There's one downside to the new technology that's often not mentioned and that's the German's are investing in something called a particulate filter. If you do lots of short trips, DO NOT BUY ANY NEW GERMAN DIESEL as it will keep going into regeneration mode & if you ignore it, it ends up sending the car into limp mode. With 140 hp and 236 ft-lb of torque coming from the four-cylinder turbo-diesel, the Audi A3 TDI is meant to compete with a wide range of vehicles. Audi envisions this car as a competitor to the BMW 1-series, MINI Cooper S, Volvo C30, Volvo S40, Toyota Prius, and Honda Insight. It does seem somewhat optimistic that Audi thinks they can steal MINI, Insight, and Prius customers with their A3 TDI. After all, pricing has not even been announced yet for the A3 diesel, but base price for the petrol A3 is already more than $4,000 more than a Cooper S.So does a dual-clutch S-tronic transmission with all-wheel-drive." I could not find such info in the Audi press release. As far as I know, the only versions available with quattro and S-tronic are the 2.0 TFSI S3 and TT-S. However, if you go a bit further, guys in the US have got a bit of a wolf in sheeps clothing. I've had mine remapped as at low revs I'd say it could be a bit of a gutless wonder to drive until at about 1700rpm when all hell breaks loose - the remap transforms the drive making an effortless motorway eater into a car that delivers effortless torque commonly found in a V8. Forget 0-60 times as most new hot hatches will embarass it, but from about 50mph up to (cough) 130 plus, it has to be a bit of a special motor to keep up with my little toy, so overtaking is exceptionally safe. Anyway, we're here to save the planet so despite the literature talking about 50 plus mpg, expect to average about 41ish if you're not one who likes to hang about. Happy days to all of those out in the colonies...
