Future Is Green For Audi A3

Newcastle Herald

Saturday August 30, 2008

Brent Davison

REGULAR readers might recall that, back in late May, I was invited by Audi to take part in an economy run driving the new A3 Sportback TDI e, a variant of the rather sweet little A3 hatchback-cum-station wagon powered by a super-thrifty turbo-diesel engine.

The idea was that one group of motoring journalists would collect the cars at Adelaide Airport and drive them very carefully to Kangaroo Island, from where a second group would drive them back to Adelaide Airport in an equally careful manner.

All that careful driving netted us an impressive 3.86 litres/100km across the fleet, well under the 4.5 litres/100km given as the TDI e's official average fuel consumption figure. Even the fairly heavy right feet of myself and driving partner Ian Crawford from The Canberra Times managed to hold our throttle pedal far enough from the floor to clock 3.8 litres/100km, and we were among the heaviest users apart from, that is, the "drive it however you want" control car, the hare embedded in a field of tortoises which, interestingly, arrived at Adelaide Airport exactly one car length ahead of Crawford and self.

So the Audi Economy Run proved comprehensively that the Sportback, with its special 1.9-litre, four-cylinder engine, could run on the sniff of an oily rag (and not a very big piece of rag at that), but it showed only one aspect of the car and we really did not know if it measured up in other areas.

The best way to find out? Spend some realistic time in one, using it for the daily commute, for trips to the shops and for some highway work with a leisurely outing or two and then check the fuel economy.

It has to be said the eco-A3 is probably one of the most practical examples of its genre. Not that Toyota's Prius or Honda's Civic Hybrid are impractical, but the Honda is not all things to all people because of its sedan design and the Toyota's hatchback styling is good but lacks the overall usefulness of the small Audi wagon.

In fact "small" as applied to the A3 is a bit of a misnomer, because the baby wagon is almost 4.3 metres in length and has a wheelbase approaching 2.6 metres and what that means is that, not only does it have a reasonable amount of road presence, it also has a fairly roomy interior with impressive space for the front seat occupants, a rear seat big enough for two adults or three sub-teens (with sufficient adult legroom for medium-length trips) and a load area with 370 litres available when the back seat is up and 1100 litres with the split/fold rear pew both split and folded.

The instrument layout is pretty much standard Audi A3 (complete with trip computer to tell you how good your fuel use is) and that means comprehensive and well laid out.

There were a couple of gripes and both of them centred on what banged into my knees. On the left the hard plastic quasi-grab handle at the edge of the centre console caused some knee discomfort after a while, and on the right a hard plastic door trim protrusion below the grab handle did a similar job.

Other than that it was all situations normal, although Audi gets a couple of bonus points for the audio 'Auxiliary' jack in the centre console.

Punting the TDI e around and about is an interesting experience that is just that little bit different to driving your regular small car or econocar.

For starters, the engine (shared with one of Volkswagen's Golf variants) has a single overhead camshaft and two valves per cylinder and is, in some ways, moderately low-tech in its search for efficiency. Even with variable geometry turbocharging and common-rail, direct-injection fuel delivery, it boasts a modest 77 kilowatts and 250 Newton metres of torque.

By comparison Hyundai's 1.6-litre diesel makes 85 kilowatts and 255 Newton metres and Ford's 2.0-litre, used for Focus, is good for 100 kilowatts and 320 Newton metres.

The difference is that Audi is adamant it is chasing economy rather than performance and is happy with its numbers, and just to drive home the fact it is on an economy drive, underscores the engine's output with a five-speed manual gearbox using a quite wide ratio spread (3.778:1 for low gear) with no directly driven gear and overdriven ratios on fourth (0.844:1) and fifth (a tall 0.625:1).

The initial drive experience is that the gearing is too tall for the engine, with the gearbox feeling like it is straining to meet driver needs at every change point. Things change, though, and as drivers become familiar with the car they understand that its torque spread is different to everything else and it actually does not mind being changed into a taller cog at lower speeds.

In fact a digital readout on the dash information panel not only shows which gear is being used at any time but also suggests when upshifts and downshifts can be made for optimum effect.

The hard part, though, is breaking through that mental barrier that suggests the Audi needs driving in a way that is contrary to everything we have learned from the day dad first slapped a set of L-plates on the family jalopy and let us loose on motorised civilisation.

There is another side to the A3 TDI e's driving, though, a side that brings a smile to the face whenever the whole economy ideal is cast aside for a while, the throttle floored, the gearchange point moved from the sublime to the ridiculous (about 3900rpm will do it) and the car driven with a bit of spirit. At that point the little wagon can be enjoyed in a very different way.

Truth to tell, we drove it as we would have driven any car. We eased along various highways, carved through traffic when it suited, had a couple of traffic light blinders, ran up and down the gearbox hoofing it around town.

End result? We surprised ourselves with both the trip computer and our own maths agreeing that we had managed 4.5 litres/100km, a bee's widget better than the official fuel economy figure and a first for Drive.

Bottom line? If the future is going to be this green then bring it on, we say!

AUDI A3

SPORTBACK

1.9 TDIe

PRICE

$38,900 (plus on-road costs)

DIMENSIONS

Length ........................................4286mm

Width ..........................................1765mm

Height ........................................1423mm

Wheelbase .................................2578mm

Tracks (f/r) .................1534mm/1507mm

Turning circle ................................ 10.7m

Weight ...........................................1320kg

MECHANICAL

Inline, four-cylinder, common-rail directinjection

turbo-diesel with single overhead

camshaft and two valves per cylinder,

diesel particulate filter. 77kW at 4000rpm,

250Nm at 1900rpm. Five-speed manual.

CHASSIS

Front, transverse engine, front-wheel-drive,

electrically assisted rack and pinion steering,

four-wheel disc brakes with anti-lock

and electronic brakeforce distribution.

16x6.5 steel wheels, 205/55R16 tyres.

SUSPENSION

Independent MacPherson struts with lower

wishbones, coil springs, telescopic dampers

and anti-roll bar front, independent multilinks,

coil springs, telescopic dampers and

anti-roll bar rear.

FUEL TYPE/CAPACITY

Diesel/55litres

FUEL ECONOMY

4.5l/100km (ADR81/01 combined average)

MAIN RIVALS

Toyota Prius

© 2008 Newcastle Herald

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