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Post by garry on Jan 18, 2021 17:58:58 GMT
Not been on here much. It's been a busy year - somewhat surprisingly with lockdown! I've had the etron a few months now so I thought I'd give a quick update. The background is that I picked up a very cheap lease deal on an etron 50. Coupled with the Bik advantages I thought I'd take a punt and see how I got on with an electric car!
Driving
The one word to sum up the etron driving experience is 'comfortable'. The lack of noise and the ride comfort combine to make it one of the most relaxing cars I've ever driven. I'm sure my blood pressure is lower in it. Approach it with the mindset of comfort and it's a joy. But approach it with any sporting intent and you'll be disappointed. Point it at a corner and it feels all of it's 2 plus tons. It's not that it can't tackle a bend or two, just that it's a joyless experience that the car clearly doesn't want to engage in. In many ways it reminds me of the e class estates I owned in the 90's - big, solid, comfortable, relaxing. You'd never wake up early on a Sunday morning to take it for a drive, but you'd be happy to see it if you had to trudge through some heavy traffic after a hard day at work.
Interior & style
The interior is a lovely place to be. The light leather looks very smart and makes you it feel special every time you jump in. It's Audi quality and feels robust aswell as stylish. It has the dual screens and can do clever little tricks like handwriting recognition. I'm happy to be in in and I like it. The exterior works for me but it is just another mid sized Audi SUV.
Charging and range
Clearly this is the big thing to get used to. As part of the deal Audi installed a 7kw podpoint charger at home. This is simplicity itself - plug it it when you get home and it's charged in the morning. For much of my driving this is all I do and the lack of visits to a petrol station are quite a welcome bonus. It has a range of circa 150 miles. In the time I've owned it I've done 4 journeys that required me to charge away from home. I approached this with some trepidation but it has been OK. The biggest problem is not range anxiety but charging station availability - many service stations only have a couple of charging points. If both are taken you might be in for a wait. Additionally the charging point seem quite unreliable so you might find you're down to one charging point. On 50kw charging I can get lots of juice in 30 mins - not like filling up with fuel but livable. The difference is if your driving your combustion engine on fumes and you know there's a service station in the next few miles you know you'll be ok. The same scenario in an electric car and you'd have no certainty that electricity would be readily available. I would not want to be a high mileage road warrior in an electric car.
Summary
For anyone doing regular shortish commutes and with their own off street parking the electirc car is great - no noise, no petrol stations, very easy. For those who do longer trips or who don't have access to a home charger it would be a nightmare. It will only really work if the range increases to a level that makes recharging away from home a rare thing (perhaps a 500 mile range) and/or the charging network is robust and large enough. The idea that we'll all be doing this in the next ten years seems implausible. Don't get me wrong, I'm happy with the etron, but I've got access to two other cars and I don't do many big drives.
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Post by Ben on Jan 19, 2021 5:32:59 GMT
Those were broadly my impressions when I drove the e-tron too. Nice, comfortable, neat interior but not exactly exciting or sporty to drive (it's still a big SUV after all).
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Post by garry on Jan 19, 2021 8:27:48 GMT
One thing I forgot to add. In the recent cold snap the charging connector can be a pain. First of all messing around with cables at below freezing isn't fun and on more than one occasion the electrically operated flap for the charge point on the car has steadfastly refused to shut - frozen solid. Given that we've been just below freezing I'd imagine it to be more problematic in properly cold countries
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Post by Big Blue on Jan 19, 2021 9:45:39 GMT
Good review. Probably explains why I'm looking at the PHEV route as I either drive in London (electric) or for a longer journey to a location in the middle of nowhere.
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Post by Martin on Jan 19, 2021 12:42:53 GMT
Sounds like it's fit for purpose, as that's reducing the amount of tax and it helps that you have access to other cars. I can't see the pictures....  Have you changed the 911 yet? |
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Post by johnc on Jan 19, 2021 13:27:56 GMT
The Jag is a good bit sportier than the e-Tron sounds but the charging bit is just the same - great for 90%+ of journeys but a bit nerve wracking on longer ones.
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Post by michael on Jan 19, 2021 13:31:16 GMT
The frozen socket is an interesting issue - I understand Norway has had massive uptake of electric cars due to tax incentives (what else?) so it's something they must be familiar with.
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Post by garry on Jan 19, 2021 15:32:31 GMT
Sounds like it's fit for purpose, as that's reducing the amount of tax and it helps that you have access to other cars. I can't see the pictures.... Have you changed the 911 yet? Porsche still here. Hardly driven at the moment though. Don't get your point re pictures? |
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Post by Big Blue on Jan 19, 2021 15:35:07 GMT
There aren’t any.....
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Post by Martin on Jan 19, 2021 16:16:11 GMT
Exactly. Can't have a new car thread without pictures! Well, clearly you can.....  |
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Post by PG on Jan 19, 2021 19:51:37 GMT
Exactly. Can't have a new car thread without pictures! Well, clearly you can..... I'll just have to go to t'internet to remind myself what an E-Tron looks like. Although as it's an Audi SUV, I reckon that I'm not going to be surprised. It's ironic (but true) isn't it that BEV review is more about charging it away from home than driving it. Mind you the early days of ICE were the same. People had to carry petrol cans as there not enough petrol stations and 5 litres in the boot was a good precaution against the inaccuracy of fuel gauges. |
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Post by johnc on Jan 20, 2021 8:30:42 GMT
The frozen socket is an interesting issue - I understand Norway has had massive uptake of electric cars due to tax incentives (what else?) so it's something they must be familiar with. The UK has a much bigger problem with ice than most of our much colder Continental neighbours - they have cold which stays cold and dry whereas we have wet which freezes overnight and creates the problem which welds doors, flaps and handles open or shut. The next addition will be the heated flap (awaiting Bob's comments) |
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Post by garry on Jan 20, 2021 8:31:36 GMT
 The etron!  This is how I charge. I've got the podpoint on the outside of the garages. Eventually I'll move it to a post in the middle of the outside parking area  The power of government intervention - the guys in the over near me have swapped out of full fat range rovers. There's a ipace here too |
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Post by Tim on Jan 20, 2021 9:00:11 GMT
Are those 2 things some sort of Merc?
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Post by garry on Jan 20, 2021 9:02:52 GMT
 Smart inside, but blue jeans and light leather mean lots of cleaning  The rear lights look cool - a strip bar all across  Porsche aint getting much use at the moment. Ford due to go back soon. |
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Post by Martin on Jan 20, 2021 9:12:43 GMT
You can buy products that reduce dye transfer onto leather and make them really easy to clean. I use it on black seats and get a lot less blue on the cloth than I did before using it. www.lttleathercare.com/product/auto-leather-care-kit/Foam clean, protect, then a quick wipe over with the maintain product every couple of weeks and back to step 1 every 6 months or so. The Etron looks smart in that colour combination. The spoiler on the 911 appears to be broken though, you should get that fixed. It's quite a common problem, Ed had the same issue with his first Cayman iirc! |
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Post by garry on Jan 20, 2021 9:34:12 GMT
Are those 2 things some sort of Merc? Yep. The EQC |
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Post by garry on Jan 20, 2021 9:35:29 GMT
You can buy products that reduce dye transfer onto leather and make them really easy to clean. I use it on black seats and get a lot less blue on the cloth than I did before using it. www.lttleathercare.com/product/auto-leather-care-kit/Foam clean, protect, then a quick wipe over with the maintain product every couple of weeks and back to step 1 every 6 months or so. The Etron looks smart in that colour combination. The spoiler on the 911 appears to be broken though, you should get that fixed. It's quite a common problem, Ed had the same issue with his first Cayman iirc! The spoiler is stuck up and the sports exhaust button is stuck too Thanks for the product link. I'll get some of that |
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Post by Martin on Jan 20, 2021 9:42:55 GMT
You can buy products that reduce dye transfer onto leather and make them really easy to clean. I use it on black seats and get a lot less blue on the cloth than I did before using it. www.lttleathercare.com/product/auto-leather-care-kit/Foam clean, protect, then a quick wipe over with the maintain product every couple of weeks and back to step 1 every 6 months or so. The Etron looks smart in that colour combination. The spoiler on the 911 appears to be broken though, you should get that fixed. It's quite a common problem, Ed had the same issue with his first Cayman iirc! The spoiler is stuck up and the sports exhaust button is stuck too Thanks for the product link. I'll get some of that The Sports button I get, although I did turn it off on ours when I was going through a town/village. Don't use the flimsy single use cloths they include, better to get some decent microfibre cloths, but the sponge does work well for applying the foam (then wipe any dirt off with a microfibre). |
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Post by Tim on Jan 20, 2021 10:21:03 GMT
Are those 2 things some sort of Merc? Yep. The EQC Ok, at first look I thought it was a pair of Cayenne fastbacks! |
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Post by cbeaks1 on Jan 20, 2021 11:02:38 GMT
If the S-Max is on options you might have good equity if you sell it rather than hand back. A friend has one coming up to 3 years this March and has nearly£4K equity and they didn’t put in a deposit up front bar maybe 1 month.
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Post by PG on Jan 20, 2021 12:08:33 GMT
The rear lights look cool - a strip bar all across I still can't get used to this latest styling thing on Audis. They're really disconcerting to follow at night as they are impossible to ignore and make seeing the rest of the car harder. Probably OK on well lit roads, but out here in the sticks it can be positively dangerous as from a distance you can't gauge distance as well with no point light sources. |
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Post by Tim on Jan 20, 2021 13:05:12 GMT
The rear lights look cool - a strip bar all across I still can't get used to this latest styling thing on Audis. They're really disconcerting to follow at night as they are impossible to ignore and make seeing the rest of the car harder. Probably OK on well lit roads, but out here in the sticks it can be positively dangerous as from a distance you can't gauge distance as well with no point light sources. I meant to comment on this a few weeks ago as having followed an ETron through Dundee in the dark I thought the lights were distracting but somehow looked quite naff. Not sure why but they're clearly not to my taste and cool definitely wasn't a word that popped into my mind. Still, what do I know I'm just a country boy  |
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Post by garry on Jan 27, 2021 14:27:15 GMT
The Etron is quite useless in the cold weather. It takes an age to defrost windows and heat up the cabin. Is this an Etron thing or an eCar thing? In a defrost race yesterday morning the ford was three times quicker.
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Post by michael on Jan 27, 2021 14:29:26 GMT
If it's plugged in overnight can it be set up to heat and be warm when you're ready to go? Also, I'm assuming the answer is yes, but do electric cars completely disable when they're plugged in so that the cable can't be snapped off?
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Post by Martin on Jan 27, 2021 14:30:48 GMT
The Etron is quite useless in the cold weather. It takes an age to defrost windows and heat up the cabin. Is this an Etron thing or an eCar thing? In a defrost race yesterday morning the ford was three times quicker. Any reason why you don't pre-condition it? You'd start with a warm cabin, defrosted car and I'm told the battery life is much better than starting with a cold battery as that is warmed as well (at least it is on a Tesla). The fuel burning heater on mine is fantastic at this time of year, it's great getting into a warm and fully defrosted car. |
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Post by garry on Jan 27, 2021 14:45:18 GMT
The Etron is quite useless in the cold weather. It takes an age to defrost windows and heat up the cabin. Is this an Etron thing or an eCar thing? In a defrost race yesterday morning the ford was three times quicker. Any reason why you don't pre-condition it? You'd start with a warm cabin, defrosted car and I'm told the battery life is much better than starting with a cold battery as that is warmed as well (at least it is on a Tesla). The fuel burning heater on mine is fantastic at this time of year, it's great getting into a warm and fully defrosted car. That works well when I remember. But it's not a car I drive every day or at a consistent time. There is some Audi app that might let me pre condition when I'm getting ready in the house, but I've not had a chance to look at it yet. |
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Post by Martin on Jan 27, 2021 14:52:36 GMT
Any reason why you don't pre-condition it? You'd start with a warm cabin, defrosted car and I'm told the battery life is much better than starting with a cold battery as that is warmed as well (at least it is on a Tesla). The fuel burning heater on mine is fantastic at this time of year, it's great getting into a warm and fully defrosted car. That works well when I remember. But it's not a car I drive every day or at a consistent time. There is some Audi app that might let me pre condition when I'm getting ready in the house, but I've not had a chance to look at it yet. The app will be the answer. I don't bother with pre-programming mine, I activate it about 15-20mins before I'm due to leave using the remote. You can also use the app, which is the only way in the summer when you want to bring the temperature in the car down, but as it starts the engine rather than uses the fuel burning heater I don't use the app in the winter. The other benefit is the water is warmed through, which must be a good thing for the engine and it means it's blowing warm air straight away. |
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Post by johnc on Jan 27, 2021 15:54:29 GMT
The i-Pace is pretty quick to heat up and the heated windscreen is fantastic. We (or rather my wife) uses the precondition when it is cold and icy and she loves it. The only downside is that it needs to be plugged in but as Martin said it also warms the battery and gives you greater range.
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Post by michael on Jan 27, 2021 15:56:00 GMT
The i-Pace is pretty quick to heat up and the heated windscreen is fantastic. We (or rather my wife) uses the precondition when it is cold and icy and she loves it. The only downside is that it needs to be plugged in but as Martin said it also warms the battery and gives you greater range. Could you engage drive with it plugged in? |
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