2011 Audi A3 E Sport TDCi any good?

Soldato
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sorry i wasnt commenting on the speed just the mileage 10 miles to work a day, as said i cant point cause i have diesels doing less well 2 doing nothing and atm one doing 500 mile a year according to the new mot and only about 4500 a year before that , and i was starting to get to a point of not justifying having a diesel.
ill probably end up with a small petrol as wife only does a couple of miles to daughters when the virus has gone.

I hear ya. I was oohing and aahing but this is saving me £200 a year tax and about 15mpg better. Less the extra expense of diesel fuel it's probably 10mpg better realistically. I'm currently doing a run where at 1/4 tank I put £20 fuel in and see how many miles until I get to 1/4 tank. With regards to maintenance my mate owns a garage so things will get sorted at reasonable cost.
 
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This doesn't seem very safe or sensible. Why not travel safely at the speed limit with the added bonus of keeping your DPF healthy?

I'm a lorry driver as well as my other professions so I think they are more on the ball than most car drivers and I think are actually safer to follow. I'm not in a rush everywhere unlike others it seems. And besides, I can stop quicker than a 40t truck. ;)

I will follow Audi advice and run it at a higher RPM once a month. A mate advised me on that too as he keeps all his cars clear with a similar setup. Otherwise looking at 2500rpm to start cleaning the DPF I'd have to do about 90mph in 5th gear... Or drive everywhere in 4th.
 
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Caporegime
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I read somewhere it says 40+ and somewhere else 60+ and somewhere else 2500 RPM+ so I'm not entirely sure lol. I just follow a lorry.

To clean a dpf you have to have the engine fully up to temperature. Running hot enough so it can create enough temperature to burn off the crap stuck to the filter essentially and keep it running at a decent enough speed to burn everything off. So not stuck in traffic or at lights. Essentially motorway driving is best.

This means that speed, revs etc don't matter as much as length of journey to get it up to temperature. It's fairly obvious if you are going on a long journey it will at points have moments where you are traveling at speed with constant revs enough to help burn the dpf.

My recommendation would be at least one 45-60 minute drive on a weekly basis. I've had a few diesels in the past and the one with dpf would start to regen just as we were arriving home from a 30 minute drive. It wasn't driven long journeys regularly. Luckily never had dpf issues but I suspect an older car would be more susceptible as it clogs more with all the crap spewing out of it.

You need to do a long drive regularly. Forget speed or revs. Drive normally for a long time which means constant speed on a motorway is ideal.

I imagine 40mph or 60mph makes no real difference other than 60mph gets it done faster but at that speed you have driven a longer distance in a shorter timeframe anyway 40mph would work just as well if travelling the same distance overall as it takes longer to get to the destination.

Driving at 3k plus revs is just another cheat method of getting it hot and keeping it at high temp for a quicker regen on a short journey. It's not needed if you do a long journey regularly. It also will likely damage other components quicker running it at high revs especially an old diesel causing the turbo to blow possibly or prematurely.

If you have to baby the car because you don't do long journeys it's the wrong car should have bought a petrol. Forget speed or revs and just do long journeys. If you don't do long journeys then get a petrol.
 
Soldato
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Italian tuneup will help, but its only a matter of time before you have to replace it tbh. I guess that wont be cheap after they stop making diesels in a few years!
 
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Your reply is appreciated because it's detailed enough to provide evidence and not come across as just an opinion. I get what you are saying and I regularly do 25+ mile journeys however in lockdown it has been limited by shielding.

Funnily enough I was saying the exact same thing to someone else who kept having his A3 TDI regenerating but not finishing and my reply was simply do a longer journey. Sometimes I need to go for a drive to clear my head (job can be stressful and never been furloughed) so I can tie it in with a maintenance purpose.
 
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1st month ownership review:
Servicing, easy really. £80 for Mobil 1, oil, fuel and air filter. Plus a cabin filter too. Need to replace glow plugs as matter of course. All Bosch. Impressed with how easy it was, although the washer being built into the sump plug doesn't impress me. £5 for a sump plug or 50p washer? Extra 1/4 and it refitted. I'll get one for next time.

Running costs: £30 tax for the year, 3p a litre more on fuel. MPG is from 55 MPG in town to 80+ on motorways (60mph just following a big lorry - wind deflection = MPG++ ;)). It has decent torque.

Problems: Air Con smells so got some Triple QX air conditioning sanitiser to turn on and leave in the car running for 10mins. Cigarette lighter pops a fuse as soon as I put dash cam in. Changed for another 2nd hand one, same problem. Hmmm. Glove box hinge snapped but mate fixing tomorrow.

Overall a very nice car. Had a recall which Audi did and gave me a brand new A3 for the day. Does what I need it to, nicely.

Things to do:
Sort the cigarette lighter out and try to get the stereo to play my USB. Need an adapter somehow because the adapter for the headphone socket doesn't work. Replace glow plugs. Replace belts next year. Sump plug.
 
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Sorted the cigarette lighter. My dash cam adapter kept shorting out and popping the fuse. It's because of the Audi design because it was fine in my Ford and fine in a Vauxhall when tested. Different adapter fixed it.

Sorted stereo as I have deleted all my stuff off a phone, filled it with music and playing it through the Aux near the front arm rest. Sorted. :)

Fixed the glovebox hinge, but a regular Audi problem because they fit dampers to it to make it smooth but people insist on slamming it shut hence broken hinges. Impatient people lol.

Put the QX air conditioning sanitiser in and all smelling nice now. Worth £2.
 
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