Well I waved goodbye to the RS3 and said hello to the A3 e-tron
Why I hear you ask, whilst the RS3 was brilliant, very fast very capable car, I just didn’t use it enough to make it worth the amount it was costing;
Fuel
Depreciation
Monthly payment
Road tax
Insurance
The car was averaging 20ish mpg and in the winter it was below 10mpg going to the station, I decided this was not something I was going to be able to live with long term.
So time for a new plan, first started to look at an A1 but decided the interior was just going to be a step in the wrong direction, so sticking with an A3 was the way.
Next was choice of model, had to be s-tronic, must be petrol (diesels are no good for short journeys), so I decided on looking at a couple of 1.4tfsi and 2.0tfsi cars that had really nice spec and had been pre registered or done a few 100 miles, there was just something wrong with them, one was colour the other was spec.
It then dawned on me I was still choosing the wrong car, actually what I needed was electric, well part electric anyway. Lots of research later, the choice was already there, anyone else other than Audi dealers were offering terrible trade in on the RS3, so it had to be an Audi, that removes all but one car, the A3 e-tron. Some negotiations later and after talking to what seemed half the dealers in the country, a deal was done with West London Audi, I still had not driven a car by then, but I was convinced it would just be like any other A3 (I’ve had 4). How wrong was I! it is better, does it have the performance handling or road presence of an RS3? No, but everything else is better, to start with it is so quiet, this is not only on electric power, but also on petrol power, there is a symbol on the dash to tel you it is running and you need it. The s-tronic gearbox is even smoother than in all my other cars I’ve had. It is freakily quite in town with just a slight electric motor hum which I’m sure they have put in to make you feel like it is doing something.
Now for the acid test will it save me money? Joe has announced he wants to go to Cambridge, so it better as I can image that will be a fortune.
The real world answer so far is a resounding yes! I’ll ignore any changes in payment for the car as in the real world I need to own a car and I like cars with a warranty for everyday transport.
Brochure says it will do up to 29 miles on electric power, so far the best I have managed is 23, now considering I charge the car overnight, it costs around 80p less than 4p per mile! Most of my driving will fit in to the electric range so it is a winner.
Now, my worry was how good\bad it will be on a run when using petrol, I have not gone any distance any real distance apart from driving it home, went via the A40 M25 route home and the car showed a really impressive 60mpg, this is much better than I expected. Only time will tell if this continues but I reckon it will.
It is absolutely the way forwards for cars, it drives seamlessly between electric and petrol power, the brake by wire for regenerating power is very good and feel almost like a normal pedal, the AC and heating all work well powered by the battery but do sap a lot of power from the batteries. I am so impressed I have put down a £1k deposit on a Tesla 3 and ordered a charging point to be installed at home. Oh and it is quite fast as well when you use both electric and petrol at the same time as it is over 200hp!
Agree with you on they’re the future. We have a few hybrid’s that come into work for stuff, and they’re pretty good - each generation they get better. Very spooky doing 50 mph with no engine sounds.
Fisker had the right idea though. Petrol engine running at most efficient fixed rpm when needed to turn a generator only, electric drive to the wheels or charge the battery, cost killed them sadly.
is it basically the same car as the Golf GTE? mate has one in norway and it was very interesting
maybe a stupid question but did you just drop £30k on a new car to save money on petrol?
Nice choice of car 
Basically yes, same running gear, better spec and not much more expensive.
No, also got rid of the gas guzzling, but brilliant, car my RS3, just not the right car for my use.
Just didn’t need a car like that. I just see the car as the future and it will allow us to have a great fun car, a great diesel (Q3) for all the load lugging and a super Eco friendly car (e-tron) for short journeys and when they ban even the cleanest diesel like our Q3 from the local town.
Ade, I think you might have my next car.
But seriously, are you Gollum of the 4 rings?
Yes I think I am
Bit of an update, took it for a longer drive yesterday, was a bit worried it would not be as good on fuel once you had depleted the batteries and we would have been better off in the diesel Q3.
Round trip was about 150 miles, I set off with a full battery and once out of town switched from full electric to hybrid, this will help to save the battery power for when you might need it in traffic etc. Was looking really good initially showing 80+mpg but this started to dwindle down as you were using all petrol engine to do 70ish mph, over the Dartford crossing and along the M20 which is very hilly, and still it goes down, getting closer to our destination in Ashford and the car switches back to electric and the mpg creeps a little back up, what did we get, 59mpg, the reverse journey now with almost depleted battery power yields 58mpg. Once home the car has no batteries left apart for doing parking and pulling away. It however has beaten what we think our Diesel Q3 would have got at ~48mpg. I do feel the longer the motorway journey the lower the mpg would have got. Not sure where the crossover point would be with the Q3 but it must be about 150 miles or so.
In the market for a car to do local journeys? Don’t think you can go far wrong with either one of these or the Golf GTE
My rental (Audi is broken) Skoda Rapid petrol managed 57mpg from a Derby to Anglesey and back. Admittedly it was a steady 70mph ride but it was stunningly good and better then my Diesel Audi could manage,especially now it has had the fix for cycle beating(42mpg is my long term average).
It is difficult to decide what is green, small turbo petrol engines are so good, diesels so bad (so they say this week). Hybrids appear good on mpg but the electric charge mostly comes from fossil fuels and the batteries themselves are not good for the environment (mining, manufacture and recycling). On balance, small petrol hybrids must be the way to go.
Ok, so a 1000mile update
Well it is still brilliant and doesn’t cease to amaze me, I have put in £25 of fuel and topped up the batteries about 25 times, even at £1 per recharge (it is less) that is £50 to do ~1000miles the car shows 82.9mpg and I don’t doubt that being accurate. I am astounded how good this car is. You also have to put into perspective, a lot of these journeys are short trips as well.
The only bad side, I took Jacqui and 3 of her mates to a girls night out, and with 3 in the back, it was clear the extra batteries and having the small fuel tank right at the back made the car rather like a boat, you could not go fast like it and next time I’ll take Jacqui’s Q3
LOL, I hope you didn’t make that observation with them onboard!
Sorry I’m having to drive so slow, you lot are a bit lardy… 
God no LOL
Course he didn’t. He still posting after all. Exiges is good, but its not a Ouija board!
Any pictures of you in a dress on the girls night?
Cleary not, I was only on driving duties…
So as my AMG ownership comes to a close (for now) I’ve totted up the average MPG… 16.8
Makes my old RS3 seem brilliant on fuel LOL
Went from £300 a year to tax and sub 30 mpg. Now free to tax and plus 55 mpg. It’s great 364 days a year. Not so good at chasing you guys through the Evo triangle though!! Everything got a little toasty! But still managed 45 mpg!
Eco meter becomes strangely addictive to watch while you drive along, 99.9% of the time.
So, to be clear, now (as well as calling them fat) you’re saying people in dresses can’t drive??! 