Let's be frank. In product planning terms, the U.S. is no market for the car we just drove. Sure, Audi plans to begin sales of a Q7 SUV with this very same 3.0-liter turbo diesel V6 beginning in less than a year and you can bet that fitting it into their best-seller A4 will follow. But a manual transmission? Nobody buys those anymore and certainly not in an expensive German luxury sedan… or would they?

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Only if you are Toyota/Lexus and Nissan/Infiniti fanboys, otherwise, you should take their auto reviews as a-gain-of-salt.

Modified by A4Jetta at 3:19 PM 4/7/2008

My little car review page

My little car review page

CR just chose the VW Eos as their best pick for a convertible

Is it getting cold somewhere down below?

I would actually prefer the DSG with the TDI, not that I dont love the MT6

George how did the torquie 3.0 feel compared to a S5 or 4.2 S4?

3.0T Avant Quattro w/MT for me please! My B7 lease it up in 2010!

Down low it's just as strong, so around town it performs much like the S. Out on the road (was driving one on the Autobahn recently, there's less torque up top and a lower rev line, so jumping into the fast lane is a bit more of a chore.

How successful do you think VW and Audi will be with their new diesel initiatives with the concern and reality with high prices for diesel at the pump??

The conundrum with A3 and even TT using the US approved 1.9 TDI found in the Jetta is another one. This engine, in the family of transverse diesel applications, is not terribly high power. It's not enough, said a source of mine, to pair with quattro as the added weight and frictional loss would make it unsatisfactorily slow. However, federalizing the more powerful 2.0 TDI application would bring about added cost without the benefit of economies of scale due to Volkswagen production. I'm sure there are other factors at play here, like that 1.9 TDI only installed for American cars in Puebla Mexico, so supplying Audi's plants building American cars could take costs up further. Still, I'd love to see an A3 TDI.... even moreso if it could benefit from some weight savings.

But I agree, in the US, the A3 and TT are sold with a sporty/upscale aspiration. Even the 170hp version of the TDI, when coupled with AWD, is clearly not sporty. Federalization costs and low projected sales numbers would make this a no-go.

BTW, you can buy the older TDI (140hp version) with AWD in the Golf, in Europe.

VW EV, plug-in Hybrid, and/or 1.4-2.0 VVT&VVL T/dual-charged FSI engines for the US would be useful...

My little car review page

Yeah, you can buy a lot of slow cars in Europe and many with VW badges. Thing is, American Audi product planners won't do that as it doesn't fit with the Audi brand here.

Looking for a 12" subwoofer?
http://forums.vwvortex.com/zer...26775

Looking for an amp?

Only in Q7, and that was current-gen Tiptronic. We're getting a new Aisin fast-shifting Tiptronic in the next-gen gasoline A4 (not S-tronic) for America. It should be better than the old setup but likely won't please those who'd have gone for the DSG simply because it's not DSG. I'm told it's a very good setup though.

Quote, originally posted by AudiVwMeister »

what a gyp.

Definitions of Gyp on the Web:

* A young bitch, normally one that has not been bred.

Let's hope they have also reduced real-world drive train losses and resulting 10% to 20% fuel mileage penalties.

The Aisian transmission in my Passat sucks... gas (although it is as buttery-smooth as when new and when described as such by some automotive reviewers).

VW EV, plug-in Hybrid, and/or 1.4-2.0 VVT&VVL T/dual-charged FSI engines for the US would be useful...

726 toothpicks on the floor. Yeah, definitely...

I've been waiting patiently for a long time for the 3.0TDI A4 manual to get here. I was even at my dealer yesterday asking when I could expect one. I got to drive the 3.0TDI motor in another vehicle and it was SWEEEET. If I ca't get a manual transmission, I'm going to have to find another car to drool over. I have not fallen in love with the DSG and think I would take an auto over the DSG, but I don't like automatics either

I can understand not bringing in a manual in the A6 or A8 or Q7 etc, but the A4 is their big seller and I know TONS of people that want this car. I even overheard some bike riders having this exact conversation 2 years ago. "If somebody would make an all-wheel drive manual transmission turbo diesel sedan, they would buy one in a second"

Go ahead! let Subaru and Honda beat you to the market even though you already have the technology. I'll bet the Outback wagon and sedan will go diesel and manual in the US and they will sell TONS of them.

If guns cause crime, mine must be defective...

If guns cause crime, mine must be defective...

The only thing sweeter would be a 3.0TDI sitting in an A5, or perhaps, given my growing family, an A4 savant. The engine is sublime, and the DSG is perfect for the narrow rev range of the TDI. As of now though, I'm not sure there is a DSG built that can take the torque of a 3.0TDI, especially if you chip it! My 170HP TDI is chipped, and the torque is limitless all over the range....well...until the car gets up to around 150KM...but I'm not driving F1 so I can live with that!

Go TDI! Go Audi! Get your act in gear and bring those TDI bad boys to North America! If I ever move back to Canada, i NEED my TDI!

preach it brotha

They're all a bunch of greedy bastards, it's absolutely disgusting.

You're probably talking a $7000 premium over the 2.0T. The 3.0TDI will be marketed in-between the 3.2 and the new S4 from what I here.

As diesel gets over $5 a gallon, it will be harder to justify it.