Because I drive a diesel (and an E90 330d previously), it's probably a safe assumption I like them. I don't, not really, but I do love a really *good* diesel in the right role and car. I've been vocal in defending the 4.2 TDi because I believe unless you have driven one you don't realise just how good a diesel can be, it feels a couple of generations ahead of the BMW, unfair comparison or not. So even though there is no room for another oil burner in my life, I'm really tempted to waste a few hours with one of these. I've seen two on the road, handsome in silver, one I saw reversing was lit up like a Christmas tree at the back.
It's nice to hear that when a diesel engine is applied, developed and refined properly and mated to a buttery smooth box, it's not the compromise it's always made out to be.
[TW]Fox;16382185 said:
Fire it up. Inside the car, almost inaudiable. For the first time in any diesel car (Go away VAG fanboys, your cars do it as well) there was ZERO diesel shake at idle. Absolutely none. The last late model diesel I drove was a 320d Automatic and that did the annoying shake at the traffic lights and filled the cabin with the gloriously crap sound of dagdagdag - this didn't. At last!
...
First up, the A38 - the closest thing we have to a Motorway down in farmer country - and a nice long uphill sliproad with which to test the performance. Foot down and... wow. Seriously. It actually sounds good. This is the most cliched saying in the world, and its usually a load of rubbish (Yes, I *can* tell your 320d is a diesel, and your Golf) but... you could fool people into thinking it wasn't a diesel. It sounded like a muted 6 cylinder petrol engine when accelerating hard. Brilliant. I could almost live with that. Performance is predictably brisk - this really is one of the, if not the, worlds best diesel powerplants. The 8 speed gearbox changes absolutely seemlessly, no harsh changes, just silky and smooth. The 3.0d and the 8 speed box seem perfectly suited to each other.
Without taking anything away from BMW (and bearing in mind the price/class difference), hand-on-heart, no diesel noise inside and certainly no diesel shake on the Audi.
And the second paragraph is pretty much how I feel about the Audi diesel engine. Actually, bar the "8 speed", it's exactly what I think of it. So it can be done, has been done and maybe a few people reading the F10 review will think twice before just consigning the diesel option to the bin.
Anyway, cheers for the review, nicely done.