Amy’s Garage

by Amy Mattinat

The Winner’s of Wave 3 Are:

Q7: Tom Wilson & Zach Bowmann in Car #3 with and average consumption of 29.5 mpg traveling 1092 miles at an average speed of 52.4 mph.

Q5: Yves Maroselli and Christophe Boulain in Car #19 with and average consumption of 36.8 mpg traveling 1102 miles at an average speed of 52.8 mph.

A3: Should have been Royal Ford and Lauren Fix. They are both exceptional drivers and were kicking butt on all the numbers of anyone who had driven an A3. (On day 1 they averaged consumption of 44.7 mpg traveling at an average speed of 59 mph.) Unfortunately their car had a mishap and they were not able to finish the race.

A4: Kami Buchholz and Amy Mattinat in Car #10 with and average consumption of 36.7 mpg traveling 1086 miles at an average speed of 49.3 mph.

Just to be sure you got this right, The Vacation Team (with passenger Bob Massa of Michelin Tires in tow):

Kami Buchholz and Amy Mattinat

won the overall A4 Wave 3 Audi Mileage Marathon!

Wa Hooooooo they shout while doing their victory dance up to the stage! With their prize bottles of champagne in hand Audi says thanks for driving the car so well, and we say “Thank You Audi” for letting us be part of this exciting opportunity to prove the exceptional performance, efficiency and downright good time of driving your new diesel technology!

Thank you AskPatty for letting me represent “The Premier Automotive Site for Women!”

by Amy Mattinat

The last day of Wave 3

When we pulled into Sedona last night it was so dark that we had no idea what the terrain looked like. We were tired and hungry. The promise of good food and the comfort of a warm bed was all we had on our minds. With a win under our belt, we decided to turn off the navigation system this morning before we even left the parking lot and go on a site seeing tour. Turning the opposite way all the other Audi cars were going, we went to check out the Red Rocks of Sedona.

Have you ever experienced love at first site? Well I did this morning. The red soil, desert plants and weird rock formations of Sedona have called to my heart and I’ve fallen hard! I’m thinkin that I’ll have to have my winter abode here one day.

Since Kami drove down the mountain from Flagstaff last night, I drove back up. The road snaked up, up, up and man, this car handled like a dream. Can’t say enough about how comfortable and solid this vehicle is. The combination of michelin tires, German engineering and me at the wheel, #10 danced her way up the mountain! Add this to the fact that the ultra low emission system of TDI technology cuts nitrogen emissions by up to 90 percent, this is quite the remarkable automobile.

Thanks to Audi we took a detour off the main road and cruised down Route 66 for a spell. We saw some funny road signs, old fashioned restaurants and funky motels. We stopped off at Hackberry’s General Store and saw the sweetest little Corvette. Don’t tell the Audi folks, but I tried to get the owners to swap cars with me, but they weren’t even interested in talking about it.

We were the last car to stop for lunch par usual. Most of the other drivers wanted to make good time / work on getting good mileage in hopes of winning the overall Mileage Marathon in their class. Enjoying the sunshine, the great company in the car and playing tourists were what we were working on.

When man focuses his mind, energy and talent, he can achieve such great success! We stopped at Hoover Dam to witness one such focus.

We pulled into Vegas right at rush hour. The traffic crawled up the strip so we had a great viewing of the glitz, sparkle and madness of Vegas. Pulling into the Wynn Hotel I felt relief and a melancholy feeling. I have so enjoyed driving #10 - Audi’s A4 TDI Quattro, touring a remarkably beautiful part of this vast country and getting to hang out with Kami Buchholz and Bob Massa. I could not have asked for a better driving partner, and traveling companions.

by Amy Mattinat

Car #10 Wins Day 2’s mileage marathon in it’s class!

Every day before we head out on the road, all the drivers gather after breakfast for a briefing by Audi of the route we will take, suggestions for safe and fuel efficient driving and the results of the best average mileage for each class of cars for the previous day. Since we did so much site seeing yesterday we were not even considering that we would be in the running. So we were shocked (and so were all the other drivers in the room) that we won 1st place out of 6 Audi A4s.

This was pretty humorous to us. So many of the drivers were sooooo very serious about their various techniques to get the best mileage, and here two women drivers take the lead and their strategy was to enjoy the scenery and collect postcards.

Yes we were conscience of gentle starts and stops and coasting downhills with our foot off the gas, but that was about it. This said a lot about the advanced technology of the Audi A4 TDI to me. It is so well engineered, that you don’t have to hyperplane behind trucks and put the car into neutral downhills (like some of the drivers did) to achieve great gas mileage. The Audi engineers did all the work ahead of time. This proves that in real world driving, even up and down mountains you can achieve an average of 39 mpg with an average speed of 51 mph when you drive an Audi A4 TDI.

Did we go 51 mph all day? No Way! We were cruising on the straight aways and coasting downhills. We pretty much drove just like we would in our day to day lives.

YEA US!

WE ROCK!

WE WON!

by Amy Mattinat

Day 2 of the Audi Mileage Marathon - Wave 3

This morning at breakfast, Kami, Bob and I all decided that since the Grand Canyon was only about an hour off our itinerary we would turn off the navigation system AKA: ‘Bossy’, and take a detour to see “The Big Hole”. Bob is quite the ‘adventure man’ and has climbed to the bottom of the GC numerous times and helped convince us that a detour was necessary. We wouldn’t have any extra time for hiking, but we did have time for some spectacular viewing. Much to our chagrin, at the morning meeting Audi suggested this very thing and we found a number of various Audi TDI clean diesel models driving around the park.

It took about six hours to get to the Grand Canyon. There were a lot of loooooong straight-a-ways that went on forever. We would be zooming along just fine and then come up behind a large camper vehicle. Our little A4 Audi #10 makes it fun to pass. Don’t tell anyone but I had her up to 100 mph a number of times. The turbo is so quiet, sleek and powerful and those Michelin tires just hug the road. I tried to stay somewhat near the speed limit, but it was hard. We had to reminding ourselves that we were on an Indian Reservation and the speeding tickets were very painful.

While cruising through an Indian Reservation we came upon these red rocks on the side of the road. Reminded me of when I was a child at the beach and I would make sand sculptures by dripping wet sand in a pile.

The Grand Canyon kinda took me by surprise. The roads leading up the park are kind of boring. Mountains in the distance and a lot of scrubby fields between them and the roads. It was a very uneventful drive right up to the place we paid to get into the park. But once we parked the car, it was one of those mind boggling experiences. All I could say over and over was “WOW”.

We viewed the hole from as many angles as possible. From various lookout points and from up a tower.

Number 10 seemed to love the GC too!

It was about 5 pm when we left the park. We were happy to see our pit crew at the designated Shell station . Audi has staff there to take down data, fill the tank and check the car over. The fuel door is sealed and the tech signs off that we have not strayed from anything that would compromise the study.

After filling up the tank with diesel we still had about an hour to go. Heading into Sedona you drive down a very steep incline full of switchbacks. By this time it pitch black outside. We were very happy to discover that our Audi A4 was loaded with a headlight feature that would automatically turn on and dim the bright lights as needed. This was a fabulous thing! Kami was busy keeping her eyes on the road and the car made it as easy as possible to see as much as possible. I’m just loving this car more and more each day!

We were all so glad to pull up to our hotel. Audi is taking such great care of all of us. The hotel staff whisked away our luggage to our rooms and we were invited for food and drinks.

What a fabulous day! A BIG THANKS to Jody Devere for sending me on this adventure for AskPatty.com

by Amy Mattinat

Denver to Durango

Today started the first leg of my Audi Journey. The weather was cold the skies gray and we were told there was black ice on the mountain roads. The weather people were calling for sunny skies, so we had an extra long breakfast and started out on the road about 1.5 hrs behind schedule.

I met my partners this morning: Kami Buchholz and Bob Massa.

Kami writes for www.kjbsyndicate.com and provides her readers with vehicle driving impressions that emphasize the technical features of popular automobiles. She is also the Detroit Editor of Automotive Engineering International. A monthly publication that reports on product development trends. Sounds like she would be pretty high tech and dry… but Kami is so much fun to have in the car. She tells the funniest stories and has a great eye for spotting deer, birds, waterfalls and the biggest wasp nest I have ever seen hanging off a branch of a tree.

Bob is representing Michelin Tire. He is driving the whole way with the Audi Mileage Marathon. That’s 4,800 miles and 14 days of driving. I’m really enjoying to talking to Bob about one of my favorite automotive subject: Tires!

I feel that tires are one of the MOST Important parts of an automobile. Why? because it is the only contact the vehicle has with the road. Bob has been in the tire business in one aspect or another for years and years. I had always had the misconception that to make tires, they poured liquid rubber into a mold. Way Wrong! I learned a lot today about how tires are made. Tomorrow Bob has a video to show me so I can see what he was talking about. I’ll write more about tires after I get the visual to go with my notes.

But What About The Car?

This little Audi A4 TDI (Turbo Diesel Injection) is wicked fun to drive. Hugs the road, has quick pick-up and go - or should I be blunt and say it kicks butt when you need to pass a huge truck carrying a giant road vehicle that is taking up more then half the road and going very slow!

Plus, it is very styling! checkout this front grill. Is it sexy or what?

The trunk is loaded with all of our luggage with room to spare. The seats are very comfy with lots of various ways to adjust the seats. This is always a good thing after sitting in a car for over 8 hours. Bob also claims he has plenty of legroom in the back.

It drives so nice that I keep forgetting it’s a diesel. It climbs the steep mountain roads without a hiccup and hugs the road when cruising down the curvy backside of the mountains.

I wanted to share with you two of my favorite views of the day! The first one is outside the Mt. Princeton Hot Springs where we had lunch, and the second is ‘A Magic Valley’ we found cruising down one of the many mountain roads we drove on today.

Tomorrow we head to Sedona Arizona. I hear the scenery will be even more spectacular!

Audi has welcomed the 43 journalist / photographers / drivers with open arms. We were given some styling clothes for the road trip, good food and a lot of information about the benefits of Clean Diesel Technology of TDI. These diesels meet emissions regulations in every state of the USA, while offering great driving performance and fuel economy.

I was able to corner a couple of drivers from wave 2 to learn their secrets of getting good fuel mileage without having to drive like my grandmother. I was told 3 secrets:

1) Put the vehicle into dynamic range first thing every time the vehicle is turned on.

2) Drive in Manual Mode and there are supposedly some toggle buttons on the steering wheel that I’m suppose to keep hitting to get it into high range ASAP.

3) When driving downhill, take your foot off the gas pedal and coast. Do Not put it into neutral because the car will keep sipping on the fuel, and Do Not keep a slight pressure on the gas pedal because it will also keep sipping gas.

This is a serious test. The cars are only fueled up once per day at a specific Shell Station, and then the fuel doors are sealed so we can’t add any ourselves. The vehicles also have an on board data to gather information. These guys are not fooling around!

Denver is cloudy, rainy and cold enough that the rain now falling is rumored to be snow by tomorrow. Will be interesting to see how this vehicle handles in the cold and on snowy mountain roads.The car should not be a problem, the Audi A4 3.0 TDi quattro is all wheel drive. It remains to be seen how the tires handle. The have outfitted the A4s with Michelin Primacy HP tires.

Onward Ho and away I go!

by Amy Mattinat

I’m off on an adventure!

Tomorrow morning I get up bright and early to hop on a plane to Denver Colorado.  Jody Devere from www.askpatty.com asked me if I would like to represent Ask Patty and participate in the Audi Mileage Marathon by driving a new Audi A4 TDI Clean Diesel from Denver to Las Vegas. Of course I said YES!

The Audi Mileage Marathon started on Oct. 6th. A Fleet of 23 diesel-powered Audi’s rolled out of NYC and started heading west. The first wave was from NYC to Chicago. The second wave was from Chicago to Denver. I’m on the 3rd wave: Denver to Las Vegas. The last wave will be from Las Vegas to Los Angeles.

This mileage marathon is a way for Audi to introduce the USA to their new clean diesel technology. Most Americans have a preconceived notion that diesel fuel goes into trucks and is very smelly, dirty and it makes the vehicle hard to start.

Clean diesel is all the rage in Europe, and I am psyched to get my hands on the wheel of the Audi A4. Its a 3.0 liter, turbo-diesel V-6. Otherwise known as a high performance touring sedan.

The fleet also consists of the Q7 SUV, the Q5 and the A3: a 2.0 liter 4 cylinder sportsback. I will try to get some drivers to switch cars with me so I can check them all out, but there seems to be a little competition going on with the various teams trying to get the best mileage possible in their group.

Getting the best gas mileage means going under the speed limit. Put me in an Audi turbocharge and ask me to go slow? This is a bit counter-intuitive… but I will try and control myself and follow the game rules and try to get the best mileage possible.

Will be updating each night and will take pictures of my adventure to share!

by Amy Mattinat

Yes, there are Jeeps that Swim!

They drive on the road right into the water and float away being propelled by a propeller!

Back in 1941 during WWII the US Army decided it needed a swimming jeep (known as a SEEP - Sea Jeep) to ferry the big wigs to and from ships off-shore so they could direct the battles. They built about 13,000 of them.

Only…. out in the field they got stuck easily in the mud, and tended to tip over and sink in rough waters. Instead of fixing the problems the US Army gave most of them to Russia. For more history you can to Wikipedia.

Anyways… one of the automotive technicians that works at my shop Auto Craftsmen hangs out with a group of like minded WWII buffs, who enjoy finding old jeeps, tanks, big guns, amphibious jeeps and restoring them. The Crew has been working on this Seep for a while now. The engine had to be rebuilt, various parts hunted down and it was painstakingly put together and painted. Looks Great!

I had the honor of being invited to view the maiden voyage and go for a ride if it didn’t sink.

Last Sunday morning I got a tour of the groups “toys.” They had two buildings filled with thousands of parts & pieces (supplies) and numerous vehicles and big guns. I wanted to ride in them all… but today was all about the baby duck.

I followed the Seep down the road to a small lake. They monkeyed around with it for a while making sure it was “just so” and once they were ready, they jumped in and headed for the water.

Jim is sitting in the passenger seat. He does not like the water much and claims that he sinks like a rock… but he rebuilt the engine and wanted to make sure it was running well.

Some may say these are brave men to take the first ride. When I watch ‘the boys’ do these kind of things I call it “brute strength an ignorance.”

They drove around in a circle for a bit and I could see Jim had that funny look on his face that usually meant “we have a problem here.” He kept looking down and was waving his arms about.

Jim had opened the hatch that led to the transmission area and noticed that we’re taking on water Caption!

If you look closely you will notice that the boat-jeep is leaning a bit to the right.

Those of us on shore watched in amusement as they quickly headed to dry land. When they pulled onto the ramp we noticed a deluge of lake water coming out the bottom of the Seep.

Seems that someone had neglected to put in that last plug. But that did not stop them. They jumped into a pick up, raced back to the shop to bring back the ‘box filled with various sized plugs’.

Of course they found just the right size, plugged up that major hole and jumped into the jeep and drove it back into the lake.

This time there were no problems and it went in and out of the lake all afternoon giving each of us a turn to drive into the water.

Would you jump in the Seep and go driving into the lake?

I had to travel to Cleveland Ohio, so I booked my airfare and rental car online at my new travel website: www.vttravelexperts.com. It was quick, easy and inexpensive. Please feel free to book your next trip on my website!!!

I picked National because the prices were good and the logo was green. OK, so this is silly, but I haven’t really found that much difference between the various companies.

My friend Leigh Anne dropped me off at the Cleveland airport rental car center. I walked up to the National Rental Car counter gave the gal my name, driver license and credit card. She pulled my information up on her screen, looked up at me with a smirk on her face and told me she could not give me a car, because I had been black listed.

Say What? I told her this was not acceptable and I wanted to talk to someone in charge. I had to make the phone call… and found out that someone in Texas who was a very bad rental car driver had the same license number as I did. I handed the phone to the salesperson and the person on the phone gave her the “word” that I was OK and to rent me a car.

If I was thinking coherently (it was early and I stayed up way too late gabbing with Leigh Anne all night) I would of asked for a FREE CAR!

I had a choice of any mid-size car on the lot. I picked the Dodge Avenger because it was a pretty blue (yes I let color dictate my choices a lot!), it would get good mileage and I had never driven one before.

What I Liked: My car had a 2.7 V-6 motor. It had a lot of spunk on the highway, drove very smoothly, and I felt very safe and secure passing those huge 3 sectioned semi-trucks that are so abundant on the Ohio highways.

It had an amazing amount of trunk space! I think trunk space is key in picking out a vehicle. All the seats except the driver’s seat folds down, so if you had no backseat passengers you could turn it into a hatchback.

This vehicle has Disc Brakes in the front and Drum Brakes in the rear. Some may whine about not having Disc Brakes in the rear… but the car is small enough that it doesn’t really need them, and it is way more economical to have it set up this way. Two sets of Disc Brakes can be very pricey when replacing them.

What I didn’t like: I just hated those seats. See the way the sides curve up, well it is most annoying on your thighs.

I had 4 different passengers over the weekend and not a one cared for the seats. Seriously… I would think that designers would spend a little more time on the seats… which you sit in every time you drive the car!

The turning radius of the Avenger was very unimpressive. I drive a Honda CR-V most of the time and am always pleasantly surprised how superior the turning radius is every time I make a sharp turn. But then if you were not spoiled like I , you probably wouldn’t notice.

Cruising on the web, folks claim their Dodge Avenger gets on the average 25 mpg. Not bad. All in all it was a good little rental car, but next time I need to rent a car I would choose another just because of the dreaded seats!

According to the Car Care Council:

• A family of four traveling 500 miles each way by air will spend $1,324 for tickets, based on 2007 fourth quarter statistics from the Bureau of Transportation Statistics. {And we know that price is way higher now!}
  
• If gasoline prices were $5.00 a gallon, the cost for a family of four traveling by a SUV would be $314.00
• That is an Average Savings of more than $1000.00

Benefits of a Road Trip Vacation VS Flying to a destination:

1. You don’t have to get up at 4 am to start traveling
2. No airport parking
3. No waiting in line and no security lines
4. No weather delays
5. You can pack all the clothes and shoes you want
6. You can bring food and beverages for the trip
7. You can bring bikes and skateboards, golf clubs and your bocce ball set without paying extra money.
8. You can stop and stretch any time you want
9. No rental car or taxi expenses
10. More legroom and comfortable seats
11. No strangers sitting (on top of you) next to you
12. You can (escape from your family) cut your vacation short, or change your location without paying any penalties for changing your plans on short notice

What road trip vacations are you planning for this summer?