Hello all.
I've been away for a while - again - and had a further change of circumstances and car.
Very sadly a close relative died recently and we are having to deal with the issues surrounding that, complicated by the fact that they were 200 miles away from us requiring long drives and round trips.
Family and work have been (mostly) excellent about it all but now it is time to rejoin "life"
.
The outcome is that we have inhereted a dog and therefore a requirement to holiday "at home" (i.e. in the UK) and probably by car - so time to get something bigger. Mrs A is tied to the company Prius so it was George who got traded. Seeing as again I'm aiming to keep this thing for a long time we went for something "spendy".
So please meet Hermann.
He's a 2006 Audi A6 2.7 TDI Quattro Avant. For us he has the positives of being big (dog + people + luggage carryingly big), comfy, and relatively cheap for a car of that size.
For an Ecomodder he has some positives. For a start he is a TDI and therefore a Diesel - which is "god's own fuel". He is also quite aero and very long geared - 60MPH is about 1,600 RPM in top - and he has 6 of those gears to choose from. He also does not "benefit" from the curse that is a DPF so we won't be wasting fuel burning off carbon or filling the sump with Diesel at the behest of WWF.
And he also has some Ecomodder negatives. For a start that TDI engine is 2.7 litres and a V6, he also has 4WD (Quattro). Also a DPO (Dreaded Previous Owner) has fitted "BIG" wheels from an A8 (I think). And worst of all his 6 gears are
autotragic.
On the medium side his gears can be selected with "flappy paddles" but there are restrictions - e.g. changing up to anything under 1200 RPM is
verboten. And I don't mean it tells you that this is wrong, it just ignores you and probably guffs off in your direction as it does so and shakes his head at the same time...
The aim for me is obviously to get he best MPG I can out of him, and get to the ecomodder "Hypermiler" EPA+ measurement taking the EPE measurements and adapting them. Hermann will never be in the top 10 unless he spends a month being dropped from a cliff with the engine off and a following wind.
@America - this is a European F-150, Mock me...
So how did we start - not good. For a start taxing him was the equivalent of 20 x George - for a single year.
And when I brimmed the tank it took £107 (~$170) to do it.
But then it got better.
The on board MPG machine calculates tank range based on the previous driver, so it immediately said 500 miles.
Oh cr@p, I did this mileage for 1/2 that with George.
But after 2 miles in my hands it kind of decided I was gentler so extended this to 550. And then 570. And then 590. And then 600. I can only assume the previous driver was a power mad loon with more money than sense. As he left his phone numbers in the Bluetooth system maybe I should phone him and let him know ?
So what ecomods have been done ?
1. Tyres are up to 47 PSI which is the full luggage rating for the car (according to the sticker on the inside of the fuel flap - putting £107 of Diesel in I had plenty of time to read it...). I will go higher at some point.
2. Scangauge my old trusty friend. Reset and told he is talking to a 2.7 Diesela.
Other than that nothing so far. We plan to use Hermann for a trip down south and then get him checked over by my fave VAG specialist who used to look after Helga.
After that we go for MPG. We've got to save some of his costs somehow
EDIT - Hermann does have an on board computer, actually 2 of the things. From experience VAG MPG calculators are as optimistic as Lord Haw Haw - hence the SG2.