newish car few things seem not ideal

whomitconcerns

So i have the new(ish) a6 sline 60 days now, and am wondering a couple of things, and if anybody can point me in the right direction. I bought it direct from audi an ex demo with 13,800km on it and have done 4500km since...I know they are minor points but curiosities all the same

1. The fuel economy is averaging at 40mpg and the best I have gotten was a short lived 53mpg once on the motorway home doing ca 80kph. According to any online source economy should be Urban 47mpg/Extra 64mpg/Combined 56mpg
2. The rear passenger tyre has dropped by 30% in inflation twice (to 20psi) since I have had the car, i think slow puncture, do you think (long shot) i would have any comeback to garage on the expensive tyre. In fact the other 3 dropped to ca 25psi from a filled 32psi twice..so its a concern..

My driving is a commute of 13km each way and weekend trips around the country but at least a 120km round trip to parents house once a week, if this makes a difference

Matt Simis

Your commute is (clearly) way too small to justify and warrant a diesel (which I assume you have given the MPG quotes) and you should just get the tyre repaired/checked by a tyre place.. you dont scrap a tyre for a slow puncture.

These arent really justifiable concerns IMO and perfectly normal for your circumstances. Note the official spec MPG claims have pretty much nothing to do with your commute, they arent a guarantee MPG.

whomitconcerns

yes, the 2l TDI, the commute is small but i drive a decent bit 27k KM/17k miles a year averaged out, i would have thought was ok.

Will get tyre checked out alright, was just wondering if could go back to Audi on it..but was a long shot as it could have happened anytime i guess..

As regards the mpg it was just a curiosity more than anything else, as i did a 650km round trip to north 2 weeks ago and best I saw was 41mpg...but I know the claimed mpg's are mad..

Thanks for the response!

MuppetCheck

The fuel economy seems normal enough to me. Most cars do not give anything approaching the claimed figures usually. I'm over 30% out on mines claimed economy usually, maybe 25% if I try. To get any closer it would mean driving in a manner that would soon become tiring and annoying.

Regarding the tyres - are you on large wheels? It wouldn't be unknown for a larger wheel to become buckled if care isn't taken on bumps. It could be a slight buckle allowing air to escape, although on all 4 this would be unlikely unless the wheels were of poor quality.

whomitconcerns

they are 18in Bridgestone Turranza ER300s and I assume have been on it since it rolled out of factory. As stated one of them is very bad 30% drop in a month, but the others still 10-15% drop each

Mickiemcfist

whomitconcerns wrote: »

yes, the 2l TDI, the commute is small but i drive a decent bit 27k KM/17k miles a year averaged out, i would have thought was ok.

Will get tyre checked out alright, was just wondering if could go back to Audi on it..but was a long shot as it could have happened anytime i guess..

As regards the mpg it was just a curiosity more than anything else, as i did a 650km round trip to north 2 weeks ago and best I saw was 41mpg...but I know the claimed mpg's are mad..

Thanks for the response!

17k miles per year is average mileage, certainly not enough to warrant/offset the higher costs of a diesel. Your short commute will be barely enough to get up to standard operating temperature. (you also didnt mention if it was motorway or urban/back roads)

In order to stop various parts of the engine getting clogged with soot etc, once the temperature guage gets to the middle every day, accelerate hard for a bit to clear out the exhaust and turbo.

Re: the tyre, just bring it to advanced pitstop etc, it will cost you €10 max to have it fixed, its as small an issue with a car as you'll get.

whomitconcerns

well thats something else i just remembered. it doesnt always warm to operating temp even on a longer drive...which I thought was weird..I drove back from wicklow 61km the other week and the temp wasnt even at midpoint..well it was nearly there but not there..

the commute is from kinsealy to city centre...so straight road and i go early so not much stop start..

Bpmull

whomitconcerns wrote: »

well thats something else i just remembered. it doesnt always warm to operating temp even on a longer drive...which I thought was weird..I drove back from wicklow 61km the other week and the temp wasnt even at midpoint..well it was nearly there but not there..

the commute is from kinsealy to city centre...so straight road and i go early so not much stop start..

The operating temperature for most cars is just under half around 90 degree c has it ever gone above that. You can check the oil temperature on the computer that should be around 100 degree c when car is well heated up.

Matt Simis

whomitconcerns wrote: »

well thats something else i just remembered. it doesnt always warm to operating temp even on a longer drive...which I thought was weird..I drove back from wicklow 61km the other week and the temp wasnt even at midpoint..well it was nearly there but not there..

If you are definitely looking at the Coolant Temp, then that is a problem, what temp is it reading? Some cars have oddball temp gauges where the mid-point is not the operating temp, just read the number.

whomitconcerns

its at or below 90 all of the time...more often than not below 90...so i guess a quick run up the m1 every 10 days or so at least

Mickiemcfist

To be honest I'm surprised how high your mpg is considering the road and traffic lights.

The thing is, diesel is just very unsuited to that kind of driving, not something the dealers will tell you as they're pitching the 50+mpg they can get on a long run after a service.

The 1.8T would be the A6 to get for that type of commute....but thats closing the gate after the horse has bolted!

Diesels can take a long time to get up to normal temp, just down to the nature of the combustion. and are suited to long motorway cruising etc

So long story short, theres nothing wrong with your car!

Mr Benevolent

You bought an unsuitable car for your commute, OP. A quick Google suggests that the S Line alloys have a bit of a history of slow punctures.