[pixy]

Hi All

30yr old Aussie here who has a Ice Silver Q3 TFSI coming in with Tech Pack and 18" twin 5 spoke wheels and got a boot mat thrown in as part of my negotiating.

I notice a lot of people on this forum have the TDI, I've never owned a Diesel and not old enough to know about Diesels back in the old days ;P I know the general marketing, more fuel efficient , turbo removes a lot of issues with older diesels, slightly more noise etc. The noise etc never phased me and obviously the Fuel efficiency appealed to me. But I was talked out of it by the dealer saying that for the filter to clean itself out (which looking at the audi engine animation videos it shows it as going red and then all the bad stuff disappears, doesnt say how), he said you got to run the engine for at least 60 mins continuously at least every 2 weeks for it to get hot enough to clean itself out. If you don't then more servicing issues you will have.

We won't use the car to drive to work so doing the "required" time seemed a bit of an ask. Is this a far enough assessment? No other car dealer for the other cars were we looking at mentioned it when we were checking out their Turbo Diesel options, not that I necessarily trust car dealers which is why I'm asking here

 

[mjr]

That is exactly the reason i went petroll. We were looking at new Q5 a couple of years ago and the dealer warned us of the dangers of a DPF (diesel particulate filter) on that model and explained the problem that a customer had with a new Q5. They had only a 10 minute commute to work. The Q5 kept coming back and to the dealer and the blocked filter is not a warranty item.
I had a diesel A6 loan car over Christmas when waiting for the delayed Q3 and was immensley impressed by the smoothness and power. But as someone who will do less than 8,000 miles a year including short trips to the supermarket, petrol was my only choice. I'm happy with the power and overall getting on average 31mpg which isn't too much worse than the 37mpg on my previous A3.

 

[14AQ3]

For anyone concerned on DPFs, the AA has written some information and alot morecan be foundon the web regarding these units.
http://www.theaa.com/motoring_advice/fuels-and-environment/diesel-particulate-filters.html

 

[rontheman]

As I have ordered a Tdi, this is all news to me!!! Hmmmm!

Having just read up on DPF regeneration, I am not sure I understand the purpose. If the filter is intended to trap soot from getting into the atmosphere, what is the point of burning it off during regereation to remove the soot from the filter into the, um, atmosphere? Or am I missing something here? Does the soot get converted to CO2?

 

[andrewk59]

I was also advised to avoid the TDI by the dealer due to expected low mileage so have ordered petrol model.

 

[mark3988]

Hi I've had a TDI Audi A3 for 5 years and it only does short journeys. Never had a problem.

 

[SETIG]

My TDI Tiguan has the DPF and it has never been a problem on daily commutes into town of about 12 miles with longer runs maybe every other weekend. When it had about 23,000miles on, the DPF sensor failed, a couple of warning lights came on and it went into limp mode. All sorted under warranty.

Our A1 TDI however on similar journeys appears more of a problem. The fuel consumption is generally not that good, but after a long run (15 mins at 2,000 revs) the fuel consumption is much better for a time. I suspect that the higher fuel consumption is caused by the engine trying to burn off the soot on the filter and hence is using more fuel.

So I agree that Petrol is the way to go to save problems if you hardly ever do long runs.

 

[SemiQ]

Here is some more information about DPF filters and the following questions (and answers) to help you in decission making:

- What is your typical driven mileage per day/week?
- Do you drive frequent short journeys (typically less than two or three miles)?
- Do you frequently experience a lot of stop/start driving i.e. heavy traffic?
- Do you live, work or commute in an area where they could drive faster than 37mph for a period of 5-10 minutes? This does not necessarily need to be continuous (eg slowing for roundabouts/traffic lights)

http://www.audiexclusive.co.uk/audiexclusive-promotions.php?bannerid=142977Edited by: SemiQ

 

[pixy]

Thanks for the replies, even though I have gone the petrol its been most informative and something I can take forward with me when looking at other cars. I wish I could find those audi videos that showed how the exhaust system worked etc oh wells, was useful in piecing it all together now.

 

[14AQ3]

Hi Pixy,
do you mean this video?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bgusjGRP3XQ&feature=player_embedded#!

It is embedded in this detailed article.......
http://www.myturbodiesel.com/1000q/DPF-Adblue-FAQ-VW-Audi.htm

 

[SemiQ]

Looks expensive..

 

[Scrat]

I previously had an A4 from new between Jan 2009 and Mar 2012, then got the Q3 in Mar, I live around 500m from work and am a lazy git, but hey and I have never had any issues with either and both were/are diesel. So I drive the car for about 5 mins in the morning (longer to drive than to walk due to one way streets, lol) and 5 minutes in the evenings.

Then at the weekends go shopping which is not a long trip, overall, very low mileage and never had any issues.

 

[Grekab]

I also have a A6TDI which is nearly six years old and does approx 6k miles per year and on a two year long life service programme with no apparent DPF problems, so hence I have ordered the similar engine for my Q3.

 

[Dinkum]

Here's a video from Audi about the DPF.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zwjamZ98Ebk&feature=player_embedded