Audi A3 TDI beats all for Green Car of the Year award , two wins in a row for VW/Audi diesels ......

Re: Audi A3 TDI beats all for Green Car of the Year award , two wins in a row for VW/Audi diesels ..

Well since you used the personal pronoun, I can tell you that you are incorrect.
The power to charge my plug in Prius comes from Solar Power.
However, if you meant 'in general' instead of 'you' then you are still wrong. Coal accounts for approximately 50% of US electrical power. So yes, half coal, about 20% nuclear, some natural gas and a little bit (but growing) bit of wind and solar.

 

Re: Audi A3 TDI beats all for Green Car of the Year award , two wins in a row for VW/Audi diesels ..

Of course the award is just a joke of an award here because the Prius was not the winner, let's face it.

The A3 TDI was certainly the car I should have waited for but the beginning of my huge hwy commute forced me to quickly buy my best option back in June.... Should I have waited… I would not be complaining about cheap interior quality, rattles and creaks, and wimpy MPG during winter, nor worried about blocking the grills or investing in an engine block heater... Oh, well, still no biggie... it is just a car anyways...

 

Re: Audi A3 TDI beats all for Green Car of the Year award , two wins in a row for VW/Audi diesels ..

Well I live "down river" in Huntsville AL. The coal plant is still online and I don't see many neighbors makin' a ruckus about shutting them down. Heck, we have long coal trains passing through Huntsville every day.

I think we've already seen your own figures 'bout NO{x} emissions and some of those Californians are not too happy with them. Then the CO{2} per mile seems higher than our Prius by every measure.

As for the batteries, they are pretty tame and easily recycled. I have hands on experience with them. Is there something specific about the batteries that concerns you?

Good for them. So let's look at this Audi A3:

• $30,000 A3 vs $24-30,000 Prius - one loss for the European
• Smaller A3 vs Prius - one win for the European
• 40 MPG A3 vs 50 MPG Prius - one loss for the European

This doesn't seem like one of those wonder-wagons.

Perhaps you might share this with some of the SUV and Pickup truck forums? You do realize this is a Prius forum. <grins>

Bob Wilson

 

Re: Audi A3 TDI beats all for Green Car of the Year award , two wins in a row for VW/Audi diesels ..

Bob, was your 2010 Prius 100% manufactured in Japan just like mine? I wonder about your statement above...

 

Re: Audi A3 TDI beats all for Green Car of the Year award , two wins in a row for VW/Audi diesels ..

Good point! Still, if the choice is between a German diesel and a Japanese hybrid, I'll take the one with the lower operating cost ... the Prius.

So you think you'll be trading in your Prius for a diesel soon?

You know, Ford is starting to look a lot better. If Ford comes out with a hybrid van in the USA, our GM RV would soon be history.

Bob Wilson

 

Re: Audi A3 TDI beats all for Green Car of the Year award , two wins in a row for VW/Audi diesels ..

Bob, I don't trade cars unless time comes to it. Do I have complaints about my Prius? Of course, people here know well how much I complain about its weaknesses but I'm still overall satisfied with it. I give my Prius a 6/10 grade based on my needs and expectations. I once had a car that I would struggle to give it a 1 or 2/10 grade (luckily it was just 1). My rule of thumb for trading a car is 100K or 5 years, whichever comes first. That rule is only viable with reliable cars. Audi is a brand of choice in my family and I have many friends in the US who trust and have had good experiences with Audis as well. For the record, the Audi Q5 is my car of dreams (I like its design so much, inside out). However, when time comes to replace my Prius, I have no idea what I going to get... there will be so many cool options…

 

Re: Audi A3 TDI beats all for Green Car of the Year award , two wins in a row for VW/Audi diesels ..

Like you, we like to get usage out of our cars before replacement. About half of them we've run them 'till the wheels fall off.'

I'm hoping you'll have a change of heart about some of the 'low hanging fruit' mods: radiator block and possibly block heater. I do the former but am spotty about the latter. We have a block heater but I tend to use it only when the temps drop below 40F.

Who knows what we'll have in 5 years ...

Bob Wilson

 

Re: Audi A3 TDI beats all for Green Car of the Year award , two wins in a row for VW/Audi diesels ..

Scangauge is already ordered. I will do a couple of trips without blocking to see what the temperature variation is during my 5.5-6h-hour-long trips and also check the influence of speed. After that, I will block the lower grill and watch the temp and MPG. I'm excited to see if this is going to work.