Published:
7 January 2015The majority of the e-tron is high-spec A3 inside. You’d be hard pushed to find a corner of the cabin not attesting to Audi’s quintessential prowess with both interior aesthetics and quality of finish. The differences, then, are limited, and mostly fine.
The most significant (certainly as far as practicality is concerned) is the impact on boot space, where 100 litres have been sacrificed to accommodate the 40-litre fuel tank beneath the floor.
That’s a sizeable slither of real estate, but its loss is made all the worse by the large pouch containing domestic and public charging cables that must be hauled around if you’d like to plug your hybrid in away from home.
Beyond that, the absence of a conventional rev counter stands out. It’s replaced here by a dial that displays ‘Power’ in 0-100 percentage terms, with ‘Boost’ above and ‘Charge’ below. If you’re doing well, the needle won’t stray beyond the first 30 percent of the scale, appropriately labelled ‘Efficiency’.
Adjacent to that, and in perfect symmetry with the petrol gauge across the way, is a battery meter. Lastly, there’s the EV button on the dashboard, which is used to toggle through the four drive modes.
Standard equipment is comprehensive, which goes some way to further justifying the Audi's not-insignificant list price. The A3 e-tron comes with unique 17in alloys, LED headlights, Audi's rear dynamic indicators, lowered suspension, cruise control, autonomous city braking and rear parking sensors on the outside as standard. Inside it gets dual-zone climate control and Audi's excellent MMI infotainment, which includes a retractable 7.0in display, sat nav, DAB radio, USB and Bluetooth connectivity, smartphone integration and a 10GB hard drive.
