Sorry, I think all the hybrid drivers were out enjoying their cars today...

Figuring there are only ~330 of us on the road in the US currently and a few more waiting to be purchased, it's quite against the odds for there to be a lot of us here. I only know of a handful of us who have posted ever...

 

I figured, lol. Mine is sitting in service getting a new glove box cover (original had a crack in it from day one). I also asked them to advise me on the metallic noise I am hearing while accelerating and while they're at it to check the alignment. So far the noise is deemed to be normal, glove box cover is almost done. I am stuck with a 2011 T-reg V6 with nav. I must say regular V6 is not bad at all, not as good as Hybrid of course

Btw: thanks for the photo, however I am still wondering how exactly is the emblem attached to the grille?

 

28.4 mpg on a 35 mile highway trip with ~ 1 mile at each end of local driving

Hit some traffic midway for few miles

Otherwise going 50 mph solid

 

Hit 30 mpg a few points on the way home. Traveled 28 miles with 3-4 miles of local traffic and hitting every red light.

Despite all that, easily made 29.6 mpg from start to finish.

Starting to figure out how to "hypermile" with the T3H. Could get over 30 mpg if I stay at 55-60 mph and draft, time to avoid lights, etc.

 

Impressive, so far I've been getting 16mpg driving like I always do. I want to break her in properly then will see what she can really do

 

If you don't hypermile and just drive like you aren't trying to accomplish anything special mileage-wise, what kind of mileage are you seeing?

 

Over three months driving 50% through gridlock traffic downtown was just over 19 mpg without special effort. For one week I drove alot in sport mode and very aggressively to see how badly I could do in the city-- I got 16.5 mpg and I was literally dumping gas racing from stoplight to stoplight trying to outmaneuver traffic-- a few times using launch mode. Our BMW 3 series got 15.2 mpg with the same style of driving and a dodge journey V6 loaner got 9-11 mpg (and didn't race very well and was literally no fun I might add).

The hybrid is a Jekyll and Hyde. You'll be able to take on any performance SUV this side of the cayenne turbo or X6 M using launch mode, but if you are hypermiling people are going to be a bit impatient with you because you are going just below the speed limit, are not wasting gas flying out of stoplights, or are following a bit on the close side.

 

Exactly what I was looking for thank you!...I like the Hybrid as I think it'll outrun a Cayenne S but it'll do it with some sort of social responsibility (ie: the supercharged V6 w/ electric assist is 1,000,000x more sophisticated than the Cayenne's V8).

Just wouldn't want to throw away the amazing economy I get with a TDI...yes I do want to have my cake and eat it too!!

 

No problem-- the published and third party review fuel economy numbers for the T3H and cayenne s hybrid are not way off. Everyone deals with a different set of traffic conditions and uses different driving styles, so its hard to know how things will work in practice. I wanted to give a realistic picture of the extremes, which if you average out will put you somewhere around or just below the EPA prediction.

If you have lots of freeway miles you'll do very well with the T3H. This is because the 8 speed is nicely geared for highway speeds and the sailing feature saves a ton of gas. It will use a little hybrid power for passing and manage to store away enough electrons to get you a nearly free ride around the city once you're off the freeway.

If you're driving around the city, the parallel hybrid will not be as efficient as a Prius in saving and storing every bit of kinetic energy due to the relatively small motor and battery, but it does probably 20-30% better than gas alone.

In the end it is an impressive bit of engineering. The fact that the same drivetrain is in the cayenne s hybrid and panamera s hybrid says plenty about its ability to perform.

 

Definitely vary your throttle during break in. Have been very happy with stability of oil levels with our engine and have not needed top offs inbeteeen oil changes thus far.

I do feel efficiency has improved with time.

 

Thanks, I am doing a "hard" break in to prevent any oil consumptions in the future.

On a side note got my badges and mud flaps, still waiting for the measurements from you on the badges Also got a whispbar adapter so I can fit my Whispbar cross bars (love them) on my Touareg. Looking into upgrading a mediocre stereo system as well.

 

I discovered something today

I'm getting better mileage in the city using sport mode.

The default drive shifting program tends to do tall starts in second gear, and skips gears to save on fuel. If you have the roads to yourself this is the most efficient program, short of going into e-mode, which is yet more efficient but even slower.

But if you want to keep up with stop and go traffic this ends up being wasteful because you need to dump a lot of gas to keep up with the flow of traffic.

I found that using a very light foot in sport mode is the best compromise of efficiency and performance. I got just under 18 mpg in stop and go traffic and stayed out in front. I can do better in city traffic (approaching 20 mpg) with the regular shifting program but I can't keep up as well given the tall starts.

 

Other than efficiency, sport mode is WAY funner :evil_laugh:

 

I like conspicuous consumption as much as the next guy. Just surprised that it worked out to be more efficient...

 

Question to hybrid owners about an engine start up noise. I am suspecting that timing chain tensioner may be defective? Whenever I start it cold it makes this rattling noise for the first second. Not sure if the 3.0 SC engine's tensioner is hydrolic or not but I've read about similar problems with Tiguan's 2.0T too. Anyway here is the video, you can hear it between 7-8 sec., never mind an Audi title and picture, did this to get some answers from Audi forums as well:

 

It is a tensioner problem. Tensioners let the oil drain away slowly and the cold start happens with a soft temsioner. Not critical, unless the chain starts to cut grooves to the cover pan. If the sound is longer then 1 sec and happens also with a warm engine, get the tensioners replaced.

Question to hybrid owners about an engine start up noise. I am suspecting that timing chain tensioner may be defective? Whenever I start it cold it makes this rattling noise for the first second. Not sure if the 3.0 SC engine's tensioner is hydrolic or not but I've read about similar problems with Tiguan's 2.0T too. Anyway here is the video, you can hear it between 7-8 sec., never mind an Audi title and picture, did this to get some answers from Audi forums as well:

 

Well, decided to install my mud flaps and guess what, no tire iron or a jack!?!?! I understand that we hybrid owners do not have a spare but what if I need to take the wheel off? To make things even more fun my hydraulic jack went all the way up and the wheel was still touching the ground. I ran to an auto store and got myself a tire iron, will try to revisit mud flaps tomorrow :/

 

Really no need to take the wheel off if you don't have a spare to put on. My guess is the can of fix a flat is supposed to get you to a garage or tire shop with the proper tools to take the wheel off. Brake jobs on those won't exactly be a DIY type deal given the nature of the brakes helping to recharge the battery. Something else to think about, did the give you the wheel lock tool or does the Hybrids not have wheel locks on them from the factory?

 

Well, decided to install my mud flaps and guess what, no tire iron or a jack!?!?! I understand that we hybrid owners do not have a spare but what if I need to take the wheel off? To make things even more fun my hydraulic jack went all the way up and the wheel was still touching the ground. I ran to an auto store and got myself a tire iron, will try to revisit mud flaps tomorrow :/

If you have air suspention make sure its in lock before lifting

 

No air suspension for the T3's here in NA, so that is not an issue.

 

Yup, the can of gunk and a compressor is all you need according to VW unless you had the foresight to spec the spare wheel in the options list for a hundred dollars or so.

 

Good to see more Hybrid folks in the forums.

I own an '11 and posted some concerns a while back. Thought it might make sense to get some feedback on this thread.

My biggest issue is the occasional rough disengagement of the electric/gas clutch. When it happens, I'm coming to a complete stop and the stop feature clunks to shut down the gas engine. Not so much of an audible clunk, but rather a feeling in the drivetrain.

I also think that the car starts rough. Seems to jar the whole car when starting. Is it possible that the electric motor starting the gas engine is torquey...more than a traditional starter.

Anyone else have symptoms similar to these?

 

No such symptoms on mine. One thing I noticed is on overnight/cold starts I hear a rattling noise for about 1-2 secs coming from the engine, VW tech tells me it's the timing chain cams filling with oil. Does yours make the same noise? Here is the sound clip:

Never mind the name of the clip, I did so that I could have an S4 community to chime in without asking too many questions.

 

Just finished a long road trip mostly freeway and averaged 22mpg. Most speeds were over 75 sustained. Overall I get 21. If I really try I can get 26. Short ranges higher but I haven't been able to break 26 yet. Love the car.

 

Those numbers are pretty reasonable for driving 75. The sweet spot for fuel efficiency is 55 on the hybrid, which is how I logged those high numbers a few posts back. I could manage that because there was bumper to bumper traffic hovering around that speed that stretched for 30 miles, so a combination of drafting and ideal rpms. So some dense traffic situations actually help efficiency. The C&D review for the Cayenne S hybrid hit 27 in manhattan traffic which I suspect was similar crawling up and down river and FDR drive...

In normal traffic this weekend I did 18 in the city and 22 in the burbs, no hypermiling necessary.

 

If my engine sounded like that Audi at startup I'd be a little concerned. It almost sounds like something external to the engine, not internal. I had a 1975 Toyota Celica that made a similar noise, only at a fast idle. Turned out it was a butterfly valve on the air intake resonating against the air filter housing.

 

I did take it to the dealer,they kept it overnight and said the sound is normal coming from chain tensioner cams filling with oil I'd like to get more feedback from other hybrid owners.

 

So yesterday I decided to test my headlight washers. Couldn't get them to work no matter what I did, so I went back and look in my manual (page 142) thinking I may be doing something wrong, tried it again, nothing. This morning I decided to a dealer and according to my vin I don't have them??? The cutouts are there just not the system. I know that in some lower packages didn't have them but I was under impression that Hybrids and Exec's had them? Does anyone have them on a T3 in US?

 

No headlight washers for US T3 models.

 

Darn, you just added another mod to my list, lol.

 

That's a bummer. The ruddy car is expensive enough, it should have them.

 

There's a great deal on a hybrid in western NY..thinking of buying...hmm.

 

Do it! do it! The only downside of the hybrid is looking foolish with that smile you can't wipe off your face

 

There are some amazing deals on the hybrid out there--
Have you driven one yet? You owe it yourself to drive one, just make sure you spend a good amount of time behind the wheel and drive it in a spirited way in sport mode with the engine warmed to 195 degrees, and with at least 40 psi in all four tires. Then chill out and drive it in regular mode, and electric (e-) mode. This car has a few different personalities and you should convince yourself that you at least like the regular and sport modes before you buy...

After driving everything else put there in the price range I decided its the most fun you can have in a real SUV without spending more than 70k or getting a V8 cayenne S, and without the gas penalty.

With a big discount as old 2012 stock or even bigger discount as a certified former VW exec lease with low miles and less than 2 years, its a no brainer. You can't get a better car in that class without spending $20k more.