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Detroit, 8:22 PM
Thu Dec 10
26 posts in the last 24 hours
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04/24/09
And the US divisions want to uphold this image of luxury which pretty much requires at least a V6 for them to have any credibility in this market. The 3-series BMW is available in Europe with a 2-liter 4-cylinder engine and the A4 is available with a 1.8, 160hp engine. It would be unheard of for them to offer such engines here, unless, perhaps gasoline jumped to $6+ a gallon.
04/24/09
Big caveat here: 9/10 of all Audi A3 and A4 models are now sold with the turbo 4 (yesterday on Jalop). Surprised me, but also tells me that people aren't always hp- and cylinders-obsessed.
04/24/09
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As for the wear, again, its going to take some time for the oil pressure to get back up after shutoff...
04/24/09
It all sort of flies in the face of my ingrained desire NOT to cycle a car too many times each day (for longevity).
04/24/09
Cockbiscuits.
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04/24/09
I could never rationally afford the Audi (new), and I drive too little to justify a diesel, but I love them anyway. I mostly just want to see this country get on a path to energy diversification. And if a luxury marque can do that with diesel, it could make a powerful statement.
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04/24/09
Audi A4 TDI: I'm not a witch I'm not a witch!
CARB: But you are dressed as one
Audi A4 TDI: *They* dressed me up like this!
Delusional, Prius-loving Greenies: We didn't! We didn't...
Audi A4 TDI: And this isn't my emissions. It's a false one.
CARB: [lifts up her false nose] Well?
Delusional, Prius-loving Greeny 1: Well, we did do the emissions.
CARB: The emissions?
Delusional, Prius-loving Greeny 1: And the NOX, but she is a witch!
Delusional, Prius-loving Greenies: Yeah! Burn her! Burn her!
CARB: Did you dress her up like this?
Delusional, Prius-loving Greeny 1: No!
Delusional, Prius-loving Greeny 3, Delusional, Prius-loving Greeny 2: No!
Delusional, Prius-loving Greeny 3: No!
Delusional, Prius-loving Greeny 1: No!
Delusional, Prius-loving Greeny 3, Delusional, Prius-loving Greeny 2: No!
Delusional, Prius-loving Greeny 1: Yes!
Delusional, Prius-loving Greeny 2: Yes!
Delusional, Prius-loving Greeny 1: Yeah a bit.
Delusional, Prius-loving Greeny 3: A bit!
Delusional, Prius-loving Greeny 1, Delusional, Prius-loving Greeny 2: A bit!
Delusional, Prius-loving Greeny 2: a bit
Delusional, Prius-loving Greeny 1: But she has got a diesel!
Random Person in the Delusional, Prius-loving Greenies: *cough* *cough*
CARB: What makes you think she's a witch?
Delusional, Prius-loving Greeny 3: Well, she turned me into a newt!
CARB: A newt?
Delusional, Prius-loving Greeny 3: [meekly after a long pause] ... I got better.
Crowd: [shouts] Burn her anyway!
04/24/09
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04/24/09
Jeopardy Category: Snakes and British Comedy
Daily Double Answer: Graham Chapman, Eric Idle, Terry Gilliam, Terry Jones, John Cleese, Michael Palin.
Engineerd, I thought it was a pretty good tie in... Holy Grail and all.
04/24/09
A video says a million words.
04/24/09
For those who already bought their tdis, congrats on your investment!
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04/24/09
But you'd have to swap out the low rolling resistance tires for something with some cornering sticktion.
Any idea on the torque figures? Acceleration isn't so vast.
And don't forget that diesel has more fuel value than gasoline, so the mpgs aren't directly comparable.
04/24/09
The reality is that diesel engines have a number of other factors working in their favour (besides just slightly higher energy content per unit volume in the fuel), so the efficiency is quite a bit better. Maybe 5 MPG at most is attributable to the higher energy content of the fuel, so the TDI really is a much more efficient car than the non-TDI version.
Furthermore, diesel fuel requires less refinement and can be generated from non-petroleum-based feedstocks, making it a more efficient fuel overall.
04/24/09
All said, that Audi could be a sweet deal, and a nice ride.
04/24/09
This is getting out of hand.
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04/24/09
1. Sign order establishing Euro emission standards for diesel passenger cars.
2. Negotiate with European, Japanese and Korean transportation/environment ministries to create common emission and safety standards for automobiles.
3. Start producing cars that can be sold worldwide without needing new front bumpers, different exhausts, etc.
Then you can get your A4 Avant TDI shipped to the US by just special ordering it. None of this redesign garbage. You want a Kei car? Order one, have it show up on your doorstep in a shipping crate :)
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I spent last week traipsing about the English countryside. Spotting a series of Audi & BMW diesel wagons in the hotel parking lot sparked a drunken rant about the unavailability of such vehicles stateside and the piss-poor state of things when we can't get such a no-brainer as this. I'm fairly certain I used the words "fuck" and "cockknockers" a lot.
Who'da thunk that you could get Maker's Mark in North Yorkshire?
04/24/09
Though during the summer, I tend to switch to Beefeater and Tonic.
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Diesel is 5 cents more per gallon by my house in Houston. Doing great with my Jetta TDI Sportwagon.
04/24/09
I think we have to hope for an algae diesel breakthrough to lower it to less than $1/Gallon.
04/24/09
If your goal is to "be green", you're better off with a diesel than a hybrid. When you look at the overall vehicle impact on the planet, the hybrid is fairly nasty.
04/24/09
I really am too lazy to do an exact calculation, but an educated estimate tells me that for a California driver, the Ford Fusion Hybrid would make more sense the Audi.
04/24/09
Considering the Fusion costs less from the outset, I'd say the Audi has little to no chance in any market where lower cost is the objective.
04/24/09
@wbrproductions:
Have you not read any of the reviews about the Ford Fusion Hybrid? Have you driven one for yourself? Or do you insist on utterly dismissing anything that would cause you any semblance of cognitive dissonance by providing actual evidence that is antithetical to your pre-conceived notions of the world?
04/24/09
We are still at a point in Hybrid tech that the cost of the system outweighs or negates the fuel cost savings. Which means driving a hybrid is not about saving money, but pure smugness, in 'reducing your carbon footprint'.
04/24/09
@KinofCain:
I said that it has been as much as 60 cents higher, not that it averages 60 cents higher, or is always 60 cents higher. And where I live, there is still a 26 cent premium for diesel.
04/24/09
That's sad. Really. I'd be headhunting some local politicians. Wanna help the real 'Working Man'? Lower the price of the 'Working Man's' fuel. There's a stimulus package for you.
04/24/09
My suspicion is that it's much easier to "buy votes" directly from the consumer, rather than tangentially through helping the supply-side (even though the results would probably be greater there). And vote-buying is really the ultimate goal of almost every modern politician.
04/24/09
But then you would be driving a Ford...
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This is 100% EPA. VAG and M-B have done a helluva lot to make their diesels better over the past 5-7 years, but have been repeatedly shafted by US standards (first the lack of ULSD, and also by the ever-changing emissions regs)
03/05/09
Perfect weather. Not cold, not tired, just ecstatic. Festival atmosphere. Slept under the stars with the sounds of the demonic Lister Storm V8, the magnificent McLaren F1 V12 and the incomparable 911 GT1 flat-6 just a few hundred feet away. Fresh pain au chocolat and French coffee for breakfast. Utter joy.
Best racing memory ever.