A4 Avant 3.0TDI 218q first impressions

[dts439]

Very early days, but I'm please with my choice of engine. I did not have the chance to drive an A4 with the 218 engine as so few around so it was a bit of a gamble. I had tried a 272 and this gave me confidence in the smoothness and economy.

So far compared to my previous A3 its noticeably quieter and quicker. Engine is very smooth and does not seem any slower than my old A4 240ps which is a relief. I'm getting around 40mpg on lots of short journey, will see what it does on my journey to work next week.

Tech wise I'm loving the head up display and the virtual cockpit. Central display is mostly redundant and I have so far turned it off unless I have a passenger. This is the first car I've driven with matrix LED and they really work, though so far I'm still manually dipping them.

Some pics from the midnight pickup and out in the sunshine.

 

[rich_16]

Great write up, useful as I've got one like yours on order.

How does the power compare to the 272 you drove? I've got a bmw 330d at the moment which cracks 62mph in 5.6 secs so I'm hoping the a4 3.0 218 won't feel too much slower!

 

[NickGun]

Engine is very smooth and does not seem any slower than my old A4 240ps which is a relief. I'm getting around 40mpg on lots of short journey, will see what it does on my journey to work next week.

Your car looks great, we have same engine / quattro combination albeit in Sport as opposed to S-Line spec and have just returned from a 3k mile European road trip where we averaged just over 52mpg, which included slow town driving in Girona, Paris etc and quick Autoroute / AutoStrada blasts too.

Combined with Cruise control and with a very steady right foot when needed we easily topped 55+mpg on a run - but happy with 50mpg+ with effortless overtaking.

Enjoy.

 

[dts439]

Great write up, useful as I've got one like yours on order.

How does the power compare to the 272 you drove? I've got a bmw 330d at the moment which cracks 62mph in 5.6 secs so I'm hoping the a4 3.0 218 won't feel too much slower!

Good choice Rich!

The 272 (not surprisingly) seemed quicker than my old B8 3.0Tdi 240, especially in Sport mode, but the 240 was quick enough for me (and effortless on hills etc just wafted past other traffic which I missed in my A3). I'd have gone for the 272 but I wanted to get something that had close to the range of my old A3 (e.g. 500+ miles).

My 240 was from memory 6.3s to 62 so about the same as the 218. They appear to be torque limiting the 218 (to 400Nm) to save the gearbox which I guess will make it seem more linear and less of a kick than the 272. I have a longer trip on Thursday to look forward to so I will be giving it a bit more beans then and I will see how it compares. A while back I drove a 313 BiTdi A6 and was disappointed (that was meant to be sub 6 to 60) as it felt slower than my 240. I believe the B9 is about 100kg lighter than the equivalent B8 which must help.

Your car looks great, we have same engine / quattro combination albeit in Sport as opposed to S-Line spec and have just returned from a 3k mile European road trip where we averaged just over 52mpg, which included slow town driving in Girona, Paris etc and quick Autoroute / AutoStrada blasts too.

Combined with Cruise control and with a very steady right foot when needed we easily topped 55+mpg on a run - but happy with 50mpg+ with effortless overtaking.

Enjoy.

Thanks Nick, that's exactly what I wanted to hear! I'm hoping to get 50-55 on long motorway runs...

Regards

Dave

 

[Mike44]

My S-line avant 218 non quattro has averaged 51.7 on fuelly web site over 2,800 miles, the best being 56 mpg.

 

[ScottishA4B9]

Don't expect to get near 500 miles on a tank, as even the optional larger tank doesn't get you near that as its tiny!

 

[dts439]

Don't expect to get near 500 miles on a tank, as even the optional larger tank doesn't get you near that as its tiny!

Fuel tank is 58 litres on the quattros. Given I leave 5 litres in the tank at fill up, leaves 53 litres / just over 11.5 gallons, so 500+ miles should be possible if I get around 50mpg.

Best I did with my old A3 with a 55 litre tank was just over 600 miles.

 

[Colh]

Don't expect to get near 500 miles on a tank, as even the optional larger tank doesn't get you near that as its tiny!

I've never been able to get the quoted 54 litres into my larger fuel tank. Think the best I've done is 47 litres. Dealer reckoned it was because the gauge is telling me to fill up very early (seems to be when 85miles range left when in Red), and there's potential wash-back up the nozzle triggering the cut-off?

 

[dts439]

I've never been able to get the quoted 54 litres into my larger fuel tank. Think the best I've done is 47 litres. Dealer reckoned it was because the gauge is telling me to fill up very early (seems to be when 85miles range left when in Red), and there's potential wash-back up the nozzle triggering the cut-off?

The manual says the red led comes on when 8 litres (so nearly 2 gallons) are left - so that seems very early. The red led will then flash when its very low. My A3 seemed to go red at about 5 litres (and 55 miles left), I took it down to range 20 once, and got just over 52 litres into the 55 litre tank, light did not flash. I'm guessing with VCDS the red light trigger point could be changed.

 

[cuke2u]

It works by calculating fuel remaining and mpg, thus there will be variations when the low fuel light comes on due to driving conditions...

 

[NickGun]

The fuel light does seem to come on very prematurely, at least 70miles range remaining on ours each time, but have to say that 500miles+ per tank is easily done (at least on a quattro with larger tank it is).

Having covered over 7k miles since May, we've just returned from doing 3k miles from UK across France, Spain, into Northern Italy and back over 18days - where we filled up 5.5 times, which wasn't from totally empty ever, approx 30-60miles range showing after light came on - and we still had about a quarter of a tank when we got back home (can't be exact as was tired so wasn't really paying that much attention to the fuel at that stage).

Here's a pic of our average MPG on first leg of journey, which was Leeds to Bourges, France via Eurotunnel - slow avg speed due to the Dartford crossing being closed because of an accident, but a trip computer 54mpg over 618miles isn't bad for a 3ltr quattro avant and that was on a single tank from UK, as we filled up next morning when leaving France, with 40mile range still showing.

A quick bit of maths by adding the 40miles range showing would give us 658miles from 58litres or 12.75 gallons, which works out at 51.6mpg - as opposed to 54.3mpg shown on dash.

 

[ScottishA4B9]

No I still don't think you will have any chance getting 500miles out of the tank.

Yes I have 4 litres smaller fuel tank but I have the more economical 2.0 engine and I'm managing around 50 mpg driving economically on motorways and I get around 360 miles from full to empty.

 

[NickGun]

No I still don't think you will have any chance getting 500miles out of the tank.

Yes I have 4 litres smaller fuel tank but I have the more economical 2.0 engine and I'm managing around 50 mpg driving economically on motorways and I get around 360 miles from full to empty.

Thats fair enough and you're entitled to your opinion obviously, but I think what you mean is YOU can't achieve 500miles per tank, I know I can and have just done so, several times, across Europe, over 18days and 4 countries.

That is with plenty of Autoroute / Autostrada on cruise control, but also some very tight, stop start driving around Paris, Girona etc.

If you go by your 50mpg average, if you empty a full tank of 54litres while doing 50mpg, that equates to 11.87gallons and a range of 593.5miles.

If you’re getting only 360miles from a full 54litre tank, even assuming 4litres still in when you refuel (so 50litres) that equates to 10.99gallons and a mpg of 32.75mpg - not 50mpg.

Have to say I'm more than happy when worked out over 3k miles of not slow, continental european driving we achieved around 50mpg - thats not going by the trip computer either.

 

[dts439]

No I still don't think you will have any chance getting 500miles out of the tank.

Yes I have 4 litres smaller fuel tank but I have the more economical 2.0 engine and I'm managing around 50 mpg driving economically on motorways and I get around 360 miles from full to empty.

360 miles to a tank doesn't soundright for a 2.0tdi? I never got less than 500 miles out of my A3 (2.0 TDI 184q) with a similar size (55 litre) tank. My lifetime average for 12k miles was 51.4mpg. I thought the DIS on my A3 was about 5% optimistic.

I'll report back on first few fill ups.

 

[ScottishA4B9]

I've done 2.5k miles so engine not fully loosened up yet, but it's certainly not my driving preventing me from getting more miles out of the tank!

I'm definitely glad I ordered the bigger 54 litre fuel tank as the smaller one would drive me nuts!

I know you can't trust what's on the DIS. My DIS is showing 51mpg average so it's not an accurate measurement.

But you certainly can't trust the manufacturers claimed mpg as they are allowed a huge 25% disparity!

What's annoying is that I used to be able to get 700 miles out of my E90 320d!

Is it a case that Audi are just installing tiny fuel tanks in the A4's?

 

[NickGun]

I've done 2.5k miles so engine not fully loosened up yet, but it's certainly not my driving preventing me from getting more miles out of the tank!

I'm definitely glad I ordered the bigger 54 litre fuel tank as the smaller one would drive me nuts!

I know you can't trust what's on the DIS. My DIS is showing 51mpg average so it's not an accurate measurement.

But you certainly can't trust the manufacturers claimed mpg as they are allowed a huge 25% disparity!

What's annoying is that I used to be able to get 700 miles out of my E90 320d!

Is it a case that Audi are just installing tiny fuel tanks in the A4's?

Hopefully your fuel consumption will improve as the miles increase, as like you say at 2.5k your engine probably isn't fully loosened up, however ours was only at just under 4k when we set off on our road trip - so not sure that covers the difference.

Completely agree in ignoring manufacturers claimed mpg, as we all know its in conditions impossible to replicate in real world driving, I'd say my DIS is approx 4-6% optimistic, thats why I ignored the DIS mpg and worked out on covered miles vs approx litres used, so give or take a little margin for error, I'm more than pleased with around 50mpg over the last 3k miles.

As a side note I did notice that on a like-for-like B9 2ltr 190tdi the Audi quoted mpg is better for the s-tronic vs the manual, and I'd echo that having no choice but to opt for the s-tronic on the 3ltr, it is definitely more frugal than I would be with a manual, well at least in Efficiency and Comfort mode it is, in Dynamic it definitely drops the mpg but increases the fun factor more than enough to compensate.

With regards the small fuel tanks I too think the standard 40ltr is woeful to be honest, one of the many reasons we opted for the bigger engined quattro, but I assume aside from the disappointing range you get you're enjoying the car though?

 

[iambu]

I have a B9 2.0 TDi 190 S-Tronic, with optional larger fuel tank. Going by the DIS (I've not calculated manually), when I fill up the tank my estimated range is always 600+ miles, I'd say average 620 miles

 

[Bungle17]

Scottish, are you sure you've got the larger tank!? I've got the same engine as you and get 420 miles out of the standard 40 litre tank! How you're only getting 360 out of the larger tank is baffling!?

 

[NickGun]

Scottish, are you sure you've got the larger tank!? I've got the same engine as you and get 420 miles out of the standard 40 litre tank! How you're only getting 360 out of the larger tank is baffling!?

You know I was thinking the exact same thing before but assumed he would have checked on the amount of litres he is able to fit in when filling up.

 

[ScottishA4B9]

Yes I definitely have the larger tank. 360 miles out of the last tank sitting at average speed of 60-70mph straight up the A1 and back.

 

[alFR]

Yes I definitely have the larger tank. 360 miles out of the last tank sitting at average speed of 60-70mph straight up the A1 and back.

If you really mean average speed 60-70mph (as opposed to "going at 60-70 most of the time") then that's the reason: to average that you'd have to be going substantially faster than 70 for a good part of the time, which will of course wreck your fuel consumption.

For comparison, my 272 is averaging 42.3 (on the DIS) since I've had it and the highest single-trip average I've seen on the DIS was just over 50 on a relaxed A-road (50-60mph, not much traffic) and motorway (70 most of the time) run of about 80 miles. I'd have thought the same and better should be easily achievable by the 218.

 

[NickGun]

If you really mean average speed 60-70mph (as opposed to "going at 60-70 most of the time") then that's the reason: to average that you'd have to be going substantially faster than 70 for a good part of the time, which will of course wreck your fuel consumption.

For comparison, my 272 is averaging 42.3 (on the DIS) since I've had it and the highest single-trip average I've seen on the DIS was just over 50 on a relaxed A-road (50-60mph, not much traffic) and motorway (70 most of the time) run of about 80 miles. I'd have thought the same and better should be easily achievable by the 218.

I'm running a 218quattro avant and have covered 618miles on a single tank, then still showing 40mile range, which is averaging 51mpg+ (thats actual mpg calculated from litres used and miles travelled - not via the DIS) so an actual mpg of 50+ from a 218q is more than achievable.

The DIS in mine shows over 54-55mpg regularly, but I worked it out to be approx 4-6% optimistic.

 

[Bungle17]

Yes I definitely have the larger tank. 360 miles out of the last tank sitting at average speed of 60-70mph straight up the A1 and back.

That implies circa 32mpg!?

I just can't believe that you have the larger tank! If you have it's got a leak!

We've got the same engine, both our DIS's show 51mpg yet my real world figure is 49 vs your 32!?

 

[PhxViper]

If you have it's got a leak!

Its starting to look like that.
That's the way we detected a friend having a leak, same car and driving style as another, but big differences in MPG.

But you'd have to loose a lot of fuel here and surely that would be noticeable...

 

[Dan241085]

After doing over 10k miles I get over 500 miles in my 218 3.0TDI every time I fill up, with the larger fuel tank. MPG from purchase is showing 47.1mpg on the cars computer.

 

[scotty76]

My S4 does 30mpg on the way to work and I get about 300 miles from a tank filling up at DIS showing 60 miles left.

 

[dts439]

Thanks for everyone's inputs and figures.

So today's trip showed just over 55mpg on a 100 mile motorway round trip and car has done 0 miles (so possibly still tight?). Will do a brim to brim 500+ mile trip next week so will report back and see how optimistic the DIS actually is. If its anywhere near it then its significantly better than my old B8 3.0 tdi (which could do 40-42 on a good day), which itself was a big improvement on my B7 3.0 tdi (which was capable of 36-38 which seemed amazing at the time for the performance/size). I guess that's significant progress in 10 years.

 

[NickGun]

Thanks for everyone's inputs and figures.

So today's trip showed just over 55mpg on a 100 mile motorway round trip and car has done 0 miles (so possibly still tight?). Will do a brim to brim 500+ mile trip next week so will report back and see how optimistic the DIS actually is.

Sounds pretty much the same as ours, and thats after 7k miles now, but I can't say as I noticed much increase in mpg from 0miles to 7k.

By my maths our DIS is between 4-6% optimistic, but means we still average an actual 50+mpg on a run, so for a car this size and speed its more than good enough for us.

Have fun running in...

 

[ScottishA4B9]

No my tank doesn't have a leak and yes I DEFINATELY have the larger tank. It's on my spec sheet and order sheet.
DIS is showing around 53mpg. I haven't figured it out myself for a true figure though. Granted my car is still under 3k miles but surely that can't have a massive impact on the figures?

The loan A4 with the same engine and 8k miles got around 62.5mpg (on DIS) on a long journey.

 

[cuke2u]

Sounds pretty much the same as ours, and thats after 7k miles now, but I can't say as I noticed much increase in mpg from 0miles to 7k.

By my maths our DIS is between 4-6% optimistic, but means we still average an actual 50+mpg on a run, so for a car this size and speed its more than good enough for us.

Have fun running in...

According to my poor maths 6% of 55 is 3.3mpg so I wouldn't say it was off by a huge amount...

 

[NickGun]

According to my poor maths 6% of 55 is 3.3mpg so I wouldn't say it was off by a huge amount...

I agree its not out by a huge amount - in my head I now just round down from a DIS indicated 55mpg shown on a long run, to a true figure of at least 51mpg - which is backed up by actual miles covered vs litres put in on our Euro jaunt last month.

Not at all bad for a 3ltr 4wheel drive Estate capable of sub 6.5sec to 60mph and over 150mph, and 51mpg across UK / France / Spain / Italy was with 3 full-size adults and a boot full of luggage.

 

[cuke2u]

Very good indeed, but unfortunately the price and that it's a diesel means, as I do no more than 5k a year, is not the engine for me...

 

[rich_16]

I've got the 218 Quattro engine and getting 42mpg from the first 500 miles from new.

Has mpg improved over time for others with this engine? I guess 42mpg isn't too bad but I was getting more from my previous 330d BMW which admittedly was rear wheel drive.

 

[Krusovice]

I've got the 218 Quattro engine and getting 42mpg from the first 500 miles from new.

Has mpg improved over time for others with this engine? I guess 42mpg isn't too bad but I was getting more from my previous 330d BMW which admittedly was rear wheel drive.

I've done about about 7k in my 218Q and it clearly depends upon your average journey.
In the summer I got 63mpg on a 80 mile trip, 4-up, aircon going and boot full of luggage on motorway in Holland, speed limit was 100kmh.
Most of my day to day journeys are sub-10 milers and the car usually returns low 40's mpg.
Overall amazing economy and overall very impressed with the car, it was superb on the German Autobahn too, averaging 40 ish at 100mph +. The wind noise goes up a lot at 120mph+ but that's not a complaint really as at least you then feel like you are going quick.

 

[rich_16]

I've done about about 7k in my 218Q and it clearly depends upon your average journey.
In the summer I got 63mpg on a 80 mile trip, 4-up, aircon going and boot full of luggage on motorway in Holland, speed limit was 100kmh.
Most of my day to day journeys are sub-10 milers and the car usually returns low 40's mpg.
Overall amazing economy and overall very impressed with the car, it was superb on the German Autobahn too, averaging 40 ish at 100mph +. The wind noise goes up a lot at 120mph+ but that's not a complaint really as at least you then feel like you are going quick.

Wow, that's great fuel economy. Somehow I don't think I'll get near to that but I'll give it longer for the engine to run in properly before going to the dealer.

 

[NickGun]

I've done about about 7k in my 218Q and it clearly depends upon your average journey.
In the summer I got 63mpg on a 80 mile trip, 4-up, aircon going and boot full of luggage on motorway in Holland, speed limit was 100kmh.
Most of my day to day journeys are sub-10 milers and the car usually returns low 40's mpg.
Overall amazing economy and overall very impressed with the car, it was superb on the German Autobahn too, averaging 40 ish at 100mph +. The wind noise goes up a lot at 120mph+ but that's not a complaint really as at least you then feel like you are going quick.

Totally concur with Krusovice as I'm getting pretty much the same mpg as him in my 218 quattro avant, now approaching 7.5k miles.

On short runs around 42mpg and then as detailed earlier in this thread over a 3k European road trip averaged over 51mpg, thats measured on litres added vs mileage covered and not using the DIS, which was all kinds of driving from Autoroute / Autostrada on cruise control, to around Paris / Gerona / Turin etc.

Being sensible, using Efficiency mode and cruise control over 60mpg is easily achievable on long runs - and our long runs have been 3 people on board and the boot completely full with luggage too.

One thing I have noted is that the Driving mode selected does make a difference, Dynamic will use more fuel obviously as it holds the gears for much longer for better acceleration. Conversely Efficiency will freewheel even when using Cruise control, but still gives enough grunt to not be a snail.

I'd say 70% of the time its in Efficiency / Comfort, 20% in Dynamic and 10% using the paddles.

Have to say we're impressed with the car, its more economical than the 2 previous VAG cars we ran as daily drivers prior (a A3 Sportback and a VW Golf Cabriolet, both 2.0tdi 140 guise) and its also substantially faster and much better to drive too.

 

[dts439]

Just to add that the car has loosened up slightly after 1,000 miles which is similar to what my A3 did.

Had a range figure of 640 after filling up after a series of optimal motorway cruises (where it showed 55-60mpg on DIS) and then 610 after a 250 mile up hill and down dale journey down to the west country where it averaged 49.5mpg (1 mpg more than my old A3), Before that it was only showing a range of 550 at each tank refill.

Pretty amazing for a car of this engine size/weight Not as quick as the 272 or my old 240ps B8 but quick enough.

 

[syed123]

Just to add that the car has loosened up slightly after 1,000 miles which is similar to what my A3 did.

Had a range figure of 640 after filling up after a series of optimal motorway cruises (where it showed 55-60mpg on DIS) and then 610 after a 250 mile up hill and down dale journey down to the west country where it averaged 49.5mpg (1 mpg more than my old A3), Before that it was only showing a range of 550 at each tank refill.

Pretty amazing for a car of this engine size/weight Not as quick as the 272 or my old 240ps B8 but quick enough.

Hey mate,
What's the mileage now on ur car? That is some impressive figures! I've got the 272 with a crtd4 tune n I'm getting 480 miles on a full tank n have done almost 6k miles..
I've seen 47mpg going on a 100mph cruise so interesting to see how the economy variant does..
Do u think the tank on ur car is capable of a range more than ur currently getting? My old a3 1.6tdi had a range of 550 miles so this is not bad at all for a 3litre‎

 

[NickGun]

Just to add that the car has loosened up slightly after 1,000 miles which is similar to what my A3 did.

Had a range figure of 640 after filling up after a series of optimal motorway cruises (where it showed 55-60mpg on DIS) and then 610 after a 250 mile up hill and down dale journey down to the west country where it averaged 49.5mpg (1 mpg more than my old A3), Before that it was only showing a range of 550 at each tank refill.

Pretty amazing for a car of this engine size/weight Not as quick as the 272 or my old 240ps B8 but quick enough.

That pretty much mirrors ours too, car has done over 8.5k miles and will average well over 50mpg on a long M/way run - so around 640miles range is more than do'able, like you say for a car of this size, weight and performance its pretty impressive. Our short run A and B road commutes are averaging over 40mpg too.

 

[Jcbmally]

Sorry to jump in on this thread.
My fuel light came on in my car and showed 85 miles remaining, I then went and filled the car up - 41.37ltrs.
Thing is, I asked the dealer what size tank mine had and he stated "its definitely a 40ltr tank".
So as the manual states reserve 8ltrs, 41.37 + 8 = 48ish. Didn't think there was a 50ltr tank option only 54ltr !!! When I filled the car up it showed 630 miles range.