New Car, Audi A3
 

I just got a new car. Atleast new to me.
It is an 2012 audi a3 1.6 tdi with 190k km.

With the previous owner the fuel consumption was at 8l/100 km.

(I got the car yesterday) This morning it was 5.9l/100 km.



One of the reasons for this car is to do all my ecomodding experiments. AND the wife will use it to commute to work. This is going to be a bit tricky. She can always take a cab when the car is offline. However that would very quickly negate any savings from the ecomod.


The engine is slower to heat up compared to a gasoline engine from the same group (VAG, VW Audi).


Now, what to start modding...

I guess you would want to consider insulation on the engine bay and some grille block. Another thing I believe you could be interested to mess with is water injection, eventually recovering that residual water from the air conditioner to use on that injection.

Water, steam and LPG injection are on the things to do list.

2012 Audi shouldn't "go offline" should it? I had considered a diesel A3 back in the day, as my only other diesel car options were VW.

Block heater perhaps, considering it takes a long time to warm up.

I find my block heater offers a lot of bang for the buck, when I actually use it. Great mod even for a gasoline vehicle.

I really want a block heater.
But my parking lot in the appartment doesnt have electricity. Or the people get fussy when I plug in to the outlet.

Is one of those Webasto fuel-powered block heaters totally out of question?

I just drilled a hole feel the backside of the of my apartment's interior outlets and added a new outlet for myself, so it's my electricity and I don't have to share the plugs.

:D

We'll see when I move out whether the owner considers it value added or not.

I really want one of the webasto heaters. Some of them can even be integrated to the audi canbus. Then one can use the cars interface to set up on and off time for the webasto (3 times a day) so the car is pre heated.

Just a couple of minor problems. The car mostly lives in the garage which is at the basement. Completely enclosed space so not sure how the fumes will affect that space.
Secondly, those systems are fairly expensive :( Since I live somewhere that has 4 seasons but is considered more hot than cold, I have my doubts if it will ever recover its cost.

I live on the 7th floor :( I suppose I could dangle down an extension cable through the garbage shoot.

Just did a search and the webasto stuff is like 250-1000 bucks. Depending on model and if second hand or not.

There are some DEFA heaters (electric) of various power ratings and sizes that are specifically designed for the A3, so probably bolt on ones. That cost between 50-100 usd. Those could be interesting if I manage to get a power cord down there.