Audi A3 1.2 TFSi & clean A4 3.0 Diesel for Frankfurt

It looks like Audi are doing their best to match the offerings from BMW at the upcoming Frankfurt Motor Show. But they’ll have to try hard, with BMW bringing their Vision Concept along. Still, Audi are bringing the new S5 Sportback and there’s a chance we could see the R8 ePerformance together with the R8 Spyder.

But Audi are premièring a couple of other – more prosaic – cars at Frankfurt; the Audi A3 1.2 TFSi and the ‘Clean’ Audi A4 3.0 litre diesel.

The A3 1.2 TFSi is a turbocharged, direct injection four-pot which delivers 105 horses and 129lb/ft or torque. That level of power doesn’t exactly make it jump out of the gates, and 0-60 is a somewhat leisurely 11 seconds. Still, it does manage to do 51mpg.

The A4 gets the 3.0 litre turbo diesel that we get in the Q7, which is a nice ‘clean’ version. It delivers fuel at up to 2,000 bars and also has the new eNOX cat which knocks down the levels of NOx emissions dramatically. It does this by churning in an additive – AdBlue – which splits the emissions in to nitrogen and water. The AdBlue should only need topping up at service intervals. The power is shoved to all four wheels through a six-speed Tiptronic ‘box, with the A4 able to deliver 0-60mph in around 6 seconds and average 42mpg.

Sales of both the A3 TFS1 and the clean A4 3.0 litre TDi should start early in 2010.