At least its the first indication I can see coming from the AoA masthead and not just auto-rag speculation. No indication of what or when other than "later on the new A4." It's at least something.<ul><li><a href="http://www.audiusa.com/audi/us/en2/experience/technology/Audi_TDI.html">TDI initiative on the North American market (last sentence)</a></li></ul>

I'm turning the wheel, but my 3.0TDI A4 goes straight - do you know why? Maybe because it is 130kg heavier than 2.0TFSI?

Not that it wasn't out there mind you and I just didn't see it until now :-)

The 3.0TDI engine is a remarkably light diesel powerplant. There's a lot of metallurgical savvy that's been applied to that block. As evidence of that consider that BMW's TDI with a zOMG aluminum crankcase weighs a whopping 10 pounds less than Audi's same-displacement engine.

Another way of looking at it - the 3.0TDI weighs 219 kilograms. I'd wager at least $5 that the outgoing 4.2 V8 from the S4 isn't much less than that.

I keep hoping that the reason Audi is only bringing in the 2.0 Avant is to make room for the 3.0TDI. No point selling 3 engines in a car with a limited market.

The Audi Marathon site only lists the A4 3.0 TDI getting 32/23/27 MPG. Hardly the 56 MPG that was just clocked in a Jetta Diesel driving all 48 states.

To me it would make sense for Audi to get a diesel in the A4 in the US. The best way to get people's attention will be to have some high-mileage figures to show and a Q7 just won't do that.

On the other hand, neither will 32/23/27 in an A4.<ul><li><a href="http://www.audimileagemarathon.com/">Audi Diesel Marathon Page</a></li></ul>

There's the promise of something that's almost too good to be true with the TDIs, good to great fuel economy combined with Eye of Sauron power.

Audi has been having a tough time communicating fuel consumption figures here in the U.S. though it seems. "The new A4 gets up to 15% better fuel economy." "Except in the U.S. where city mileage increases by 1 mpg." I no longer trust any of the fuel economy numbers I get unless they come out of my calculator.

I'm wondering if those are Audi's estimates for what their EPA numbers will grade out to be? Given that the EPA values are worthless for diesels for whatever reason - compare the real world mileage for that Jetta to the EPA 29/40 for the 2009 Jetta diesel for instance.

Audi can't claim mileage that's better than their EPA stickering right? So maybe the numbers, which look ****ty, reflect some degree of sandbagging. If that's true, applying some Kentucky windage based on the Jetta Actual/EPA ratio (1.4X) suggests we'd see highway consumption on the order of 45 mpg or so, which is inline with published figures for the car in Germany is it not?

The only thing that is certain is that the EPA estimating methodology is crap.

Q7 V6 TDI will likely be 18/25.

the epa test and diesels don't work well together. the European test also provides somewhat inflated numbers. So the difference between the two for diesels is huge.

rude awakening.