the engine is turned off it starts all over again...

 

[scotty76]

You can get Google to do the fuel maths, stick this in:

(7 litres per 100km) in miles per imperial gallon

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=(7+litres+per+100km)+in+miles+per+imperial+gallon

 

[RossR]

No cars 'adapt' to how they are driven as they simply do not have the processing power or the software to be able to do this. All the ecu is doing is adjusting the timing of the ignition or the valves in response to signals recieved from sensors. Once the engine is turned off it starts all over again...

The ECU is only one of at least a dozen processors in an A3. The one that does the image processing for lane guidance, speed limit display and high beam assist is pretty powerful. There is plenty of processing power to pick from a few different maps based on some statistics about the recent driving style.

 

[leosayer1]

I've got a 1.4 COD S tronic and on similar drive to the one the OP describe I managed 52mpg according to the computer, without trying too hard.

DSG is as smooth as anything.

 

[rambu]

Thanks guys. Sorry for not replying earlier.

Ok, on the second day of test driving the DSG did not exhibit any problems. It was buttery smooth. So I really don't know what was going on the first day.

With regards to the fuel consumption, it appears to me that the advertised L/100km or MPG is not achievable based on the numbers that I see in forums.

 

[cemerson]

Advertised figures rarely are achievable. No matter what the car brand.

 

[rambu]

Well not true from my own experience of driving Corolla, Golf TDI, Q5 3.0, Golf R. I managed to achieve better mileage than the advertised figures.

Advertised figures rarely are achievable. No matter what the car brand.

 

[cemerson]

Well they are all done using the same standardised, unrepresentative test. I'm sure you'll get much better figures once the engine has worn in (after a few thousand miles).

 

[Jerodequin]

Well not true from my own experience of driving Corolla, Golf TDI, Q5 3.0, Golf R. I managed to achieve better mileage than the advertised figures.

I don't see any of the 2013 Golf TDIs achieving above average MPG Volkswagen Golf 2013 - Real MPGs | Honest John

 

[cuke2u]

That doesn't mean one individual can't exceed the quoted mpg though. It can be done if you really put your mind to it, I've managed to see 85+mpg out of my car under, non 'average' driving conditions, by keeping the car below 40mph and 'off turbo' as much as possible.

 

[Jerodequin]

That doesn't mean one individual can't exceed the quoted mpg though. It can be done if you really put your mind to it, I've managed to see 85+mpg out of my car under, non 'average' driving conditions, by keeping the car below 40mph and 'off turbo' as much as possible.

Ok, I'll agree with you there, I've managed to exceed the stated MPG in my focus and in previous cars, but only when driving in an abnormal way or in abnormal conditions (one time I was stuck on the M25 in an enforced 40mph speed limit for around 90 minutes driving and exceeded the manufacturers claims).

But in normal every day driving, the manufacturers figures should always be taken with a big grain of salt (I generally assume I'll be getting between 15 and 20mpg worse than they claim!)

 

[cuke2u]

Obviously, to some degree the manufacturers hands are tied by the eu. But then these figures were caused by people in the past complaining that the manufacturers figures were obtained under such widely different driving conditions that someone had to step in and stipulate one test condition for them all. Which is why we have what we've got...

 

[chrisboyle999]

That doesn't mean one individual can't exceed the quoted mpg though. It can be done if you really put your mind to it, I've managed to see 85+mpg out of my car under, non 'average' driving conditions, by keeping the car below 40mph and 'off turbo' as much as possible.

Very true, however, audi never stated that you wouldnt get 85+ at 40mph. Maybe they would have if it was one of the industry standard criteria but unfortunately its one of those EU led dirctives, all very good if we lived in eutopia but alas...

Who thinks the A3 Etron will return 185mpg? I for one will be amazed if it returns half of that!!

 

[cuke2u]

There really isn't going to be something that satisfies everyone and it is only those who think the manufacturers quoted mpg are cast in stone that shout the loudest. However it is up to the individual manufacturers to make it clear that these figures do not represent real world motoring, such as Ford do. Something Audi have been taken to task about by the Advertising Standards Agency ASA Adjudication on Volkswagen Group UK Ltd - Advertising Standards Authority

 

[Acri16]

This is a question I asked merely today, my car has 210 miles on the clock and I am currently getting z29 mpg!!! When will I get "decent" mpg??

I am loving the 1.4 COD engine though!

 

[cuke2u]

Have you reset the mpg since getting the car?

 

[Acri16]

How would I do that? :-N

 

[cuke2u]

Hold down the left thumbwheel on the steering wheel for a second or so....