Bought my A4 last week, a 99 1.9TDi, filled it up with diesel.
Its been a week and a half and 415 miles later, and its only at half a tank!!

This is my first diesel car, and if I can get 800+ miles from a tank of diesel, guess what fuel type my next car will be!!

 

Diesel are renowed for their ability to achieve extraordinary mileage. I had a Peugeot 206 when I lived in Europe. French car, small, weighs little more than 2000 lbs. Managed to squeeze 600 mil (+900km) per tank with 50 L (about 12-13 gal) which gives out 46 mpg. Also diesel is cheaper in some countries back in europe and that translates into even more savings. But most diesel cars are also taxed more and usually more expensive.

 

Do we even GET diesel Audis in the states?

I think that would be sweet...especially if you could put on of the power commander units in there from the pickup trucks and bump it to about 400 hp.

That, plus a biodiesel conversion, and you've got a monster sports car that costs 71 cents/gal to fill up!!

(also, french fry exhaust smell)...mmmm

 

There was a top gear episode on an A8... or mayvbe it was a Phaeton...idk, one of the two....that he filled once and went a rediculous distance with. Around 400+ miles with, which for a car that big is rather extraordinary. He ran it down to the point that the car was telling him zero miles left and still drove it for around 20 or so more miles. Wow. I have so much information off in this post, but you get the idea on deisels. If anyone feels like correcting anything I messed up, feel free to.



Edit: Ok just looked it up and was I off. It was an A8. But instead of my original est. of 400 miles... its really 800 miles. And he only filled it up once. Thats pretty damn good for such a big car.

 

I watched that episode, it was an audi A8 - V8,around a 4 litre diesel.
and he went from london to edinburgh then back to london (853 miles!) on a single tank.

We really dont have much of a choice here (scotland), I used to own a 1.6 Honda CRX SiR (Jap import, 180bhp)
Petrols almost a £1 a litre here. nearly £4 a gallon ($7??)
And it cost me £80 a week (around $140?) to run, now I get for £60 ($100?) 2 weeks worth of travelling, I do around 450 miles a week, so diesels great.

 

Don't overestimate your mileage yet. Gas guages, even german ones tend to read "high" and then rapidly drop after it reads "half".

My guess is that you would get about 550 miles per tank, not 800.

 

Why isn't this available in the states? F*ck electric cars and all that garbage this is what we need.

 

yeah but deisal is like $3.30 around here

 

Diesel business is not straightfoward as it seems. Diesel cars have better mileage, but they usually cost more. Also the process through which diesel is produced is not economicaly viable until it reaches long term analysis (usually +20 yrs). Europe has been investing in diesel for several yrs now and as a result, diesel is becoming increasingly cheaper than gas. Portugal, for example, has diesel about 30% cheaper than the lowest grade gas.

You have to realize that Europe has been investing in fuel consumption for 30+ yrs, while the US are only recently facing the same problem (not even for 5 yrs :P). Diesel will become cheaper than gas eventualy, but it's gonna take a while. For that reason, diesel cars will take some time to become popular in the USA, but it will happen eventualy specialy because of biodiesel, which has seen a major increase in demand for the last 3 years.

Also, diesel engines don't sound nearly as bad as they used to and they usualy have an insane amount of torque.

 

Torque? tell me about it, rips your head off, the only bad thing about diesel is though. You get all your power in one huge lump, then you need to change gear. And I didnt over-estimate my milage, I eventually got 735 miles before I would'nt let it run without fuelling up. The needle was sitting just above the redline, Its the first time Ive used a full tank and I didnt want to take any chances, but going by the rest of the tank i probably could have squeezed another 50 miles out of it.
If I drive like a gran, I would get 800+ miles easy out of it. But i've been testing it on the motorways, as you do!