Introducing Hermann - no really...
 

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" :thumbup:.

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.

http://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-eW...812_112901.jpg

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. :rolleyes:

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...:rolleyes:

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... :D

So how did we start - not good. For a start taxing him was the equivalent of 20 x George - for a single year. :eek:

And when I brimmed the tank it took £107 (~$170) to do it. :eek::rolleyes::eek:

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.

http://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-hr...812_194148.jpg

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 :eek:

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.

What a monster! Ditch it a.s.a.p.! You have been converted to the dark side !!!

Beautiful.

I love Audi estates. They have such nice contours.

Jumping Jeeps, reading on the cost of a fillup from our European friends sure does put American fuel prices into perspective.

why ?

They do look nice :D The cost of a fillup is the main driver here but it would also be brilliant if corpulent Hermann made it to 50 mpg initially and then a kilotank.

I think the most efficient passenger car engine ever produced was an Audi 5 cylinder diesel, something like 43%.

regards
Mech

I do love the Audi estates. I love all estates, but the premium ones, BMW, Volvo, Audi, the one Maserati I've seen (images, not in person), the Ferrarri FF (might be considered a hatch but I think of it as an estate by Ferrarri standards), CTS-V estate, C63 estate, so on, they are all gorgeous.

It reminds me that somewhere deep in the basement of these companies, someones little voice is heard... "hey...hey...someone out there has a dog and children and likes to take trips...guys?"

One of the many reasons I love my Jetta wagon. 50mpg+ on the highway, and plenty of room for passengers and gear. I can't imagine a more practical vehicle.

That is a very nice Audi you have there. I'm glad to see nice wagons at all, with all the SUV nonsense I've endured over the last decade I once despaired of ever seeing decent transportation ever again. Enjoy the 2.7 when you need the power, I'm sure it's quite exhilarating. :-)

It's amusing to think of that as a European pickup truck... the diesel pickup we're looking at for farm chores has a 5.9L V6 in it, and has an 8 foot long bed. Do you not have farms locally? Surely work vehicles are actually available to those who need them.

I took it more as 'in the US, if you get groceries once a week, and take a child to school, you better at least have an F150.' It may have just been a comparison of fuel economy- but I don't think it's totally valid, since there seems to definitely be a reason for the extra, and it's not overkill. Usually here there is little to no justification for vehicle choices.

A friend of mine has a wife. She wants a Dodge Ram 1500. She wants a chrysler, so one can already tell she does not know much about cars, but regardless of branding, she wants it because she "likes the way it looks." I could never fathom spending money, and so much at that, for something based solely on it's looks, without any other consideration. A brand new Ram 1500 to commute back and forth to work.

I fail to understand it, but continue to understand why things that should have gone away years ago are still around (chrysler, alcohol, so on).

<----- feels that he may have added evidence for the "ignorant American" stereotype.

I guess it is a good sign that I didn't get his joke, although sad that if he had substituted a luxury SUV that will never see dirt I would have been on board with the humor. It is odd, now that I think of it... I have literally never seen a European post about their work vehicles. Surely a few of them here or there have trucks, but I have seen absolutely zero evidence of this in my limited experience. Educate a man whose travels are limited to this side of the Atlantic: are work vehicles generally owned by companies? Is there no remaining tradition of small-scale agriculture or rural land ownership that would necessitate the private possession of true utility vehicles similar in function to our pickups in this country? Admittedly, the proportion of rural to urban population must be even greater in Europe than the US, but still.

I agree about the irrational choice of vehicles. I'm not sure who gave so many women the idea that a vehicle is a thing to be chosen with emotion as the primary criterion, but it does seem to be true in many cases. Drives me nuts, because if it weren't so, we logical shoppers would have a better selection.