A4 Common Rail TDI Engine

Before I ordered the car I hadn't realised that Audi/VW were putting out some new engines into the market. I had already assumed that some form of common rail technology was used.

I have had several generations of Audi Tdi's.

My first was a 1996 A4 1.9 Tdi with a whopping 90hp. However it was a really decent motor and pulled very well, even on the autobahn it was pretty quick. I loved that car apart from the aircon never working. The engine noise was typically very dieselly.. with almost a hammering or nailing sound.

The next time with an Audi engine was a 2004 A3 with again the 1.9Tdi engine, but this time in a 105hp version. Very different sort of sound - more sporty and certainly an improvement. However still very much a diesel sound, particularly at low speed. Didn't match the smoothness of the 5 and 6 cylinder diesel engines.

Then in 2007 I had one of the A4's with the newer 2.0Tdi. This had something like 136hp (for tax reasons). It was decent, if a bit heavy on fuel initially and had these sudden situations of running out of oil. It's the only car I have had to drive with a bottle of oil tucked in the boot - since it would happen almost instantly.

Now the new A4 comes with this 2.0Tdi engine set at 143hp utilising a common rail. The engine is stunningly refined. You simply don't hear it. In fact what you tend to hear is the faint turbo whistle - as you remember from some of the first turbo cars.

What I find strange is to select the gears because you don't really know where the engine is in terms of performance. In some respects it feels a bit flat in torque and power low down in the rev range - yet when you start to accelerate from that point, the car is suggesting you select an even higher gear (for economy) and you don't think the car will be able to pull - but it does. The gearing is certainly better than my previous A4 which had a very short first gear and there was then a hole to 2nd gear. Now the first gear feels a bit longer and to a certain extent gives you a bit of a fright when pulling away from a junction - as if the car will bog down even in first.

Anyway, so far, loving it.