2014 Q5 post-fix impression

BarryT82

Veteran Member
Joined
Mar 26, 2010
Location
Charleston, WV
TDI
‘12 JSW TDI
Have heard varying opinions on BMW reliability. I am considering an X5d or X3d after unloading my Q5. Any opinion on BMW reliability?
I joined a BMW diesel Facebook group with a lot of good information. Most of them recommend the 2013 and earlier models because they have two turbos and cost a lot less. A lot of people tune them and love the reliability.
 

Miss_Athanatos

Veteran Member
Joined
Oct 21, 2015
Location
Kansas
TDI
2015 Golf SportWagen 6-speed manual; 2016 3500 Ram Tradesman 4X4 6.7L Cummins 6-Speed manual
Depending on when and where in the USA you got your settlement software update on your TDI, you might not be running the same software update as someone else. So it would not be unthinkable to see a real mixed bag of reports back on performance and driveability post-"fix".
 

Onetrack97

New member
Joined
Jan 20, 2018
Location
Dallas area
TDI
2015 Q5 TDI
Depending on when and where in the USA you got your settlement software update on your TDI, you might not be running the same software update as someone else. So it would not be unthinkable to see a real mixed bag of reports back on performance and driveability post-"fix".
Sorry, there is no way that they are still tinkering with the software. That would be a big problem with the government lawyers.

It may learn some based upon altitude and temperature. Or, you really just weren’t very aware of how it operated before the change. Were you operating in Sport mode before the updates?
 

psd1

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Aug 4, 2011
Location
OR
TDI
2006 Jetta 2013 Passat SE 6Man
Depending on when and where in the USA you got your settlement software update on your TDI, you might not be running the same software update as someone else. So it would not be unthinkable to see a real mixed bag of reports back on performance and driveability post-"fix".
Why so you believe that there are area specific tunes?
 

Miss_Athanatos

Veteran Member
Joined
Oct 21, 2015
Location
Kansas
TDI
2015 Golf SportWagen 6-speed manual; 2016 3500 Ram Tradesman 4X4 6.7L Cummins 6-Speed manual
Why so you believe that there are area specific tunes?
I think that VWs records keeping which has been exposed up to this point, as shown in dropping some mid-model year Gen. 1s from the settlement since they can't be "fixed" and the Gen. 1s with dsg transmissions that ended up ruined by the software "fix", is abysmal. The mixed bag of reports of no change for some and noticeable change for others could point to several things: applying one software update to cars with unrecorded mid-model year changes that are incompatible to the software update; or that there are differences in the update software because developments are continuing to be made.
 

Miss_Athanatos

Veteran Member
Joined
Oct 21, 2015
Location
Kansas
TDI
2015 Golf SportWagen 6-speed manual; 2016 3500 Ram Tradesman 4X4 6.7L Cummins 6-Speed manual
Sorry, there is no way that they are still tinkering with the software. That would be a big problem with the government lawyers.

It may learn some based upon altitude and temperature. Or, you really just weren’t very aware of how it operated before the change. Were you operating in Sport mode before the updates?
They're building new hardware for Phase 2 on the 2.0L vehicles...so they're definitely continuing software development in general. No one is scrutinizing, to my knowledge, the actual code being loaded on the vehicles computers, only the effect on emissions. As long as the CARB has signed off on the test vehicles results, there's nothing really preventing VW from continuing to develop and release "fix" updates over time like they did in the EU and UK. Which VW TDI owner whose car operation/performance has changed post-"fix" is going to lookup the CARB test protocol and standards and then test the emissions levels of their own cars?
 

wensteph

Veteran Member
Joined
Sep 8, 2010
Location
Savannah
TDI
2011 Touareg sold to VW 2014 Audi Q5 re-programmed
Had ours done. Drivability is the same, too early to tell about milage. Dealer invoice listed new O2 and NOx sensors. My thought is the change will be to dump more DEF.
 

Gumbus1514

Member
Joined
Jan 18, 2018
Location
Jacksonville, FL
TDI
2014 Q5
12 miles worth of warm up mode? Most of my trips are <10 round trip now. Have watched MMI mpg drop from 40s to 20s with cruise set on a level road for no apparent reason. More noise and the Boss, who has a sense of smell that would make a blood hound jealous, registered the first complaint in 3 years about smell. Feeling screwed! Thinking I should go get a pre catalytic converter car, like a SS454 Chevelle. Might find great satisfaction in sending the CARB sprout heads a “my footprint just grew thanks to you” photo.
 

Q5TDI

Veteran Member
Joined
Jul 10, 2017
Location
US
TDI
Q5
Got mine back last night after the fix. Zero perceivable difference in driving/warm up. Dealer forgot to fill the gas tank. I e-mailed, and since then, my service rep has called 3 times profusely apologizing.
 

flargabarg

Veteran Member
Joined
Jul 31, 2005
TDI
2011 Touareg Lux TDI
Does anyone have any suggestions on where to sell our 2014 Audi Q5 or if they are even selling? I have it listed on Craigslist, Auto Trader, some Facebook pages, etc, but there aren't a lot of people in Kansas, so not a lot of interest so far. It's only got 20,000 miles on it and lots of extras. Do we just list KBB or NADA for a price? We can't trade it in, since we already have two other vehicles and need the money for a down payment on a house, since my husband is retiring from the military. Any suggestions would be great appreciated. Thank You!!!
You can trade in a car even if you're not buying one. The dealership will still write you a check and negotiate just like normal, because they are planning to make money on the car.
 

MacDonald

New member
Joined
Jan 27, 2018
Location
Illinois
TDI
2014 Passat, 2015 Passat 2005 Jetta Wagon
2014 passat non reprogrammed 45 to 50 average mostly highway. Had a couple mid 60's trips with cruise set at 59 to 64, 2015 passat post dieselgate 26 to 28 average. Totally disappointed almost went with a gaser, totally ruined the tdis no point now that they stole the fuel mileage away. We went from seeing 750 to empty to 350 to empty. Driving the cars side by side the 14 smokes the 15 in every aspect. My Ram 2500 with a 6.7 cummins in it gets same mileage as the 15. I am ordering vag-com asap. My 05 jetta gets 48 with almost 300k on it.
 

BarryT82

Veteran Member
Joined
Mar 26, 2010
Location
Charleston, WV
TDI
‘12 JSW TDI
My Q5 TDI is now averaging 22-23 mpg. Before the repair it was averaging 32 combined and almost 40 mpg highway.
 

740GLE

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Aug 19, 2009
Location
NH
TDI
2015 Passat SEL, 2017 Alltrack SE; BB 2010 Sedan Man; 2012 Passat,
2014 passat non reprogrammed 45 to 50 average mostly highway. Had a couple mid 60's trips with cruise set at 59 to 64, 2015 passat post dieselgate 26 to 28 average. Totally disappointed almost went with a gaser, totally ruined the tdis no point now that they stole the fuel mileage away. We went from seeing 750 to empty to 350 to empty. Driving the cars side by side the 14 smokes the 15 in every aspect. My Ram 2500 with a 6.7 cummins in it gets same mileage as the 15. I am ordering vag-com asap. My 05 jetta gets 48 with almost 300k on it.

How short of driving are you doing? Something is wrong if you cant do a 20 mile highway trip 60-75MPH and get mid 40's.
 

KITEWAGON

Veteran Member
Joined
Jun 29, 2009
Location
Seacoast, NH
TDI
2014 Touareg Exec, 2014 JSW
My Q5 TDI is now averaging 22-23 mpg. Before the repair it was averaging 32 combined and almost 40 mpg highway.
Wow. Our Treg only dropped from about 25 mpg to about 23.5 mpg based on the computer....no hand calcs. And some of that could be attributed to the winter conditions, winter fuel and letting the car idle more often to warm it up a little.
 

dunerking

Veteran Member
Joined
Oct 10, 2009
Location
Saugus,Ca
TDI
04 Jetta TDI
2014 passat non reprogrammed 45 to 50 average mostly highway. Had a couple mid 60's trips with cruise set at 59 to 64, 2015 passat post dieselgate 26 to 28 average. Totally disappointed almost went with a gaser, totally ruined the tdis no point now that they stole the fuel mileage away. We went from seeing 750 to empty to 350 to empty. Driving the cars side by side the 14 smokes the 15 in every aspect. My Ram 2500 with a 6.7 cummins in it gets same mileage as the 15. I am ordering vag-com asap. My 05 jetta gets 48 with almost 300k on it.
Wow...26-28 MPG out of a 6.7 Cummins? Must be deleted,2wd,and downhill all the time.
 

Mythdoc

Veteran Member
Joined
Jan 28, 2017
Location
Tennessee
TDI
2011 Touareg, 2015 Q5, 2015 Golf
My Q5 TDI is now averaging 22-23 mpg. Before the repair it was averaging 32 combined and almost 40 mpg highway.
That is messed up. Also, not what I have generally seen from reports post-fix. Open a ticket with AoA?
 

brendaT

Member
Joined
Feb 5, 2018
Location
TEXAS
TDI
2014 Q5 3.0 TDI
Before my emissions fix, I averaged around 31 to 34 MPG. Since the fix it's below 30, usually around 27 or so. It seems to perform about the same, maybe a little more noise. However, I was told I would only loose 1 at most 2 MPG. For me that sucks, I hate gas stations.

I want my old car back :(
 

brendaT

Member
Joined
Feb 5, 2018
Location
TEXAS
TDI
2014 Q5 3.0 TDI
Yes, this isn’t the best time to sell. If you really need to, I’d encourage you to look at the best available offer, mentally add the settlement amount, and tell yourself “it’s not so bad.” That said, I agree that your best chance to get highest return is through a private sale.
I found this website https://www.audiusa.com/trade-in-value
It gave me a pretty good quote for my high-mileage 2014 Q5 TDI. When I go to trade in, I will use this for leverage. Since you're not trading in, you could still use it at carmax, your Audi dealer, etc.
 

Mythdoc

Veteran Member
Joined
Jan 28, 2017
Location
Tennessee
TDI
2011 Touareg, 2015 Q5, 2015 Golf
Tomorrow’s the fix day for me. I’ll post observations. Opinion has been so divided on the effects it has been strange to read. As one whose calculated mpg since buying stands at over 34, it will be interesting to see how the fix affects my fuel economy.
 

Mythdoc

Veteran Member
Joined
Jan 28, 2017
Location
Tennessee
TDI
2011 Touareg, 2015 Q5, 2015 Golf
I just drove the 93 miles home from my dealer with a newly fixed Q5. Maybe I have been luckier than others, but I can’t tell much difference. The car did have higher shift points and more clatter until warm, but once warm, I found I could use my paddle shifters to upshift at the old shift points I was used to. My display showed a slightly *higher* mpg for this post fix trip (36.7) than it had for the prior tank.

Obviously, just a first take, and I’ll keep an eye on it. But I’m pleased so far, particularly since I get paid $4200 now. After I run a couple of tanks through, I’ll be reinstalling my Chipwerke to see what it does.
 

brendaT

Member
Joined
Feb 5, 2018
Location
TEXAS
TDI
2014 Q5 3.0 TDI
I just drove the 93 miles home from my dealer with a newly fixed Q5. Maybe I have been luckier than others, but I can’t tell much difference. The car did have higher shift points and more clatter until warm, but once warm, I found I could use my paddle shifters to upshift at the old shift points I was used to. My display showed a slightly *higher* mpg for this post fix trip (36.7) than it had for the prior tank.
Obviously, just a first take, and I’ll keep an eye on it. But I’m pleased so far, particularly since I get paid $4200 now. After I run a couple of tanks through, I’ll be reinstalling my Chipwerke to see what it does.
What does the Chipwerke do? And how is your mileage now? After driving mine for a few weeks now, it seems to have gotten better. I'm now averaging around 32 mpg with my 2014 Q5 TDI.
 

flgman

New member
Joined
Feb 21, 2018
Location
Arizona
TDI
2014 Q5 3.0 TDI
Another data point on Q5 TDI

Just adding another data point. Had my 2014 Q5 TDI "fixed" last week. Same impressions as the others. It is revving noticeably higher when cold. Once fully warm, not much is different. Seems to hold on to the gears just a bit longer. Not enough mpg logged yet to compare to my previous average. I did notice that there is a bit more delay on startup when cold - ignition is paused just a bit and there is slight bit of vibration I never noticed before the modification. Question to all: are there good options out there to just reprogram our TDI's?
 
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Mythdoc

Veteran Member
Joined
Jan 28, 2017
Location
Tennessee
TDI
2011 Touareg, 2015 Q5, 2015 Golf
What does the Chipwerke do? And how is your mileage now? After driving mine for a few weeks now, it seems to have gotten better. I'm now averaging around 32 mpg with my 2014 Q5 TDI.
So far, my new average mpg is down about 1 from the number you see in my signature. Around 33.5. Performance is much the same, except for the warm up everyone is noticing. The warm-up lasted 10 minutes today on a 70 degree day in Tennessee.

As for the Chipwerke, it is what is called a piggyback tuner. The performance gains and/or fuel efficiency are modest, maybe about 1mpg better and a little more oomph. I unhook mine whenever I go to the dealer so they don’t know I am using it. I haven’t reconnected it yet, because I wanted to run a couple of tanks through to get a new baseline. BarryT86 mentioned his wife is running the Chipwerke again and it helps with the performance.

Another option is an ECU tune. These reprogram your car’s computer to a performance spec you want. It could be original factory or it could be more performance than that. There are several companies that offer it, Malone, JR and others. These void your warranty if Audi catches you using one. You cannot simply unhook it like the Chipwerke and go undetected.

I drove about 30 miles today. I am quite happy with the fix, I must say. I particularly like how thick my wallet feels in my back pocket as I sit in the car, LOL
 

BarryT82

Veteran Member
Joined
Mar 26, 2010
Location
Charleston, WV
TDI
‘12 JSW TDI
I had a JR Auto Tuning stage 2 tune installed before the fix. I sent the new file to them last week and haven’t heard back from them yet. Owain posted in another thread on here that Malone has been selling a lot of tunes for the 3.0 TDI’s post fix.
 
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