Mark P

I haven't paid enough attention to tell how it functions in the TDI. In my A3 2.0T DSG, it would make a big difference. Part of it may merely be the RPM range being smaller on the TDI there are less gearing options, so it may require a more specific range for one to see a difference.

Something else for me to test

Q5 TDI

I'm not surprised by your findings (although I've not driven the 3.0T, when I got my TDI in August, I was blown away by the roll-on acceleration, and the lack of noise/strain from the diesel. I know it's where the strength of the diesel lies, but still, I was thoroughly impressed.

idale

Good show that the TDI has less need to downshift, which is of course one of the things that gets brought up (how the TDI has no passing power or needs to downshift a lot, which is backwards because you need to be in a lower RPM range to have your power.

If you're kicking back in D then the TDI should be in its element. If you're controlling the shifts in M then the HP of the 3.0T can come into play. Obviously this year isn't representative of what a driver would realistically be doing, but it refutes those inaccurate statements nicely.

Just need the TDI S so the diesel can destroy absolutely everything.

sarchib

I too was taken aback when I drove the '14 TDI when I was having my '13 3.0T serviced. I ended up trading the latter in on the former and have not looked back.

NABS4

For what reason? How long will it take you to make up the price difference between the two in the fuel savings?

sarchib

For what reason? Did I ask why you purchased the vehicle you did? Really none of your business that you should know my purchasing decisions. My response to the original post had nothing to do with $$. Purely subjective on my part and I do not filling my tank every 600 km.

Mark P

Who said anything about making up savings? He said he liked how it drove more.

He was concurring with:

If saving $ is your primary goal, you likely buy a 2.0T (or a used 3.2) and not a TDI, and certainly it's not advisable to trade in one Q5 for another.

The fuel savings is just a bonus on top of the way it drives. And of course there's likely a resale advantage as well.

Here's the fuel savings I had calculated based on prices of fuel in my area over the past year or so. Look at the legend and find the approx values you want to compare and see how much you save over 100k miles. If you use the EPA combined values for TDI (27) and 3.0T (21), you'll use the brownish-orange solid line and see a $3k-4k savings in fuel.


And here are the corresponding fuel prices that I used to calculate that:

NABS4

^Again, impressive data. I drive about 25k mi/yr and plan on keeping the car for 5-6 years, so it may have been a difficult decision had the TDI been available when I was shopping last year. I will buy a next gen TDI Q7 to replace the Odyssey though.

ELEVENS

Call me Mr. Obvious but if a TDI didn't kill a 3.0T in high gear roll ons, there would be very little reason to pay extra for one. In other words, isn't torque the #1 attraction? Fuel mileage and range, in my book, would come in a very distant 2nd and 3rd. What's the payback on fuel mileage - 8-10 years?

Mark P

Mr Obvious, look 2 posts up in this thread to see my graph of fuel savings. Then if you consider the price difference to be $2000-$2500 depending if you get S-Line or not, that could take as little as 50k miles (most likely do that in 3-4 yrs, some quicker or longer. I did 42k the first year I had my S4) to negate the purchase price difference. One can only speculate on the resale price difference as well, but presumably the TDI will hold it's value better, so it may be a much shorter period than that. Heck, the price may offset only after a few months of ownership (if one were to sell then).

price diffs:
w/ S-Line:
http://ctny.audiworld.com/mark/q5/re...model_2014.jpg
w/o S-Line
http://ctny.audiworld.com/mark/q5/re...le_options.jpg

All that said, fuel mileage wasn't a distant 2nd for me. The attraction for me was that compared to my A3, I could get a bigger vehicle AND better fuel economy, while still having it fun to drive... and quattro. Without the diesel offering, I don't think I would have ever given the Q5 a serious thought. I had already denounced the price difference from our ~$26k-ish VW Tiguan... and then when I heard the 3.0TDI would be coming, then everything changed. Once upon a time I had considered the 1.9TDI MkV Golf for the fuel savings, but I felt it didn't have the fun driving appeal so I ended up with a 1.8T Golf instead. The 3.0TDI Q5 offers the right balance of all aspects I was interested in.