A4 TDi 170 Performance vs 1.9PD 130

[Bill_Abz]

Hi Everyone, I'm new on here, looking for advice.

I just bought an A4 2.0 Tdi 170 Quattro S-Line, and to be frank, I'm fairly dissapointed with both performance and Economy.

I had an A4 B6 1.9 Tdi 130 Quattro Sport before, and to be honest, I think it would blow the doors off my new one.

To start with, I put the performance of the new A4 down to having only 2k miles and being tight as it's new(ish...Nov 2007). 7k Miles now, and a trip from Aberdeen to Bristol and back, and it still feels tight, and "breathless" at motorway speeds when you accelerate. I'm concious of the lack of torque below 2000rpm, and I understand that this is a "feature" of the 170, but even at 2500rpm and above it never really feels like it gets into its stride. 4k rpm and it's all over.

Don't get me wrong, it's not "slow", and in the low gears pick up is brisk, but never really seems to get to the real grunt.

My local garage owner (who bought my old 1.9 130) drove my new one today and agreed with me, as he's driven my old one, but unfortunately not a 170 B7 to compare. He thinks it may be the Air Mass sensor as the closest description is that it feels strangled.

It just doesn't feel like 170Bhp

I'm guessing if it goes to the Audi dealer, there will be a "no fault found" report, as I can't really put my finger on the problem, its just a gut feeling.

Sorry for the long post, but any general advice? Anyone here with the same car have any comments about performance of the 170 in comparison with a B6 130 Tdi?

Oh and on the motorway drive to Bristol, only managed 38.5mpg average over 470 miles of fairly gentle (80 mph tops) driving, and I get maybe 26-28mpg on the work run. The only time I can break 40mpg is if I sit at 50mph, and do as little with the throttle as possible, short shifting and no heavy in-gear flooring it.

Once again, sorry for war and peace.

Bill.

[molby]

Bill,

Not really any help but it might make you feel slightly better to know that i have exactly the same problem as you. I had a 140bhp A3 before and have recently bought the 170bhp Quattro Avant S-line etc and get no more than 37mpg, unless i drive like MIss Marple - and the power is far from impressive too (no torque)

I'm taking mine to another dealer for a road test next week, so i'll let you know if i get a different answer to 'I'm sorry but there's no fault code showing'. It's a shame as i love Audi's and apart from these 2 things, the car is lovely.

Cheers

Molby

[Bill_Abz]

Hi, just an update on this.

I was travelling around a while back, and without a word of a lie, the car hit 9000 miles, and suddenly the power finally appeared!!! The car has transformed itself and now I have a lot more confidence in the power delivery. It's still a bit "peaky" and I now have at least 3 separate surges, but when it gets into its stride, it flies.

Economy has now improved, where I regularly get 43/44 mpg, and the overall average is up to 38 on the long term DIS display.

The car just seems to get better over time. Now waiting on the ST3 tuner to get me up to 210Bhp (ish), apparently this can smooth out the low end a bit, and deliver the torque earlier.

The other thing is to not "baby" the engine. I think it soots up the DPF if you drive really gently to converve fuel, and spends a lot of time on the regeneration cycle. I decided to just cane it everywhere and to hell with the economy, and it has certainly improved.

Stick with it and I hope yours does the same as mine.

Bill.

[JonW]

I was initially disappointed with my 170 Sline Se Avant, especially mpg - 38 was the best you could get. Now done 14500 in the last 6 months and it goes really well, in fact not far off my 225 TT ! MPG still not as good as my 130 TDI of 2002, but now getting 40 regularly. Stick with it and anything above about 2500 rpm it will fly - rubber flies off the tyres too:(.

Share the concern about the DPF, if you meander round town at slow speeds, this will show up as a fault, there's only one way to clear it, give it a thrashing.

[prolfe]

The DPF needs heat to regenerate, so that means not pootling around.

The poor mpg well, it is a diesel but don't expect high 50's, for that you need a 1.9

The 170 is a performance diesel and boy does it perform. 1.3 seconds slower than a GTI 30-70 through the gears and only 1.7 seconds slower than a R32.

As for the 225 TT, nice car, nice engine, not quite as quick as the 170 in a straight line from 40 to 120, especially uphill.;)

[jimtorch]

So basically, what you're all saying is to "rag it" to get the best out of it?
I used to have a re-mapped 2.0 tdi MK5 golf that went from about 140 to 170 plus and still got about 48mpg!
It's been interesting reading the thread because i've had exactly the same experience e.g. really excited when i got the B7 2.0 tdi sline black edition and then a bit miffed when it didn't feel as good as the golf. I've hit about 10k now and i think maybe it has opened up a bit so i'll keep heavy with the right foot and hopefully it will improve even more.

When i took it into Audi when i first got it to ask the question "is this knackered or what?" they said a resounding "No" but told me about an ECU software upgrade that was needed but wouldn't really give me a proper reason why, i've read other threads that have said the upgrade screws up the performance so beware. I think i might get the upgrade then get it remapped.

Glad i'm not the only one having this problem

Prolfe, does the A4 perform as well as you say the A3 does?

P.S. That's a War and Peace contender too

[prolfe]

So basically, what you're all saying is to "rag it" to get the best out of it?
I used to have a re-mapped 2.0 tdi MK5 golf that went from about 140 to 170 plus and still got about 48mpg!
It's been interesting reading the thread because i've had exactly the same experience e.g. really excited when i got the B7 2.0 tdi sline black edition and then a bit miffed when it didn't feel as good as the golf. I've hit about 10k now and i think maybe it has opened up a bit so i'll keep heavy with the right foot and hopefully it will improve even more.

When i took it into Audi when i first got it to ask the question "is this knackered or what?" they said a resounding "No" but told me about an ECU software upgrade that was needed but wouldn't really give me a proper reason why, i've read other threads that have said the upgrade screws up the performance so beware. I think i might get the upgrade then get it remapped.

Glad i'm not the only one having this problem

Prolfe, does the A4 perform as well as you say the A3 does?

P.S. That's a War and Peace contender too

I would say so, i did have a salemans next to me when i drove the a4 170 though.

The A3 is slightly lighter so will pull a bit quicker than the A4.

[jimbojet]

Just to up-date this thread, I've just bought the 170 and experienced the exact same problems.

Mine has done 50k and I've just had it remapped......COMPLETELY changed the car!!!

The big thing for me was turbo lag and lack luster when dropping the right foot. As soon as I had it remapped it changed completely. Now it is very responsive delivers loads more punch, just what you'd expect from 200+bhp!!!!!!

The one thing I have noticed though, which has been mentioned here is if you drive somewhat lightfooted for a while, it does seem to loose a little poke until you open her up again. So, my advice is get a remap and every now and then open her up to maintain the power.....Daft, but works!!!!