Daniel Fulop

Hi all, this is my first thread here. I'm looking into buying a new daily driver _without DPF_ but I haven't really found specific info which of my possible choices come without it.

The Audi A4 B7 3.0 had two versions, and the 233 HP is specified to have DPF. Does that mean that the 204 HP is without one?
3.0 TDI V6 (204 Hp) quattro (2004-2008)
3.0 TDI V6 (233 Hp) quattro DPF (2006-2008)

Same question goes for
A3 8P
2.0 TDI (170 Hp) quattro DPF (2008-2013)
2.0 TDI (170 Hp) quattro (2008-2013)
2.0 TDI (170 Hp) quattro (2006-2008)

If I can't find a good one without DPF then I'll go for the petrol engines, possibly the 2.0 TFSI, because I use my cars in the city mostly. At the moment I drive a 1.4 pd tdi from 2001 which is completely fine with even short trips, but well... it's slow

Glisse

I assume (via petrol vs gasoline) you must be in Australia, as in the UK most of these older diesels are being banned or heavily taxed within many city areas?

Driving a diesel without a DPF in a city environment isn't great for anyone, or anything. I do understand that short duration city driving, without any longer high speed journeys being made quite regularly, is going to destroy these older DPF versions quickly, which is probably why you don't want one.

And given the fuel efficiency advantage of diesel is most obvious in longer constant speed running, you'd be much better off with a petrol engine for city driving anyway. And you'll enjoy driving it more, too

I had the 3.0TDI 230hp engine (in a C6 A6). It was available at the time (2006 IIRC) with or without a DPF - the DPF was an expensive option, but there was no impact on power outputs, so I don't think your guesses are correct. This is going to vary from country to country. Euro 5 came in around 2009, which meant that a DPF was effectively mandatory on all diesels, as the PM limits went from 0.025g/km under Euro 4 to 0.005g/km.

Daniel Fulop

I'm from Hungary diesels are very popular in Central / Easter Europe, and even though the diesel fuel prices are skyrocketing, it is still somewhat cheaper to run them, plus you get the torque of a V8 lol
For comparison, my friend drives a E46 330d, does 8-9L/100km in city, while a similarly powerful 325i would drink up almost the double. I had an MR2 which hated the city lol... chugged down 15L/100km. When you drive a lot here and there, it makes a lot of difference. I use a Seat Arosa 1.4 pd tdi now for the city. Anno 2001, no dpf, very easy to park, but the speed I'm looking for ain't there

Well, regarding the health issues, some say that DPF doesn't help much, and many people actually have it removed, but I would prefer to get one which never had it, so it would be also legal. I even heard that new diesels with perfect burn is a lot worse for health because the soot particles are so tiny that they penetrate through your lungs right into the blood stream, while the large particles of old diesels get cleared up. I'm not a scientist, just read a few articles.

But anyway, back to the topic... if price didn't matter I'd get a S4 with the V8 engine. Now I want something fast, torquey with reasonable consumption, and no clogged DPF problems, so I'm trying to figure out if I can get a 3.0 TDI without DPF

Glisse

Definitely out there for the 3.0TDI circa 2006, maybe up to 2008. After that, pretty sure all will have DPF.

It is direct injected gasoline engines which have issues with super fine PM. Which is why particulate filters are being fitted to them from Euro 6D-TEMP onwards. The NEDC testing didn't show this up, WLTP does. Good luck on the hunt, there may be different engine codes for DPF / non-DPF versions which would be worth investigating, otherwise I can imagine it may be tricky to work out just what is actually being offered for sale.