Audi e-tron

Big, comfortable, quiet, refined, composed is what 90k gets you. It also gets you 400bhp but there's nothing out there in the SUV world that you'd call exciting or fun apart from straight line acceleration.

Very little in any segment really you'd call fun these days unless you're really hammering them, but most people are fine with that. All electronics and safety these days.

Hi Cyrus. I found your posts very informative. Can I ask how many kilometers are you getting on a full charge. I am undecided on going for a full EV as I currently drive a PHEV A6 black edition which I find great. I viewed a 2021 daytona grey e-tron 55 black edition yesterday and it fell in love with it. I was told the average range would be around 350 kilometers. Is this what you have found to be the case? Thanks for any further information.

Lads im going to as a stupid question but how come the range is so poor on these batteries, ive always had a soft spot for Audi's though the years but have been driving VW as of late, a few Tiguains and now an ID4. Surely with an 86.6kwh battery you would want to be clearing 500km range?

Thanks for the reply, Cyrus. Now I have a big decision to make 😉

Agreed which is why I find it strange when some people replacing diesels with EVs are so concerned with the cost of home charging, some going as far as thanking God that they can charge for free at work. I know a guy who prefers to drive his ranger because the EV is driving his electricity bill through the roof!! I haven't the strength to argue with him.

IMO they should instead be thanking God himself that they can charge their car at home rather than be screwed by the cost of petrol/diesel.

What e-tron is that, the VW ID.4 clone or the proper fat e-trons? Any link to ads for €35k in the North?

My father has the 55 etron. I think its 90kwh battery and it has same range as my 58kwh cupra born. His long term range is sitting at 25kwh/100kms, mine is 17kwh. Realistically you'd be doing close to 300kms between charges (from 100%)

So whatever way you look at it, it uses an extra 50% of electricity. Range is perfectly fine, but not what you'd call efficient.

I suspect the ones mentioned above are 50 models. The range on those is much lower. These have 71kw batteries so max range would be under 300 and youd be looking to charge after 240 kms or so. And thats in warm weather and an efficient style of driving. Winters could be hassle depending on type of driving you do.

They're nice cars, if you're happy with the range and price I wouldn't hesitate. Personally I'd wait until a 55 is in a budget you are happy with but that's just me, I couldn't trade down in range from what I have now. Shouldn't be more than a year behind the 50s in hitting same price.

Edit: I see them on autotrader NI. They look fresh in fairness, bought just before covid and low mileage. What would be the charges to bring one of those over the border and register here?

Yeah that's the tradeoff, big plush SUV a few years old with poorer efficiency (although I don't really agree on poor range on the 55 model, it's not too far behind most EVs out there for 40-50k or thereabouts thanks to an enormous battery) v a newer more efficient EV. And range, for a lot of people, myself included after almost a year driving EV is not the be all and end all its made out to be once you have the right charging options. For some it is but they have to just buy a vehicle that suits them.

I'm lucky I get to drive both the etron and cupra regularly, the cupra is a better drive, much lighter and nimbler and almost as fast despite being 200bhp down on the much heavier etron. But the audi is a very very impressive machine to be behind the wheel of and lovely place to sit. You feel the weight a lot but its very solid feeling and well built. Most EVs, including my own, don't feel upmarket at all despite being in the price bracket of the likes of 5 series of only a few years ago. Cost cutting all over the place, screens replacing buttons, disguising cost cutting as minimalism. The etron does feel upmarket. But then I guess it should, its significantly more expensive but the price levels they've dropped to mean that for the right buyer, they're starting to look like a bargain.

If I didn't have access to one, I'd be all over selling my 222 cupra, dropping back 2 years or so and buying an original etron for not much extra outlay.

The Q8 etron seems to be the business, much improved efficiency.

Both I believe. Battery packs are up over 100 on some models. But they have added fancy aerodynamic witchcraft too. Still a big heavy 400bhp SUV so I can't see it being fantasticly efficient.

Fantastically expensive also, makes a Porsche Taycan look cheap

Electricity costs wouldn’t be a concern unless you’re very dependent on public charging but they could be well expensive to fix out of warranty. Audi parts are well pricey and it’s not the type of car your average Indy could do much with.

That seems to be the attitude of a lot of people, even those well familiar with EVs. Should mean there will be a large pool of well priced out of warranty EVs in the next couple of years, if one is prepared to take a risk.

It would seem a lot of the motor trade here are very afraid of EV’s. Resale spooked now also on the back of the Tesla price cuts.