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.

Not sure if you could fit an extra glowplug at the intake manifold to act in a way similar to the grid heater fitted to some trucks with the Cummins B-series engine instead of having to rely on an external power outlet.

I am not quite sure heating the intake air would be beneficial.

The turbo heats it up a bit. And if i remember the intake heaters were recommended for -9 or 9 deg c or below.

Averaging 5.9 l/100 km on my way to work early in the morning. (6am departure)

On rushour return trips it is 6.9 or above 7. I could get the return trip to lower figures if I leave at 10 pm. But I kinda want to spend some time with my kid aswell.

Down to 5.5 on the commute to work. Not quite sure if it was me paying more attention, because I could leave a few minutes earlier or some other factor.

That is 42 mpg US.

Today I dropped off the wife and then went to work.
When I arrived the car indicated 5.1 l/100km (46.12 mpg US).

Sub 4 liters would make me very happy.

Dayng, on the way back, there was very significant traffic. I struggled to get the consumption below 7l/100km.

Now I am regretting slightly not getting one of the models with start-stop.


We shall see how a lithium ion pack and capacitors change that. Also the warmup time is significant.

http://www.the-blueprints.com/bluepr...-sportback.gif


This is what it looks like.

Does a kammbak make any sense?

Also found the CAD files:

https://grabcad.com/library/audi-a3

First fillup is complete.

820 km with 50.47L
6.15l/100km ->. 38.25 mpg

Cd of the car is listed as 0.33 for the 2006 year and 0.31 for the 2014.

I know those are not the same as the one I have. I think it might be safe to assume that 0.32 is what I have.

4.5l/100km on the way to work yesterday. But the conditions were exceptionally good. 6.9l/100 km on the way back.

6.02l/100 km this fillup.

Wife drove it mostly.

Last 2 tanks:

53.75L 1075 km 5.0l/100 km.

52.39L 1023 km 5.12l/100 km



Saw 3.7l/100km on a 23 km commute back home the other day.

Well, i have had the car for almost a year now.

It is a nice car. We have done 30,389 km today. Car has 218,778 km on it.

Average consumption 5.81 l/100 km.

I made a cardboard and black duct tape upper grille block on it and the last tank is 5.47 l/100 km compared to 6.13 the previous tank.

But one cannot draw any conclusions from that. I live in a city with a population close to 20M. Leave at 6 am and it is a 17 minute drive to work with average of 4.7 liters/100km. Leave at 7 and it is an hour and a half with an average over 6.5.

L

Any interest in using this site's fuel log function?

I use Spritmonitor.de but have not been able to integrate it to the sig.

A fellow member even gave me instructions but i could not find the button.

My fuel consumption is probably well above EPA or factory specs.

Need to do some mods on the software untill I can get the windshield washer fluid bottle crack fixed.

https://forums.vwvortex.com/showthre...topics/5010762

Quick update:

The DSG (dual shift gearbox) on the car went out a couple of days ago. I lost reverse and 2,4,6 th gears.

Previously the AC went, needed new compressor and radiator.


Current stats:

37.472 km (by me)
Total: 2,201 liters of diesel
Average consumption 5.88

With the other expenses. (Oil changes tires tax insurance and repairs) fuel accounts for %36 of the vehicles cost.


I paid close to 2k USD for the transmission, the largest expense.

The mechanic said that it would approx last 70k km.


I like the FE of this car (not great compared to you guys, but my driving consitions are not good). However economically not the best choice.

That's too bad, but in-line with my pre-conceived notions. Perhaps a good candidate for a swap? I wonder how feasible it would be to put a manual in.

They have a manual version of the same car, so selling and buying one of those would be cheaper, even profitable. But the wife can only drive an automatic.

A friend recently had trouble with the DSG too, in a Passat B6 which was IIRC also fitted with the 1.6 TDI.

I asked what can be done to extend the life of the gearbox. Mech said their life just runs out.

Obviously not using the gas pedal to stay stationary on a hill is bad. But this same phenomenon can happen in Park aswell. So must put it in N first before going to P. (You can feel the load in P). Also do not drop the car on to P while parking on a hill.

So to sum it up, to park, first to N then handbrake then P.

But they are prone to failings. 70-100 k km.

Those DSG gearboxes are set to minimum emission values and the lowest possible engine speeds. They often shift too fast and choppy. There are VAG specialists (tuning-scene) who adapt the software of these gearboxes so that they shift a bit later and more smoothly. This is said to extend life. However, the consumption does not improve.

No wonder in Brazil some models originally fitted elsewhere with a DSG get a conventional automatic for locally-made versions instead.

It is a good transmission for fuel economy. Learns how you drive and shifts early. I can see it taking advantage of the BSFC map. But the economy is “absorbed” at a later stage.

Some regular automatics and CVTs do it too, and are still more reliable on the long run.

DSG is more mechanically efficient than a slush pumper, but a TCM controlling the shifting cares more about focus groups' idea of a smooth ride than actually taking care of the transmission. It also suffers the Achilles' heel of all ATs: it doesn't know what you're trying to do, it just reacts to sensor input.

And since the clutch packs are more fragile than a torque converter, well, the results are not so good. No wonder Ford has switched from the PowerShift DCT to a conventional automatic for the Focus in Australia when it started to supply it from Thailand instead of South Africa.

On a sidenote, the clutch is not the only component prone to fail on the DSG. The one a friend has recently bought and sold at a 20% loss (even though paying £100 and getting rid of that for £80 doesn't sound so awful at all) had an actuator failure which rendered at least 3 forward gears and the reverse out of service. He said it would cost £600 to repair :turtle: