What is peoples experience of the A3 hybrid

[maw444]

I currently drive an A3 2.0 Tdi. I love the torque you get from it

But I am thinking with fuel prices about the hybrid. I notice the petrol engine in the hybrid is only a 1400 cc engine so I was wondering what the performance is like if its working on petrol only, given my daily commute can sometime be 150 miles and motorway driving.

I'd be interested in people's experience

And what about handling given the additional weight of batteries

 

[Justphil]

I have the phev and am happy with it. I previously had a 1.8 TT and whilst power is down it's still reasonable. But, my commute is only 7 miles each way and so I can drive purely on electricity. Your commute is much longer so not sure you will see the benefit.

 

[AdamInKent]

But I am thinking with fuel prices about the hybrid. I notice the petrol engine in the hybrid is only a 1400 cc engine so I was wondering what the performance is like if its working on petrol only, given my daily commute can sometime be 150 miles and motorway driving.

Assuming that the A3 PHEV works like other hybrids, the engine management system should ensure that it never runs the battery all the way to empty. Once you have used up the plug-in power, the car should operate like a self-charging hybrid, and use the engine to charge the battery if it runs low. (ie it never relies only on petrol; it always has sufficient power in the battery to boost the engine).

 

[makelja]

In Passat GTE if you put the destination to navigator and drive with hybrid mode it uses optimally both gasolene and electricity for the drive. I believe it is the same in A3, since they are same technology. It always has 30% reserve in the battery and actually 10kwh from the 13.3kwh battery. So there is always the full power available even though the battery can be "empty", meaning you can't drive with electricity only.
I have had my ym 2020 GTE for 15 months now and I am very happy with it. My commute is 26km so the battery lasts easily for the whole way. And charging at the office is free. I just filled gasolene yesterday first time this year. Had done about 7500km and it took 46 liters. I am using 98E because the low usage.

 

[abmat]

I personally would stick with the tdi, or if facilities available go full electric

 

[Rvand]

Performance solely on petrol is more than adequate for me. However you will only experience petrol only mode when the EV mode is set to charge. As others mentioned, the car will always keep a reserve in the battery, especially if you set navigation (also on carplay AFAIK) to your destination. Furthermore, i dont feel the weight that much but i have never driven a purely petrol A3 of the current gen. Also the hybrid has the more sophisticated 4-link rearsuspension.

 

[Vic20]

It suits my needs perfectly. Forced by ULEZ to end my 'from new' ownership of a 2005 2.0 TDI after 240,000 trouble free miles -most at around 60 MPG, I decided to go for the TFSIe. Its smooth and effortless driving is worlds away from the old manual.

I can do the 35 mile trip to work on all electric sometimes with 9 miles to spare this time of year. On Petrol only, its high fifties MPG. With charging at work (when the damned BP pulse chargers are working ) no petrol is required at all in the daily commute. The last tankful of petrol lasted for over 2000 miles, using dino-juice only once a fortnight to give the ICE a good warmup. The great majority of charging at home is solar powered, so 'free'.

No regrets whatsoever

EV mode

ICE Mode

 

[helicopter_red]

Just a quick question, does the 300mpg relate to the amout of miles it has done and how much fuel it has used, only?
What i mean does it take into account how many kwh's have been used from plugged in charging?
What do these cars actually cost per mile with the fuel cost and electric cost combined, on a commute like yours?

 

[KXL]

It suits my needs perfectly. Forced by ULEZ to end my 'from new' ownership of a 2005 2.0 TDI after 240,000 trouble free miles -most at around 60 MPG, I decided to go for the TFSIe. Its smooth and effortless driving is worlds away from the old manual.

I can do the 35 mile trip to work on all electric sometimes with 9 miles to spare this time of year. On Petrol only, its high fifties MPG. With charging at work (when the damned BP pulse chargers are working ) no petrol is required at all in the daily commute. The last tankful of petrol lasted for over 2000 miles, using dino-juice only once a fortnight to give the ICE a good warmup. The great majority of charging at home is solar powered, so 'free'.

No regrets whatsoever

EV mode
View attachment 255457

ICE Mode
View attachment 255458

That's quite impressive esp ICE mode only. Always thought the extra weight is a detriment, I guess if it was city only, yes it would, but seeing you were doing probably 40-60mph range constant ish speed, still close to 60mpg (guess in 2 cyl mode mainly) is still very good.

 

[Vic20]

Just a quick question, does the 300mpg relate to the amout of miles it has done and how much fuel it has used, only?
What i mean does it take into account how many kwh's have been used from plugged in charging?
What do these cars actually cost per mile with the fuel cost and electric cost combined, on a commute like yours?

Great question, and one I'd never found the answer to before getting the car!

I don't think the TFSIe uses '2 Cylinder mode' but more like '0 cylinder mode' as it coasts a lot, where the ICE is switched off and disconnected from the transmission by one of the 3 clutches. The power gauge sits at zero on even the smallest of downhill gradients.


The 300MPG is like a start figure for the ICE engine. If the ICE engine runs it goes down from there. Otherwise, if doing all EV driving, it stays at 300.

In 'Hybrid mode',' it's a little more convoluted, the ICE figure AND the EV figure of Miles/kWH apply equally to the total mileage.

Here's my commute home today in Hybrid mode for example (BP Pulse chargers at work still borked!).. ignore the battery gauge as this photo was taken after a recharge.

Some back of an envelope calculations below. Let me know if I've goofed up anywhere..

So, a 35.6 mile journey, I used electricity at a rate of 9 miles per KWh, so 35.6/9 = just under 4 kwh. At todays domestic price cap of 35p that would be 1.40s worth of electricity

I also used Petrol at 119 mpg so 35.6/119 = roughly 0.3 gallons which, at todays ludicrous £1.84 per litre (£8.35/gal), works out at £2.50

In total, a journey cost of £2.50 + £1.40 = £3.90 or 10.8p per mile in 'Hybrid' Mode

This figure would obviously creep up the longer the drive as the battery energy would have to be spread further, until ultimately I guess, the cost would increase to not far from that in ICE mode (I've yet to make any such journey)

_________________________

In my 'EV only' drive in my first post above, 4.9 m/kWh means I used 35.4/4.9 = 7.32 Kwh, costing at the rate above, £2.56 In EV mode (7.2p/Mile)

________________________

In the ICE mode drive above, at 58.6 mpg, I used 38.1/58.6 = 0.65 Gallons, £5.42 in ICE Only Mode (14.2p/mile). plus a little bit of battery equating to less than an additional penny per mile.

It concludes here that even using peak rate home electricity at the current price cap of 35p/kWh, EV driving the TFSIe is half the price of petrol on that sort of journey. Anyone who has solar or a cheap rate overnight tarriff slashes that to as much as zero.

It also, using these figures, doesn't take much to see where the public charging companies will push up their tarriffs to make EV driving only just a little bit cheaper than ICE. ..this is mainly for fast charge rates that are anyway of no use to the TFSIe

Whether this fully justifies the extra cost of the TFSIe over a 'conventional' A3, who can say, but the way fuel prices are going, that's a moveable feast! I personally, love the tech!

I wonder how much the folly of 'Self Driving Hybrids work out per mile??!

 

[helicopter_red]

When i did the maths on an Q4 (on paper) i worked it out to cost approximately half the cost of a diesel covering same miles (this was on the old favourable electric tarrifs though, so not sure now), also the company rate was 5p per mile which it still is now and as i calculated i would have to stop off and charge, the company couldnt give an answer on if i could get extra money for using a fast charger, so i just decided a fully electric vehicle isnt suitable for me until the range increases, so i tried to get the A3 Hybrid but my car allowance didnt quite stretch to one, i was only getting extra allowance for full electric not a hybrid. So i ended up with an A3 S Line 35 TDI which is very nice and suits my needs.
I would like to get the Mrs an electric or Hybrid but just wondering what the future will be with electric and petrol/diesel cost plus the wait for a new car, its just not a great place to be at the moment in the sense of deciding which will be the best option!

 

[Vic20]

Over 300 mile fully loaded holiday journey starting off with full tank and full charge. ACC used most of the way set to 68mph. Hybrid mode all the way and Audi satnav used so electric delivery is fully efficiently managed.

I'm pretty impressed.

 

[KXL]

Over 300 mile fully loaded holiday journey starting off with full tank and full charge. ACC used most of the way set to 68mph. Hybrid mode all the way and Audi satnav used so electric delivery is fully efficiently managed.

I'm pretty impressed.

Not bad at all. Assuming if you use it's built in Sat Nav, the car would alternate between EV and ICE and maybe at times using both? Rather than using up the EV first, then the rest of the way rely on the ICE? Did it prioritise the ICE on the motorway and when you got to slower speeds it used the EV?

 

[Vic20]

It is very 'managed', sometimes using both, one or the other or just coasting on slight downhill sections.

Depending on the length of journey set in the sat nav, it seems to spread out the available battery power where the last mile or so of available charge remains until you are very close to the destination.