I think that manual cylinder shut off in high performance vehicles like the S4 is a great idea and is the only immediate solution to the gas guzzler tax and future mpg standards. Maybe Audi will consider it with vehicles like the RS4 which gets <10mpg in town. The EPA says it gets 10mpg in town, so I figure it's probably more like 9. The new V10's are probably similar. Cylinder shut off would probably be an easy install as well, whereas adding a bunch of hybrid junk under the hood would be a design headache and add 10K to the price.

Someone in one of the threads suggested adding hybrid technology to high performance vehicles like the S4, but that concept seems like a total contradiction to me. A bad idea if there ever was one. Hybrid engines do very little to improve gas mileage in heavier vehicles and they do best in light vehicles like the Prius. New hybrids are nothing but a band aid though and I don't see them as a real solution. You're just trading one problem for another with those costly high voltage batteries that wear out after a while and need to be replaced. You will save on gas, but much of that savings will be eaten up by electrical maintainence over the long term, and then there's also the issue of battery disposal. Hybrids certainly have the PC vibe to them, but they are strictly utilitarian and are the polar opposite of "performance". In a wreck situation I'd feel 1000x safer in my S4 as well.

 

V10 TDI in the A6, V6TDI in the A4. The V10's 550 pound feet of torque is nothing to laugh at. And you get great fuel econ. 6 Speed manual trannie in either and I would dump my S4 in a heart beat. Plus tuning options are there :-)

 

Well, VW/Audi group did recently do a 180 and announce getting into the hybrid game. I'm sure it would be for base cars and not the S4, S6, etc.

As for cylinder deactivation under cruise conditions, that's probably gonna be added to the Audi V8's at some point.

D-

 

I was thinking the same thing. - Diesel may be the way to go.

 

It would take more than Displacement On Demand to get the S cars out of the gas guzzler bracket.

 

It's a shame that diesel is as expensive as gasoline here. Not the case in Europe. Maybe bio-diesel will cure that problem.

 

buy a Prius if you want that.

 

I understand the mileage (or lack thereof) with WOT. However, if the technology exists to get better mileage, I consider it irresponsible not to use it. My problem is not with the mileage, it's with the attitude towards it.