aretardedorange

I have put 5k miles on my CVT, car was delivered to me back in May. Its great, no complaints. Haven't had any issues.

Although, the other day I was backing out of my garage when I had to abruptly apply the brakes and the noise that resulted was awful. I rolled the windows down and did a few more tests....backing out and applying on the brakes and the car was making a awful metallic noise. Like BANG literally.

Later that day the noise was gone. Never heard it again. No idea what that was about, it was the first cold day here and the car hadn't been driven in a week or so. It was coming from the rear of the car.

I do plan on keeping this car for a good 8-10 years so I will be extended my warranty.

Diogenes

Thanks.

peterlandler

WHat kind of MPG are you guys getting on your CVT? I've only had my car for about a week but I've noticed I'm not getting anything close to the advertised 25mpg city. I do a lot of shorter trips (1-2 miles at a time) and it seems like i'm usually getting 15-17mpg, even without driving like Mario Andretti.

480Tyler

I have had mine since May with around 6800 miles on it. I have not been on a road trip yet, but around Phoenix I have been averaging between 28-29.5 MPG. I don't rely on the computer as it is either higher or lower than what I am actually getting. For a guy that works with numbers all day it does frustrate me. With the amount of stop and go traffic I get into I have been happy. Starting from a stop is frustrating at times. Turbo lag, CVT transmission, or just having a 4 cyl engine in this size of a car, gets annoying. I have gotten use to it and now know how to start from a stop, but when I am driving my wife's mini van and it just "goes", when the light turns green, it just frustrates me a little. I do enough driving the MPG was important to me.

The only other thing that bothers me is the lack of the advance key in the 2012 model. This would rank as the most frustrating thing about the car. Overall two pretty minor things, but I do enjoy all the compliments I get about the car.

newmoon

Whoa 28-29.5 mpg is pretty good. What are your driving conditions like?
Yes starting off is very different. In a conventional auto, if you start off and pile on the revs, the torque converter will actually multiply the torque, so this method rewards you with even better acceleration. In a manual and I guess with the CVT, it's a recipe for a burnt out clutch, so I would advise against it. If you want to prolong the clutch life, I would drive the CVT just like a manual and keep the revs low on start off, and until the clutch hooks up completely. It takes about 2 seconds according to the Audi technical information I have read.

Actually the same may apply to the S6 with the S-tronic/DSG because it uses a clutch as well.

newmoon

Only had it for 1 week? Are you still on the first tank of gas? Usually the dealer leaves the engine idling for long periods of time while they are prepping it, or you may even be doing this yourself while you explore your new car's features. My long-term mileage readout was trashed at 18 mpg or something because of this, so I reset it at my first fill up and it now reads 29 mpg or so, albeit with mostly highway miles.

But yeah, short trips are a killer as well. I think all modern cars run rich and burn extra gasoline on startup to warm up faster and keep emissions under control. Even here in warm Florida, it takes about 5 miles for the coolant to get up to temp. In my old Lexus with temps around freezing, it could take up to 15 miles before everything including the tranny got up to temp. So if you only drive 1-2 miles at a time, the car may be always in this warm up mode getting poor mileage, and then you shut it off and it cools down so has to start again.

480Tyler

[QUOTE=newmoon;24365018]Whoa 28-29.5 mpg is pretty good. What are your driving conditions like?

About 20 miles freeway, some stop and go, but avg speed is probably around 55mph. 10 miles streets on and off the freeway with avg being around 45 mph. I don't drive it hard, but like others have said the 35-60mph is a nice sweet spot when you want to accelerate quickly.

peterlandler

Yes, still on the first tank of gas but my daily numbers are still coming in at 15-17mpg. I did do some "longer" trips (for me, at least) over the weekend and I was at least in the low 20s but still short of the EPA numbers. I'll see what the situation looks like in a few more weeks.

newmoon

Another thing I can think of that may cause poor mileage is you should not set the climate control to the lowest temp. The A/C uses a variable displacement compressor which will hammer your gas mileage if you make it run at full tilt. Usually I just leave it at 74F, and even after being parked in the hot Florida sun it will automatically increase air flow and I think decrease the outlet air temp to cool the car quickly. On the efficiency screen I see the A/C uses up to 1/6 gal/h when doing this, and it is now decreasing to 1/8 and lower as we go into winter.

MonzaA5

Quattro + 8 speed tiptronic is a no brainer for $2,200 (which is only 5% of the car's overall cost).