joebird

Audi ceases CVT development | New and Used Car Reviews, Research & Automotive-Industry News & LeftLaneNews

qqq1970

I can see the merits of CVT, but for a premium brand striving to promote driving dynamics and narrow the gap with BMW, CVT seems at odds with that strategy. Kudos they are replacing that with S-tronic.

Speaking of which, BMW just launches its first FWD 2 series active tourer. Seems BMW and Audi are moving in opposite directions.

thedjm

Hallelujah. Good riddance to it.
Now if we could just get the dual clutch in the A6 we'd have a winner.

John Simcox

In Europe Audi have already begun to drop the CVT box. The new A6 2.0TDi Ultra has the 7 speed S-tronic (dual clutch) box instead of the CVT on the old 2.0TDi. We also get the S-tronic box on the 3.0TDi quattros with the exception of the BiTDi which has the 8 speed Tiptronic box because of the power and torque of the engine. Suspect Audi USA see marketing benefit from the word Tiptronic and being able to offer 8 rather than 7 gears. We also get the option of 6 speed manual cars on the fwd versions

qqq1970

My suspicion is the decision to use 8 speed Tiptronic instead of 7 speed S-tronic standard in ROW 3.0T is to improve fleet fuel economy under US CAFE rules. Another reason is to differentiate S6 from A6 for marketing reason.

I tested S4 which has S-tronic and there is no marked difference over Tiptronic. However the sport rear differentials make a big difference. That is available as an option in ROW but not here. I wish we have that option (and maybe air suspension) which will transform the driving dynamics.

saintor1

Except that the CVT is much more efficient, not being a Q is helping.

2014 CVT 25/33mpg
2014 A6 2.0Q 8-sp. 20/29mpg

20-25% difference is no small deal.

irenesbob

I am having a problem understanding this post. What does the phrase "except that" refer to in terms of posts prior to yours? I'm just trying to get your point.
The CVT vs. Tip/Quattro mpg numbers you quote are significant. I find the “combined” numbers even more strikingly different 23 (Tip/Q) vs 28 (CVT) – the CVT’s is just 1 mpg less than the Tip’s highway number; “combined” is where I drive.
The 0-60 numbers explain some of the mpg difference: CVT 7.4 seconds; Tip/Quattro 6.7 seconds with the extra weight of Quattro. I wonder what the mpg for the CVT would be if Audi had geared it to achieve the same 0-60 in 6.7 seconds. The HP and Torque numbers are the same and the CVT is lighter, so something is making it accelerate in a more relaxed way. The two configurations of A6 are not really apples to apples in that regard. The ability to drive when there is deep snow and ice - now that for me is priceless.

John Simcox

The CVT gearbox is more efficient at a steady speed because it can achieve a gear ratio much higher than would be possible in a fixed ratio box, hence Audi were able to offer impressive EU economy figures. However in real world driving these were never achieved (look on any UK Forum and you find huge number of posts from people with 2.0TDi Multronic C7s complaining about the poor fuel consumption). The reason for this is that as soon as you go to accelerate the box drops to a much lower effective ratio than would be case with a fixed ratio box (that is relying in part of the torque of the engine) and thus the revs are much higher and it burns more fuel.

DB22

John, may we assume that you are in the UK or somewhere else in the EU? Is there confusion between the gallon sizes of the EU and the US with respect to miles per gallon? Does the whole of the EU use litres and if so in which context, I.E. litres per 100 miles? Does the UK have the same configurations as the rest of EU, I.E. no 3.0TDI etc?

(again, your location in your logon would be useful so that you could be asked location specific questions).

John Simcox

Yes I am in the UK. The whole of the EU use Litres (and quotes consumption in litres/100km) whilst in the UK we usually talk about miles per gallon (imperial of course!) although we buy our fuel in litres!

Currently the UK market for cars is heavily skewed towards diesels die to past government policy being focused purely on CO2 emissions when it comes to vehicle taxation meaning that a diesel costs less in tax due to the lower CO2. We therefore get limited choice when it comes to petrol cars, especially those targeted at the company car driver. For the A6 the only petrol versions we get are the S6 and the RS6, all others are diesel. We get four diesel options 2.0 Ultra, 3.0 (204bhp), 3.0 (245bhp) and 3.0 BiTDI (313bhp). In Germany they get many more engine options including 2.0, 2.8 and 3.0 petrol.

Quattro (in the UK) is only available on the 3.0 diesel engines (plus of course the S6 and RS6). The lower powered 3.0 diesel with FWD and the 2.0 diesel are offered with either 6 speed manual or currently the multitronic auto, but that is begin phased out with the original 2.0 engine replaced with the 2.0 Ultra engine which when speced with Auto now gets the s-tronic box. The A7 has already been announced with the 3.0 Ultra engine and the A6 will get when the facelift is announced (Paris motor show in October?). They will aos get the S-tronic box.

The Ultra engines see Audi including the addition of Urea technology in order to comply with the latest EU emissions regulations. They have now decided that whilst diesels emit less CO2 they emit more Nitrous Oxide compounds and these are actually more harmful to humans. It is expected that this may see a shift away from diesel back to small turbocharged petrol engines. Volvo have already announced that going forward none of their cars will have an engine with more than 4 cylinders and capacity of more than 2.0litres. High performance versions will incorporate hybrid KERS like technology

Hope that helps and I will update my signature to show my location