My Bi-TDI Sline one year on...

[Steve Wagstaff]

**Ibis White, Comfort Pack (Electric Memory Seats, Rear Camera), Technology Pack, Privacy Glass, 20" Rotors, MTM 381**

I have now owned my BI-TDI for just over one year and 14,000miles covered; one oil service @ £229 from local Audi dealer with software patch for steering applied; one scuffed alloy due to bus driver playing chicken with me and pushing me up the kerb BUT my right of way; no other traumas other than OMG on pushing the throttle to the floor ; so now for the summary of the goods and the bads...
The Goods:

• overall just over 40 mpg over the 14,000 miles covered;
• 0-60 in 4.7secs, 165mph limited, 780nm;
• Build quality is superb despite other comments I've seen on forum;
• Overall space. I've used the fold-down rear seats on a number of occasion and surprised and how much it can take. I carried home a garden swinging bench seat last year with the boot shut!
• Sat Nav all seems to work well. I've used Google Maps and Traffic a few times but reverted to Standard 3D mode mostly;
• Digital driver display I like very much and ability to use steering wheel controls to change most things;
• Media player has my iPOD attached and in use most of the time - all features for playlists, search, etc available - must different to my old BMW which limited the lists;
• that exhaust note ...my neighbor is Dealer Principle at BMW - he thought I was driving a S V8 model until I told him it was just an 'old 3.0 diesel' . My car is de-badged;
• I tend to run in Individual Mode with Comfort on engine and steering and Dynamic on exhaust but will switch to Comfort on the motorway;
• Oh those 20" Rotors as I know many are thinking 'they look good but it must drive like a pig'...Well, actually the Sline suspension is rather good, I have been used to AMG Mercs, yes you need to watch out for those winter pot-holes but overall the car rides well, not too hard or unbalanced, and nothing to complain about.
• That Power torque band from just over 1,000 revs...this car is amazing such a kick in the back when you go to warp speed...it puts a smile on my face very single day I drive it
• other than that the car has run faultless...

The Bads:

• That gearbox kick-down and odd clunky down shifts when slowing down in traffic. Kick-downs you get over and start to go into automatic mode when needed with a pull back to go into 'S' mode which changes down one gear and then go one more on the paddles if needed....and you're then into 'OMG...warp speed/flying mode' with a big smile and no-one can catch you (well...a few cars that have a few more zeros on the price tag);
• the MTM doesn't fix the gearbox, however at some time a trip to JD Engineering in Holland may happen - they have fixed the gearbox settings too, maybe one day I'll find the time to make the journey;

Any Regrets:

• Heated Seats, Folding Mirrors, Sunroof not fitted - I bought the showroom model on impulse ;
• I swapped my 2012 SL for the Bi-TDI due to family practicality when 4 seats required. Sometimes I wish I had a sunroof...oh but I can over-come that and just jump in the TT Roadster my second favourite car (my wife's car) when needed. In fact we often use the TT at weekends when we're out and about as I love to drive that car too!
• I guess all I need now is the A5 Convertible Bi-TDI if they decide to give that option

Overall happy to report that I'm pleased with my Bi-TDI and it can stay for another year...

[Scott K]

Considering the power, that fuel economy is excellent. When I ordered mine in February, there wasn't a comfort pack option so I went for heated memory seats. I didn't order a sunroof as haven't had one for ages and don't miss it.
Great write up and I am really looking forward to my car arriving!

[Steve Wagstaff]

This comes from the eight speed gearbox...at cruising speed it's still ticking over between 1000 and 1500 revs...

[ukgroucho]

This comes from the eight speed gearbox...at cruising speed it's still ticking over between 1000 and 1500 revs...

Cruising at 1500 revs in this country = "big slap"

[john2107]

Well, just to endorse this, I have had mine 4 months and have done 8k miles. Bought it as an ex demonstrator. I concur with everything Steve has said.

Overall mpg over 8k miles is 41.7mpg, though that is mainly motorway or A road driving. Only thing I miss is heated seats (sounds like that is an extra that dealers leave out for their own cars). I too have 20" black edition wheels and S Line suspension and the ride is way better than the previous S Line C6 that I had, which was on 18" wheels. I do have the sunroof, though am not really fussed - just happened to be on the car.

Goods:
- Awesome performance. In a "can I/can't I" situation, just drop into sport mode and away you go. Even just in D, the torque from low revs is effortless and sheer driving pleasure.
- Stunning looks. Daytona Grey, 20" wheels and privacy glass take some beating.
- Performance/economy/adaptability combination. How many other cars can combine 40+mpg with 0-60 in 5.1 seconds and vast load lugging capability?
- MMI steering controls. A huge improvement over the C6.
- Adaptive cruise control and Side Assist. I thought it was a gimmick but in practice very useful tools. Never been a fan of cruise control previously but ACC takes it to a new level. The jury's out on Active Lane Assist though.

Bads (mostly just niggles):
- Extra care needed with 255 section tyres and 20" rims. Need to be on constant pothole alert.
- Very occasional clunk on downshift to 2nd. Am not alone in getting this apparently.
- Delay on downshift in D mode. Well documented. Just need to drop into S or M when necessary...
- BOSE is good but not great. OK, I am a bit fussy with music and B&O sound systems in year old models seem rarer than hen's teeth.
- Still can't get used to the engine switching off when I get out of the car. There are times when you want to nip round to get something out of the back without everything shutting down.
- Stop/start. Why does it sometimes just not work as expected?
- No full size spare unlike the C6.
- Underfloor luggage compartment much smaller than C6
- Why isn't 75 litre tank fitted as standard?
- The well documented "can't use google maps/SIM card slot and Bluetooth hands free at the same time" scenario.

Regrets:
- B&O Sound
- Would like to try Heads Up Display
- HEATED FRONT SEATS did I mention that? ....grrrrr....

Overall:
WOW....brilliant car!!! This ones a keeper. Though have said that before.......

[retired99]

Had my BiTurbo Allroad since July last year and have done about 11k miles.

Fuel consumption is exactly 30mpg over that distance according to the car. Obviously lower than others have reported. This probably because my mileage is split between a lot of very short local trips and 700 mile trips to Bavaria. Neither usage is good for consumption as the German trips make good use of the performance. Motorway trips in the UK at approx the legal limit will see over 40mpg.

Have almost infinitely adjustable heated comfort seats fitted which are truly excellent. Twelve hours in the car with no aches or pains.

Car is a brilliant autobahn cruiser. The air suspension delivers a comfortable ride yet still tackles autobahn bends (German autobahns have tighter radius bends than most UK motorways and bends really do become corners when taken at 100+) in a controlled and confidence inspiring fashion. Provides a great sense of security. Not the quietest car at speed that I’ve owned but pretty good.

Air suspension settings give a ride quality on 18” wheels to suit most conditions and mood.

Have rear camera which I find very useful and would order again (in fact I did because my previous car had this).

Side Assist (blind spot monitoring), don’t really have a strong opinion about this. I do notice as it delivers its warnings but I don’t think it’s ever warned me about something I didn’t already know was there. Perhaps it will prevent an accident one day. Don’t know if I’d spec it again.

MY14 car so the Audi Connect, Navigation, Phone integration all works well. Screen resolution isn’t that great, but good enough.

Lack of storage space for the small stuff like glass case, keys, change etc. is a minor problem.

Outright performance is clearly excellent; the one thing I that is sometimes a pain is soft throttle response. If you want instant ‘go’ from off throttle at low engine speed it’s just not there, there is a noticeable delay while, I assume, the small turbo spools up. This can be improved by selecting sport mode which does improve the situation by keeping engine speed higher through a different gear shift pattern. I’m not expecting the sort of instant throttle response you get from an naturally aspirated petrol engine but my previous BMW 535D was much better in this respect ( although much worse in other ways).

Steering feeling /feedback virtually nil. Doesn’t matter 90% of the time but there are occasions when I’d like to know about grip- levels.

Overall a great car. Always enjoy driving it. If it was stolen tomorrow I’d almost certainly replace it with another BiTurbo Allroad. I might think about an S6 but I’m not sure the extra cost of ownership would be worth it.

[AudiNow]

Hello

John, I know this is an old thread but was just reading your thoughts

I can't decide on whether to include a sunroof. I know you get a nice amount of light coming through but how often do you actually use it?

Thanks

[Westyfield2]

The Bads:

• ...and odd clunky down shifts when slowing down in traffic.

Which gearbox have you got? 7-Speed DL501 "S-Tronic"? Or 8-Speed ZF 8HP "Tiptronic"?

[fest0r]

This comes from the eight speed gearbox...at cruising speed it's still ticking over between 1000 and 1500 revs...

Which gearbox have you got? 7-Speed DL501 "S-Tronic"? Or 8-Speed ZF 8HP "Tiptronic"?

I think the BiTDI only comes with the ZF tiptronic.

[Westyfield2]

Ah right. Given that it's well used in all the BMWs and other marques etc, I'd have thought that a noisy/jerky ZF box is broken.

The DL501 "S-Tronic" is what they put in the 3.0 TFSI petrol A6, the B8 S4/S5, and the Q5 3.0TDI (hence my thinking that might be what the diesel A6 has). Any noises or jerks on them means that your 'mechatronic' unit needs replacing.