1.6 TDI SE 110 5dr Hatchback

Vastly over-rated, very average, sluggish performance

This review is of the loan car which an Audi dealer gave me when my wife's car was off the road.
My first impression was generally favourable in that there is adequate space and the controls are slick in operation. On this basis it's fairly easy to drive. But on thedown side, the 1.6 110 bhp lump is underpowered and suffers from poor low rev torque. You have to get 2000rpm on the clock before the engine starts to pull. This, coupled with the stupidly long gearing means that you are continually changing down the gears to make progress. In particular, 4 up on the motorway, every reasonable hill will have you looking for 5th gear instead of 6th. Note that 6th gear is ridiculously long being geared at about 42mph per 1000rpm.
Whilst the engine is reasonably quiet, road noise is quite intrusive, especially on coa.rse motorway surfaces. Some of the controls are fiddly and the air flow direction knob settings are unreadable from the driver's seat.
i was actually glad to give this one back. The gutless turbo laggy engine is just underpowered for the car. I'm sure the 2.0TDI is a lot better but even so, this was a car that just did not raise any interest or excitement from myself or SWMBO.

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