Mike and Burny winter

I took delivery of a new Audi A4 Avant 2.0 litre 143 manual TDI in August and having now covered more than 5,000 miles I am disappointed with the fuel economy. My previous A4 always returned at least 50mpg. The new model seems reluctant to deliver 40mpg. Audi says that I should be getting 52.3mpg combined but I have also read that the particulates burner uses more fuel. Logic would surely suggest that lower emissions figures should not be achieved at the cost of poorer fuel efficiency.

Asked on 10 January 2009 by

Answered by Honest John

The DPF will use more fuel. Particularly if you fill with cheap diesel rather than super diesel (BP Ultimate Diesel is best). Particularly if you drive at low revs (for economy). And most particularly if you do a lot of short runs from cold and town running. You might find that increasing your motorway speed, perhaps from 60 to 65 or from 65 to 70, has a beneficial effect because the engine will not then have to over fuel to burn off the particulates in the DPF.

Tags: fuel economy technical issues owning

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