On a recent trip to Europe, I spent about 300 miles behind the wheel of a 2009 A4 2.0 TDI 6-speed manual. Since this was my first time driving a turbo diesel, I thought I’d relay my experiences. I owned a turbo gasser in the past (1.8T), so the whole concept of turbo lag is not new to me, although our current cars are all normally aspirated.
This particular power plant is also available in the US (on VW Golf/Jetta/Passat as well as Audi A3). It delivers 236 lb-ft of torque from 1750 to 2500 rpm.
Long story short, this would make a great commuter engine when good fuel economy is paramount. I averaged about 43 mpg (US) in mixed driving, and I wasn’t even trying to go for fuel economy.
From a performance standpoint though, I was not impressed. First of all, there is a little indicator in the OBC display that signals if the car thinks you should shift to the next gear. But this again is geared toward achieving max fuel economy. For example, it suggests to shift to 6th gear at as little as 75 km/h (45 mph). However, when you do that, you’ll be at about 1300 rpm in 6th gear. When you press the accelerator pedal at that point, very little will happen. You’d need to downshift to 4th to get going again. Even at 2000 rpm, turbo lag is quite noticeable. I know it’s a matter of getting used to, but having driven NA engines for the past few years, it was just a little too annoying for me personally. To get a relatively quick response from the engine, you really need to be at around 2500 rpm, but that is where the torque starts falling off and you’re only 2k rpms away from redline at that point. That is a very narrow usable rpm range if you prefer a more sporty driving style, and requires very frequent gear changes since 2k rpm goes by very quickly. But again, this engine was mainly geared toward good fuel economy, so I can't blame it for that. There are many other engines available to satisfy a more sporty appetite. I am tempted to drive an S4 now because I liked everything else about the car…
Gearbox was very nice. Very short throws with solid yet not harsh feel. Huge improvement over my 2001 A4 where I ended up installing a short shift kit, and even then, it wasn’t as nice as this stock shifter. Much nicer shifter feel than my 530i as well.
This particular power plant is also available in the US (on VW Golf/Jetta/Passat as well as Audi A3). It delivers 236 lb-ft of torque from 1750 to 2500 rpm.
Long story short, this would make a great commuter engine when good fuel economy is paramount. I averaged about 43 mpg (US) in mixed driving, and I wasn’t even trying to go for fuel economy.
From a performance standpoint though, I was not impressed. First of all, there is a little indicator in the OBC display that signals if the car thinks you should shift to the next gear. But this again is geared toward achieving max fuel economy. For example, it suggests to shift to 6th gear at as little as 75 km/h (45 mph). However, when you do that, you’ll be at about 1300 rpm in 6th gear. When you press the accelerator pedal at that point, very little will happen. You’d need to downshift to 4th to get going again. Even at 2000 rpm, turbo lag is quite noticeable. I know it’s a matter of getting used to, but having driven NA engines for the past few years, it was just a little too annoying for me personally. To get a relatively quick response from the engine, you really need to be at around 2500 rpm, but that is where the torque starts falling off and you’re only 2k rpms away from redline at that point. That is a very narrow usable rpm range if you prefer a more sporty driving style, and requires very frequent gear changes since 2k rpm goes by very quickly. But again, this engine was mainly geared toward good fuel economy, so I can't blame it for that. There are many other engines available to satisfy a more sporty appetite. I am tempted to drive an S4 now because I liked everything else about the car…
Gearbox was very nice. Very short throws with solid yet not harsh feel. Huge improvement over my 2001 A4 where I ended up installing a short shift kit, and even then, it wasn’t as nice as this stock shifter. Much nicer shifter feel than my 530i as well.
