"R8 V12 TDI would deliver 23 mpg"

Wow, 23mpg. That's great. Kudos to Audi. This is just the technology we need in these dificult times.

Compared to other 8 MPG supercars, 23 MPG is pretty damn good.

I knew someone would rip them for the 23 mpg. These low production, high cost, high margin vehicles are were new tech is introduced, tested and adopted by customers and manufacturers. I'm impressed by the mpg, power and victories at the track.

DUH!

Peopke keep forheyying how hosed us gas realy is.

It both reduced milage AND power wuch ub turn lead to bigger engines and gastanks. And to make things worse... how did you think the oil companies make more fuel then thier refin eries can refine oil to make??? ya they water it down even further with additives... a few years back they hit a blend of MOSTLY additive during the summer.. dont know if they beat that since.

And cal.. lovely cal raped the planet even more by making thier fuel even worse AND killing diesel to boot...

Now take a typical modern suv... factor i the junk fuel and the fact it had to be gasoline...factor in all the entra energy needed for "CLEAN" gas...add in the thord world nation level road manahement and cramming of fr too many jobs into far too few places.. without roads to get anyone thier.... oh you get the point.

Ever wonder why an old 65 hp 50s car was peppier and better back in the 70s then a 169 hp modern car is now?

But the air is clean.

Wintermane; I beg to differ.My 98 Honda Civic with the small engine and 5 speed is at least as fast as my folks old 58 Ford 292cu"V-8 with manual trans, and gets on average 33-37mpg vs maybe 18mpg.And its LEV so the exhaust is noticeably cleaner-oh, and forgot to mention, safer, with front disc brakes,crisp handling and steering,collapseable steering column and dual airbags and shoulder belts-the 58's safety belts were lap only,and add ons if I recall right.But boy did the engine sound great with the air cleaner off!

I guess the argument is that the technology will trickle down and be used to improve efficiency in middle of the road vehicles. It's all too little too late to address peak oil and climate change concerns. We need a massive shift to electrified transport and not business as usual with a few incrmental changes. Suffice to say I don't share your enthusiasm Mick.

If they want a V-12, make it one liter total displacement.

For an innovative co with impressive innovtions credibility, I'm sorry this is not what we need and will probably loose more of the above than nearly anything I can think of!
I suppose they are only selling to the well healed "I'll be rights" who arent known for giving a rats any way.
Definately this embarasment deserves a place in out the back under an old tarp somewhere.

How dare Audi!

We should protest by riding our bicycles in front of their dealerships!!!!

Richard I was talking about an old car when it was new using the old fuel. Those cars are alot less peppy today not just from age but because the fuel changed. Mind you my dad owned a fairly efficeint sedan back then. Thing is because of different testuing methods you see right now cars that score 55 mpg ero score 35 us EVEN tho voth use gas... add in the diesel advamtage and the fact most fas is highly thinned with aditives now and you get a nightmare.

So how much could be derived from a 1-1.5L 5cyl twin-turbodiesel?

Audi's objective here is to demonstrate that a diesel-powered supercar is no longer an oxymoron. Whether supercars ever makes sense is another issue.

@ Lucas, Fred -

you don't want to make the per-cylinder displacement too small because you end up with excessive mechanical friction and heat loss to the the coolant. On the other hand, you don't want to make it too large, either, because of the high mechanical forces and associated high weight per horsepower.

There's a reason passenger car engines typically feature 300-600cc per cylinder, with 400-500 the norm. A 1500cc diesel will therefore typically feature four, sometimes just three cylinders plus inertial compensation - diesel injectors are expensive parts. An exception proving this general rule is Connaught's high-revving 2.0L V10, but it's intended for an exotic sports saloon.

Commercial vehicle diesels tend to feature larger, more efficient cylinders (750-1500cc each) but also relatively low specific power because they spend much more of their duty cycle at high load and need to last 1-1.5 million kilometers.

The real point about this Audi is why ?

the entire point of a supercar is that the car is optimised for performance and not environmental concerns. The two are mutually exclusive.

If you buy a supercar you are clearly not concerned with the environment. a diesel won't have the sweet sound or high revving nature of a performance orientated petrol engine

Furthermore such supercars are produce in such small quantities that their fuel consumption and emissions are of negligable impact. By all means bring down the average emissions of all cars with diesel technology but it defeats the point on a supercar.

Seems more lik a publicity stunt to me as Audi emissions are one of the worst and one of the few whose average emissions are actually rising.

daniel

daniel,

The Lotus Elise achieves better fuel economy and I have always considered it a "supercar" even though it is very affordable (relative to supercar pricing). Seems like fuel efficiency and performance do not always have to be mutually exclusive and in the case of the Elise, efficiency *IS* the main factor providing the performance for the vehicle.

I would agree that the Lotus elise is a good example of how to achieve good performance with relatively good economy - but 'good economy' can also be misleading.

the fuel consumption figures and CO2 emissions data are dervied by the NEDC test cycle which is very very slow acceleartion and low speed tootling along with lots of stop starts. in other words completely unlike how a supercar is driven.

Most people don't realise that when a supercar is driven hard, it's fuel consumption drops to around 5mpg and emissions rise to well over 1,000 g CO2/km. fitting a diesel will make only a tiny difference to this fact.

The diesel Audi R8 is therfore a pure marketing exercise to aleviate the guilt of a supercar owner( or a hybrid owner for that matter)

This is a dangerous trend in scoiety and makes about as much sense as someone that orders s double whopper burger, supersized fries and then gets a diet coke in the misguided belief that they are being healthy !

daniel