2015 Audi A3 E-tron First Drive

Edmunds.com

2015 Audi A3 E-tron First Drive

The Audi A3 E-tron promises 31 miles of electric range along with its punchy hatchback performance. We take it for a test-drive to see if it delivers.

Read the full story here

marcos9

Would make a great commuter vehicle, although getting a used TDI would most likely get you better mpg-per-dollar over a ten year period. Then again, I would think that would apply to almost any vehicle with four cylinders.

quadricycle

Considering that the company has the technology, they should have made this a diesel hybrid. If you look at the diesel vs hybrid tests that have been done, the hybrids rock at city mpg and the diesels rock at cruising down the road and beating EPA estimations. Now why don't we just combine the two? All Audi would have had to do is borrow one of the already certified VW U.S. diesels, give it a brief rework to smooth it out a little more and give it slightly more power, and couple it with these electric motors. You wouldn't need as large of a gas tank since diesels get better range so you don't lose as much space in the trunk. The only downfall that I can think of is that you'll be adding even more weight, especially if it needs an exhaust treatment system.

cjasis

Maybe I mised it but... how much?

darthbimmer

With its clear A3 styling this car certainly looks much better than BMW's misbegotten i3. As a hybrid with a real gas engine with real range available for after the electric battery runs out it's also a much better proposition than the i3's absurdly limited gas capability.

dfelix70

Yes, looks better than the i3,but the i3 is a specialized, singular vehicle. This A3 is also going to be the gas and diesel powered models. With that in consideration, this is a pretty dowdy looking car. the previous A3 wagon/hatch looked so much better.

danwat1234

I concern I have is extended range real world MPG. The Volt gets highs 30s, maybe 40MPG.

Also, at what temperature will the engine be forced to cycle on at? With 2013+(and some 2012s) Volts it is 15 degrees Fahrenheit. With 2011/most 2012 Volts it is 25 degrees. It is just to assist with helping to heat the cabin with engine heat, not to help heat the battery, so pointless.
With the C-max plugin hybrid I've heard it is 39 degrees F but not confirmed.
What about the Audi? It would be highly annoying to have the engine running when going a few miles to the grocery store with a full battery pack on a winter day.

I've heard from another article that it has only a 8.8KWh battery pack for 31 miles of EV range. Whereas the Volt has a 16.5KWh battery (~10.5KWh used) to go 38 miles. So I have concerns about long term reliability of the Audi battery pack since it will be used with wider SOC ranges than the Volt pack. Though the Audi has less powerful electric motor (55HP instead of 150HP).

Note the Volt, Hacked, can do 0-60 in about 6.5 seconds by locking the engine to the e-CVT at lower speeds than the OEM software would, so it's faster than the Audi! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hA4fLSuvkk8