Audi A4 Saloon (2008 - 2015) 3.0 TDI Quattro SE 4d Owner Review

PERFORMANCE: I bought this car coming from a SEAT Ibiza 1.9 TDI FR (which was a great car, quite quick) and was expecting a real performance car, given the 3 litre displacement and 240bhp, not to mention the 0-60 time. I was however disappointed. The problem was that the car never 'felt' that quick, the speedo would climb rapidly but it was all too quiet and too refined. Perhaps that's what the car was designed to do but it just wasn't exciting enough for me. Whilst the car is quick enough to see off most repmobiles, its certainly not as quick as the figures suggest. A mk2 Skoda Octavia VRS TFSI embarrassed me and an e90 330d was twice as quick. HANDLING: Safe but not fun in any way. Biggest disappoint was by far the steering which was overly light at lower speeds and then at higher speeds felt wooden. There is very little very little body roll but a Ford Mondeo or BMW 3 series is a far better steer in every way. The 4-wheel drive helps with grip but do be careful as its a 60:40 rear bias, I found this out the hard way when I lost the back end coming off a roundabout on damp ground. The 3litre lump up front is a heavy one and can always be felt when cornering hard. Overall, my old 52reg Mondeo and b5.5 Passat TDI were both more fun through the bends. RELIABILITY: Had a problem with swirl flaps and EGR which dealer end up sorting by blanking off EGR and deleting the swirl flaps. Other than it was just perishables such a cv joint, wheel bearing etc. The car did seem to be using a lot of oil and mechanic could find no signs of a leak anywhere, I had a bad feeling about it and was one of the reasons why I ended up getting rid. RUNNING COSTS: Awful. Fuel economy was abysmal, around town it was no higher than 26mpg and in the winter this dropped to 22mpg. A long run on the motorway would bring it up to around 35/36mpg but it was extremely difficult to get near manufacturer's figures. This car is the worst type of car for short journeys, the engine takes a good 10-15 miles to get up to temperature and in the meantime mpg can be as low as 15mpg! The two other diesel engines I have owned have been VAG 1.9 TDI pd lumps, both of which warmed up in a quarter of the time it took the 3.0 TDI and did twice the mpg. Tax is 300 odd a year and insurance was very expensive. Overall, not a cheap car to run but then again its 3 litre with 240bhp (even if it doesn't feel like it). I sold the car after 6 months ownership mainly due to the running costs and ended up buying a 55 plate b5.5 VW Passat TDI 130 Sport, a much better car in almost every way. Feels nippy, steering much quicker, great fuel economy and bulletproof reliability.