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By
EWAN KENNEDY
9 June 2008
Always a leader in technology, Audi has developed a special
version of its A3 five-door hatchback (Sportback in Audi speak)
that’s aimed at giving smart drivers the ability to bring fuel
consumption down by a staggering amount.
The
little ‘e’ in the car’s title stands for economy. The main
feature is the use of a latest in turbo-diesel technology, with
changes to the electronic ‘mapping’ of the engine to minimise
consumption without taking too much away from performance. The
result is a reduction in peak power from 103 kW in the standard
1.9 turbo-diesel, to just 77 kW in the ‘e’ variant. It’s no
rocketship, but drivers chasing economy are never going to engage
in traffic-light grand prix.
But
there's a lot more to the car than simply a fuel-efficient diesel.
Gearing in the five-speed manual has been raised in third and
fifth ratios to keep engine revs down without taking too much away
from performance. Fourth has been left alone as a ‘working’
ratio in relatively hard driving conditions.
Wheels
are steel rather than alloy. Making them slightly heavier, but
able to carry a full ‘moon’ type wheel cover to give better
airflow. The tyres are special economy models from Michelin, its
Pilot Premacy XSE. Slight changes to the shape of the A3 improve
its aerodynamics.
Official
AS (Australian Standard) fuel consumption figures for the Audi are
4.5 l/100km and 119 g/km of CO2. The economy Audi can travel more
than 1200 km on its 55-litre tank of fuel.
A
red-hot contest was held among Australian motoring journalists to
try and better even those most impressive economy numbers. The
winners were Albert Martin from Royal Automobile Association of
South Australia, RAASA (bit of local knowledge there!) and Ken
Gratton from Melbourne, who drove a car so that it consumed just
3.5 L/100 km and produced only 93 g/km of CO2. That would have
given an empty-tank range of around 1570 km.
Sadly,
we were unable to attend the two-day, 366-km event, run in the
Adelaide region with a ferry trip out to drive on Kangaroo Island,
due to pressure of business. ‘Sadly’ because your author has
an entry in Guinness World Records for economy driving. That is
for the longest distance travelled in a standard road vehicle on a
single fuel fill, 2724 kilometres, in a Toyota LandCruiser diesel.
Interestingly, that record was once held by an Audi…
Audi's
A3 1.9 TDI e is now on sale in Australia and carries a recommended
retail price of just $38,900. On-road charges have to be added,
but you will get a prestigious German car with some fascinating
technology for not a lot over $40,000.
It
would be nice to see the Australian government getting serious
about cutting consumption and emissions by giving tax benefits to
cars like this. Instead, it seems more intent on slugging the rich
by making efficient high-tech cars more expensive, witness the big
increase in luxury car tax in the recent federal budget.
© Copyright
Marque Publishing Company
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