The Audi Mileage Marathon: Day Two

Day Two of the Audi Mileage Marathon found all of us drivers bright and chipper on a crisp fall morning starting out in Washington D.C., the beautiful capital city of the United States and ending in Cleveland, Ohio, home of Case Western Reserve University. And so far, so good. I’ll admit that I’m impressed with how the folks at Audi are handling the logistics of this not insignificant undertaking. All 23 of the participating TDI vehicles were pulled out of overnight lock-down storage prepped and ready to roll—with the day’s waypoints and driving routes loaded into the Nav system and bottles of fresh water stowed in the cup holders. Thanks, guys.

And as I promised in Day One’s blog, here is team Gable/Omotoso’s official Audi-blessed combined average fuel consumption: 29.9 mpg. While I used the onboard fuel consumption display to track our efficiency (30.5 mpg), Audi’s techs have placed for-their-eyes-only precision data gathering instruments (distance traveled, average speed, etc.) in the cargo hold of each marathon vehicle. They also control all of the refueling (at specified Shell stations) to insure no cheating. From this info they calculated our mileage, so if they say we got 29.9 mpg, then who am I to quibble.

We’ve learned a few peculiarities about the Q7’s road manners so we tried some different fuel mileage improving tricks as the day progressed. Each vehicle responds differently to specific eco-driving techniques and we found that our 3.0-liter diesel Q7 does better if we don’t use cruise control (the adaptive cruise control makes the speed vacillate too much as it maintains safe distance). Today we employed more coasting and other assorted secrets, and here were our unofficial results at day’s end: Mike 29.0 mpg. Scott 34.2 mpg. So, when we get Audi’s official numbers in the morning, I’ll post them in a new blog.

And check out this interesting little tidbit: On the Pennsylvania turnpike heading to Ohio, we passed 6 big wind turbines near Somerset, PA. I thought that was apropos. This marathon is all about USING energy cleanly and efficiently. These wind turbines are all about MAKING energy cleanly and efficiently. Very cool, yes? --Scott.

photo - Fueling tech Paul Walter signs the fuel door seal © Scott Gable