Driving Sports

What is it about a long road trip that makes people's eyes light up? Surely it's not the prospect of roadside food, long hours struggling to find a decent radio station, or the inevitable stiff back - at least not for those of us who have attained a certain age.

No, the attraction of a long journey on the road is what you expect to see - and expect to discover - along the way. You might find the perfect barbecue joint in Topeka or the unbelievable bookstore in Denver, and you might find out something about yourself while you drive through Monument Valley or mid-town Manhattan. The point of a road trip is to set out for the horizon and see just where the road takes you.

Of course, for Audi of America, a big road trip can also be about making a splashy introduction for its next generation of diesel-powered cars and SUVs. But don't be fooled, these guys are natural-born road trippers.

Johan de Nysschen is Executive Vice President of Audi of America. On October 5, he joined a group of Audi employees, journalists, and celebrities on what they called "The Great American Road Trip." They set out to cover the United States - coast to coast - in a two-week road trip from the Tavern on the Green in New York City's Central Park to the Santa Monica Pier.  Between the Big Apple and Tinseltown, the route passed through Washington D.C., Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Las Vegas, Yosemite Valley, and Laguna Seca Raceway in Monterey.

And Audi gave the trip a decidedly 2008 twist - instead of a "Cannonball Run" speed competition, they decided to grade each participant on his or her best fuel economy. They even hired IMSA officials to seal each car's fuel door at every fuel stop and record the total mileage, average speed, and fuel consumption for each car.  The previous day's winners and losers were announced each morning of the trip, just to keep things lively.

The caravan included about half a dozen of the new Q7 and Q5 SUVs, a gaggle of the brand new A4 sedans, and a pair of A3 wagons.  Audi staff brought along a variety of other Euro-spec vehicles, including some A8 sedans and a couple of drool-worthy TT  coupes in battleship grey.  All told, about 35 cars made the trip - all of them powered by Audi's new clean-diesel TDI engines.

But the real joy of a road trip is when someone else is paying the bills. Adventurers on the Audi Marathon enjoyed the finest hotels in America, and far from Stuckeys, we ate high on the hog.

I joined the trip in Las Vegas for the final push to the Pacific. But the route wasn't the obvious, direct shot down I-10 to Shakytown, or even the mildly wandering path following old Route 66 (though you should really try that sometime if you live anywhere in the Southwest).  Audi had a much better drive planned for us.

Seeing California The Right Way

Flying into Las Vegas, arriving journalists were met by Audi's team and whisked away to the fabulous Wynn hotel on the strip. After a brief orientation, we piled into SUVs and were treated to an evening at the swank Club MiX on the roof of the Mandalay Bay megaplex.

But the smart among us took it easy on the cocktails, because there was an early morning and a long day ahead of us. We were up early and received our driving assignment: get to Mammoth Lakes at 11,000 feet into the high Sierras by nightfall, and do it on one tank of fuel. I was assigned an A4 3.0-liter TDI sedan, decked out in red and yellow Shell Oil livery.

North of Las Vegas, the highway quickly narrows to one lane in each direction, and you share the road to Reno with Semi trucks and Harleys. But shortly we diverged and descended to the lowest point in North America - Death Valley, at 269 feet below sea level. We stopped there for lunch, and then began the long climb, glancing anxiously at the fuel gauge every few miles. If you had to stop to refuel, you'd break the seal the IMSA officials had placed on the filler and you'd be disqualified. Drafting the big Semis (which were now few and far between) was the order of the day.

We reached Mammoth in the deepening twilight, skirting the beautiful yet lifeless Mono Lake - a relic of the region's volcanic past, Mono is too salty and alkaline to support visible marine life. But a fine dinner and a comfortable bed waited for us, and provided enough rest for the giant bobsled run that awaited us.

Mammoth is almost at the crest of the Sierra Nevada mountains. We began the following morning by climbing the rest of the way to Tuolomne Meadows at the summit, and then entered Yosemite National Park.  Yosemite is among the most spectacular places on Earth, with volcanic and glacier-formed rock faces unlike any others. We dropped from 11,000 to 4,000 feet on the valley floor and were treated to lunch at the exclusive Ahwahnee Hotel, with the park's famed Mule Deer grazing right outside the classic lodge.

Then the competition for fuel economy took hold. The route from the valley floor to the great Central Valley of California is a roller coaster ride - up and down, but trending downwards all the time. For those who weren't afraid to use the Audi's legendary handling, it was a bobsled run that stretched for 50 miles. Building speed on the downhills, and coasting up over the gentle rises, the A4 made it down to Manteca (yes, a City named "Lard" in Spanish) using almost no fuel at all.

Getting across the great California Basin was an exercise in drafting the big produce trucks and coasting up to stop lights. But eventually we had to climb and crest the coastal hills and drop on into Monterey. We were rewarded with our first sight of the Pacific Ocean - a notable goal for those who last looked on open water from the tidal basin in Washington D.C.

In Monterey, we lodged at The Clement, a 5-star hotel located on the town's famed Cannery Row shopping district. Yet we barely found time to shower and change before we boarded the shuttle to take us up above the city to Tehama, a gated resort overlooking Monterey and the bay.

Tehama is a sprawling Californio-style building, with a Spanish-style central atrium surrounded by the main house. Red tile roof and stucco walls completed the picture. There we sat, sipping the finest regional wines and enjoying the sunset into the Pacific, when there was a small commotion near the door.  Turning, it was easy to recognize the tall figure who joined us for dinner - it was Clint Eastwood, former Mayor of Carmel and part-owner of Tehama. He welcomed us to town and invited us in to dine on the local seafood and Salinas valley beef.

As if all this wasn't enough, the next day provided a new and different highlight. We took a break from driving and instead traveled just a few miles to Laguna Seca raceway, where the final round of the American Le Mans Series was scheduled.  Of course, Audi provided hats, flags, and all necessaries for us to properly cheer on the team: a pair of Audi R10 prototype racers. The same cars and teams won this year's 24 Hours of Le Mans back in June, and to seal the year, came in 1-2 after 4 hours of racing on the historic California circuit.

One more night on Cannery Row and we were ready for the last leg. By the way, I won the competition for fuel economy across California. On the big bobsled run, I averaged 41.3 MPG, arriving in Monterey having used only 6.8 gallons since Mammoth.

The final day was both predictable and a fitting capstone to the journey - straight down California's astounding Pacific Coast Highway. Well, straight isn't the right term. It's a winding, climbing, falling route with stone on your left and a sheer plunge into the ocean on your right. The coastal hills of Big Sur fall straight into the sea, while Sea Lions and Elephant Seals cavort on the rocks below.

After lunch at a working winery in San Luis Obispo, we skirted Santa Barbara and settled in for the run through Malibu to our destination: the pier in Santa Monica. You've seen it a million times in movies and on TV, with its signature roller coaster and amusement park built out over the water.

When we had gathered at the pier, we proceeded in formation - with LAPD escort, no less ¬- to a street party in the heart of Santa Monica. One more dinner party, this one less restrained than the others, and one more night in a fine hotel, and the winners were announced at a bleary-eyed breakfast. I'm sorry to say I didn't win the overall mileage competition. That honor went to my friend Jaime Gabaldoni, who won Day 1 and Day 3, but I finished a strong second.

I wouldn't want to leave you thinking this trip was all about posh hotels and grand vistas and great food. I mean, it was, but it was also about making the case for diesel, and that required Audi to make a big - really big - statement with this road trip.

Demolishing Diesel's Demons

Diesel cars have had a bad reputation in the United States - and it's generally a fair rap to say that they've been dirty, underpowered, and no fun to drive. Part of that is because American #2 diesel has been a dumping ground for the gunk and schmutz left over from the petroleum refining process, but part of that has been the fair market evaluation of previous generations of diesel-powered cars.

That history means there's an uphill battle to win hearts and minds for diesel in America. But it's a battle that De Nysschen is ready and eager to fight. He repeated his argument in every city on the trip: "I believe that now is exactly the right time to bring clean diesel technology to this market. Audi clean diesel engines consume about 30% less fuel than gasoline engines of equivalent power. They produce about 25% less carbon dioxide, and Nitrous Oxide emissions are reduced by 90%, while particulate emissions are reduced by 98%. So it's a compelling message, for the individual and for the environment."

Audi achieves these remarkable figures by means of precise fuel injection control and the AdBlue system, in which a small amount of a light carbonic acid solution is sprayed into the exhaust system just ahead of the catalytic convertor. The nitrous oxide in the exhaust mixes with the AdBlue and generates ammonia, which breaks down into nitrogen and water vapor. The AdBlue reservoir is topped up by Audi at every service interval - you never have to worry about it.

Additionally, J.D. Power & Associates projects that diesels will jump from 3 percent of the U.S. market this year to 14 percent by 2017. Working the math, if every one of those diesels was a TDI, drivers would save more than 29 billion gallons of fuel and reduce their carbon emissions by over 250 million tons over the lifetime of their vehicles.

De Nysschen has the environmental stats to please the angel on your left shoulder, but what about the guy in the red cape on your right? What has Audi got for the little devil who's whispering in your ear about how much fun it is to lay into the fast pedal on your S4?

Plenty, as it turns out. Another benefit of taking the new TDIs for a 5,000-mile test drive is that writers like me can look you in the eye and say "Your next Audi is going to be a diesel, and if you don't believe me it's just because you haven't driven one yet."

If it weren't for the fact that I watched them pump the car full of rattle juice from the green pumps, I'd never have guessed I was driving a diesel. Throttle response on the TDI is instantaneous, courtesy of diesel's native torque, Audi's direct injection, and a quick-spooling turbo. There's an astonishing amount of power under your foot, and an amazing amount of quiet in your ears. The 3.0-liter V6 TDI common to the Q7, Q5, and the A4 delivers 240 horsepower and a highly motivational 368 pound-feet of torque. That translates to 0-60 in about 6 seconds. The 2.0-liter TDI in the A3 lays down an impressive 170 horses and 258 pound-feet.

Audi and the EPA say the A4 TDI gets 34 MPG in combined city/highway driving. I found that number to be about right. I drove an A4 north from Las Vegas down to 200 feet below Sea Level in Death Valley and then up to 11,000 feet at Mammoth Lakes, then across California to Monterey and down the Pacific Coast Highway to Los Angeles and averaged about 37 MPG. Now, I was trying to win the mileage competition, but it's not like I didn't have any fun.

And to put the argument right over the top, driving the TDI is patriotic. De Nysschen never tired of pointing out that the EPA estimates that if 1/3 of vehicles on the road in the U.S. were powered by clean diesel, we would save 1.4 million barrels of oil per day. That is exactly the amount of oil we import daily from Saudi Arabia. Europe is already doing this, and we're lagging behind.

"We can dream about discovering new oil fields to make this country less dependent on foreign oil, or we can embrace the technology that achieves the same result," De Nysschen says, before launching into an impassioned plea to contact your representatives and ask them to reduce the taxes on diesel fuel, which are substantially higher than the burden placed on gasoline.

OK, So How Do I Get One?

If you've got your checkbook out now, you might have to wait a bit. Audi's first TDI in the U.S. will be the Audi Q7 full-size SUV. They expect to have the big rigs in showrooms in early 2009. The rationale is that the greatest benefit in terms of reducing pollution and increasing mileage happens when people trade in large gas-guzzling SUVs in favor of greener alternatives.

But whispers along the road were that the next Audi TDI to make an appearance will be the A3 2.0 TDI, which achieved nearly 50 MPG on the mileage marathon. The Q5 and A4 3.0 TDIs are set to make an appearance sometime later.

After De Nysschen's repeated exhortations to call our legislators, he could hardly be offended if enthusiasts rang the phones off the hook at Audi USA asking for the A4, TT, and other TDI options to hit our market as soon as possible.

"Clean diesel makes it possible to create a car-lover's car without the guilt. Yet if they want performance, we can deliver that too," De Nysschen says.

Sounds like a plan.

Photos courtesy Audi of America and the Author.