Audi Introduces 1.8 TFSI as Efficient Choice for A5

There is a push worldwide to create cars with ever higher levels of efficiency both in emissions and fuel consumption. The problem with this is twofold: to truly have a fuel efficient engine the driver is going to have to give up some overall speed and over the past half century cars have gotten increasingly heavier to improve safety and add luxury features. 

Audi thinks that it has cracked this nut with its new 1.8 TFSI that it will introduce initially in the A5 and will come to other models later. The 1.8 liter four-cylinder makes 170hp and 320 Nm of torque and returns 5.7l/100km, or 41 mpg US, and produces 134g of CO2/km. 

To get such high torque and low consumption Audi has used a combination of direct injection and indirect injection on the engine. It uses the direct injection system when the engine is under full load and switches to indirect injection when under partial load. This system means that the 1.8 TFSI already conforms to Euro 6 standards, which are not mandated until 2015. 

The other innovation in the engine is the use of a fully electronic coolant regulation system. The system in controlled by an electronic motor instead of being run off the engine like most coolant systems. The advantage is put less load on the engine and, according to Audi, it allows the engine to come up to temperature more quickly, which also reduces CO2 emissions. 

All of these systems have reduced engine weight to 131.5kg, a reduction of 4.5kg. 

The 1.8 TFSI is the base engine in the A5 and starts at €34,200 in Germany.