I've had my 40 since last September and I'm very pleased with how it derives etc. Having played with the modes over different distances, these are my comments and observations:
1. It always starts in EV only mode and with Lane Assist active - no way to change this (coding may work, but I think the 8Y is more restrictive than previous models?).
2. Hybrid mode should balance between battery and petrol - I believe if you program a destination in the nav system, it is supposed to try and intelligently spread the battery use across the journey, but I'm not convinced how accurate?
3. Battery hold mode uses petrol for most of the time, though it will still pull away in battery and very low speed manoeuvres will still use battery. In battery hold mode it does not charge the battery other than by brake regen.
4. Battery charge mode will run on petrol and use some of the engine power to recharge the battery. I've read that this takes a big hit on MPG and I've never tried it in 5000 miles!
5. I generally use the modes like this:
- Local journeys where total expected mileage up to 30 miles - leave in pure EV mode
- Journeys where total mileage expected up to say 120 miles - start in hybrid mode. If there is much battery left on the way home, I switch to pure EV mode to use up any remaining battery.
- Extended journeys I put in Battery Hold mode from the start. Again, on the way home switch to Hybrid or EV mode to use up remaining battery. On a recent week away, with no easy access to charging, I used Battery Hold mode the whole week (about 800 miles) of mixed driving. I still had over 1/4 battery left when I got home and each day averaged between 50-60 MGP (40 TFSI e).
Overall I have been impressed with the way it drives and the switching between EV and petrol really is seamless and it can be hard to know which mode you are in without looking at the dash!
I paid for the FOD adaptive cruise control - which works extremely well and I'm pleased I paid what seemed like a lot of money to activate it! Be careful if in sport mode though, as the acceleration back to the preset speed can seem a little excessive if there is traffic around! I normally run in Comfort mode with the ACC on and it seems a good balance.
I don't have Traffic Sign recognition, but the car seems to 'spookily' know when speed limits change or roundabouts/junctions are approaching and if you have lifted off the accelerator, it will seemingly automatically brake down to the new speed limit or as you approach a junction!
Touch wood, absolutely no issues in 9 months and nearly 6000 miles.
