The first plug-in hybrid from Audi has arrived, in the shape of the excellent A3 Sportback family car. With an electric motor, petrol engine and battery pack, it was never going to be cheap, and costs around £30k (even after a £5,000 government grant), but it does pack a lot of technology into a small package. 

In typical Audi fashion it works pretty seamlessly too, without asking too much of the driver, although you can (and almost certainly will) play around with its settings to get the most out of it.

Performance

The e-tron has four driving modes which significantly alter the way the car performs. In EV mode, just the electric motor drives the wheels (up to a speed of 81mph). In this setting the car is very quiet, smooth and feels quick enough, thanks to the instant torque of its electric motor. It will reach 37mph from rest in 4.9 seconds. 

With both motors working together, the e-tron is no slouch, reaching 62mph from rest in 7.6 seconds in its hybrid mode. Under the bonnet there’s a 1.4-litre turbocharged petrol engine with 148bhp and the electric motor, which can produce 101bhp. At any one time they can send up to 201bhp to the front wheels through an automatic gearbox.

There’s also a Hybrid Hold mode, which stores the battery charge until you need it. This is just the thing if you’re daily commute starts on faster roads, but culminates in a city where electric power is preferable. Finally, there’s Hybrid Charge, where the petrol engine acts as a generator to put power back into the battery. This can help if you want to accumulate some charge on your way into a city, but it has an impact on how much petrol you’ll use.

Ride and Handling

Refinement is excellent, with almost no noise at all in electric mode, until you go fast enough for wind and road noise to become audible

Audi bills the e-tron as being quite a sporty model, and there’s plenty of grip from its tyres and reasonably firm suspension. The main issue is its weight, because the battery pack adds around 150kgs to the e-tron’s mass, making it feel less agile to drive than a standard A3, let alone a hot hatch. Luckily, this is only really apparent if you drive the car hard, so isn’t an issue most of the time. Refinement is excellent, with almost no noise at all in electric mode, until you go fast enough for wind and road noise to become audible. Compared with the electric motor, the 1.4-litre petrol sounds loud when it first kicks in, but in reality it’s also a very quiet engine, with a distant hum.

Interior and Equipment

Plug the e-tron into a household socket and it takes around four hours to fully charge the battery pack. A dedicated wallbox or charging point can reduce this down to just over two hours.

While models like the Vauxhall Ampera and BMW i3 have daring interiors to match their quirky way of getting from A to B, the A3 e-tron isn’t far removed from the standard hatchback. It might be conventional then, but it’s also very upmarket, with expensive materials and a solid feel. The main difference is the rev gauge, which is replaced with a percentage power indicator. Considering the price tag, and the fact the e-tron should appeal to early adopters, we’re glad to say it’s well-equipped. There are plenty of ways to connect your smartphone, as well as auto LED headlights and wipers and sat-nav controlled by Audi’s MMI interface, using a wheel by the handbrake.

Cost

The e-tron is free to tax and London Congestion Charge exempt, as well as qualifying for a £5,000 government grant for plug-in hybrids

According to the official figures, the e-tron will return a staggering 176.6mpg while emitting just 37g/km of CO2. In reality, its real-world economy will depend entirely on how you use the car. With an electric range of 31 miles, it’s possible to not use any fuel at all, if you keep it fully charged from your mains socket or a charging post and drive short distances. During one trip of 52 miles we depleted the battery (from a full charge, with low ambient temperatures of just above freezing) and saw economy of 74.9mpg. The e-tron is free to tax and London Congestion Charge exempt, as well as qualifying for a £5,000 government grant for plug-in hybrids. Importantly, it’s also in the 5 per cent company car tax bracket, which is sure to appeal to business users.

Our Verdict

The A3 e-tron is a car of two halves, and this fact is its greatest achievement. On the one hand, it’s an ultra-efficient and high-tech piece of engineering, but on the other it drives mostly like a conventional car, so it doesn’t ask you make too many compromises.