Audi e-tron Paradigm First Drive Review: Tomorrow'due south Earth Today

by Ian Kuah

As we have seen from the hereafter automobile tech on brandish at the CES in January, Artificial Intelligence is already present in automobile infotainment systems while the march towards electric cars and autonomous driving continues speedily. On the alternative fuels front, Toyota and Mercedes have best-selling the reality that the existing global electric grid infrastructure only cannot support a mass motility towards electrical cars. Thus, these two automotive giants are also hedging their bets with Hydrogen F-Cell models adult in parallel with their electric vehicles, and the get-go production cars will go on sale earlier year'due south end.

Is the 2018 Audi A3 a good motorcar?

Exterior Design 8 /x
Performance viii /10
Fuel Economic system ten /x
Interior & Cargo 9 /10
Infotainment & Features 9 /10
Reliability 8 /10
Safety nine /ten
Value For Money 7 /10

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2018 Audi A3 Sportback e-tron 1.4T Premium

2018 Audi A3 Sportback due east-tron 1.4T Premium

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Run into trim levels and configurations:

Trim	Engine	Transmission	Drivetrain	Toll (MSRP)
ane.4T Premium	1.4L Turbo Inline-4 Plug-in Hybrid	6-Speed Automatic	Front end-Cycle Drive	$39,500
1.4T Premium Plus	1.4L Turbo Inline-4 Plug-in Hybrid	half dozen-Speed Automated	Front-Wheel Bulldoze	$39,500
ane.4T Prestige	i.4L Turbo Inline-four Plug-in Hybrid	6-Speed Automatic	Forepart-Wheel Drive	$39,500
i.4T Tech Premium	ane.4L Turbo Inline-4 Plug-in Hybrid	6-Speed Automated	Front-Wheel Drive	$40,650
ane.4T Tech Premium Plus	1.4L Turbo Inline-4 Plug-in Hybrid	6-Speed Automated	Front-Wheel Drive	$forty,650

Meanwhile, Audi has adult some great alternative power solutions including fuelling combustion engines from the gases realized by biomass. This has the added reward of decision-making some aspects of rubbish disposal while creating an environmentally friendly use for one of its past-products.

Audi is certainly far downwards the route with their own electrification programme, which goes by the evocative 'e-tron' name, which for many instantly conjures upwards images of 'Tron' the famous 1982 sci-fi movie. The first production e-tron vehicle volition be a Q5 sized SUV, a natural selection given the popularity of this vehicle genre across the earth. It will be rolled out in production form at the end of this year, and to build up excitement and momentum towards its impending arrival date Audi has embarked on a tiered media event strategy for the intervening months.

The outset of these events took place in Copenhagen with camouflaged e-tron pre-production cars, with the focus of this first ride feel being the cars bespoke interior and infotainment organization. Earlier taking to the streets nosotros were given a virtual demonstration of what to expect in the new motel using the interactive 3D wireframe model and VR glasses whose head-tracking feature allowed us to click on specific areas for more than detailed information. This simulation too enabled usa to 'examine' the e-tron'southward sound organization in detail.

Audi

Audi interior designer Thomas Pinet presented the e-tron motel in a near convincingly style with impressive multi-media support on phase at the Royal Danish Playhouse in Copenhagen. The new all-time thing that Pinet describes equally "wrap-around" sets these newly familiar elements up against a cascading dashboard reminiscent of a miniature theatre phase. Presenting the new Audi e-tron via the back door and onto center stage made this seem like a total-size extension of that concept.

It must be said though that he did not actually start off with a sheet of white newspaper here equally. Some of the ideas, such as the rationalized transmission tunnel and resulting airy eye panel, along with the two MMI bear upon response displays and the virtual musical instrument cluster, are already familiar elements in the cabin designs of the new A6, A7 Sportback, and A8. The moment we took the commuter'south seat of the Audi e-tron on the hallowed stage any skepticism almost the low-mounted virtual rear-view mirrors evaporated. Together with the instruments and the almost important touch functions, these virtual mirrors grade part of the clear panoramic information arc spanning the cabin front below the windshield.

The interior rearview mirror remains analog, and that is a expert thing. The cockpit illumination is by discreet LED strips angled towards the driver, and these provide a very absurd effect when darkness falls. A leather-covered pad that includes the driving control provides hand support whilst operating the lower touch functions. And so far this is the most convincing impact concept yous can reasonably use whilst driving.

The black backgrounds of the dual touch screens minimize reflections and driver distraction, while Audi has introduced haptic feedback for the big, virtual easy-to-hit-on-the-move buttons that utilize a similar operating engineering science to the dwelling house button on the iPhone 8. Meanwhile, certain functions are still accessed via conventional buttons and knobs, our favorite beingness the Book control for the audio system. Importantly, the hazard warning lights are also operated past an easy to find affect button.

Equally expected Audi has developed a usable voice control module, but a demonstration was non part of our exam ride in this prototype. That said, what the engineers described to united states of america unsaid that it works in a like way to the MBUX system in the new Mercedes A-Grade.

For all this innovation Audi seems to know when to end short of crossing that fabled span too far. Compared to Tablet PC in cars like every bit the Tesla Model iii, the new Audi MMI seems near conservative and proves that Audi does evolution rather than revolution where necessary, respecting the fact that paying customers are non all PlayStation junkies.

Once again Audi uses the 3D sound arrangement jointly developed with Bang & Olufsen and Fraunhofer. Enhanced by the Fraunhofer Symphoria algorithm, this organization made its debut in the current Audi A4 and then rolled out in the A8, A7 Sportback, and A6. We had the opportunity to experience this essentially touch on screen-based system on the route in Copenhagen, albeit from the rider seat.

There is no doubt that the mix of engine dissonance and the environment whizzing past stimulates this petrolhead, and is too in the Deoxyribonucleic acid of every car enthusiast. Remove this audible input and suddenly yous realize how many environmental noises the sound of a combustion engine masks in a moving vehicle. Our past experiences with electric cars have always seemed at odds with their lack of engine racket considering the rolling noise of tires on tarmac becomes all the more heightened.

The theme here is not just in-car entertainment, but also the entire staging of electric driving as a nigh-silent aural experience. It was thus pleasing to note that Audi has gone to great lengths to banish whatever intrusive external noises from the e-tron motel. For starters, the electrical motor manual unit of measurement positioned in the center of the multi-link rear beam features elastic mounts to reduce mechanical vibrations, while the sub-frame is decoupled from the bodyshell by bespoke rubber bushes. Like sound and vibration isolation measures have been taken with the electric motor that drives the front beam.

Audi

It all seems to work as advertised, and the Audi due east-tron starts soundlessly and remains extremely serenity even nether the total acceleration sprint that Rupert Spielvogel, the homo responsible for the cars user interface, was happy to demonstrate.

Instead of the "electric-tram-at-speed" sound made by the Tesla and other electric cars, the e-tron just generates a afar whistle, even under full power. The counterpoint is a distinct absence of the noises required to warn errant pedestrians from crossing in forepart of this electric car. Audi say they have the issue in manus, but no external noise-generating device was installed on this prototype. Where yous would expect to find the motor under the hood of a normal car the east-tron has no additional luggage compartment, only a apartment shelf with a compartment to house the charging cables.

On that score, thanks to Audi's bespoke double-sided charging bays, the eastward-tron is too set to gain a head start in the charging station race. We were told that their 150 kW fast-charger takes 30 minutes to evangelize an 80-percent charge skillful for up to 248 miles of normal driving.

The B&O's 3D audio meets silence

The Audi e-tron's near silent cabin allows Bang and Olufsen's premium 3D sound organisation to show its full potential at both urban center and highway speeds. The acoustics squad, led by Wolfram Jähn - who was likewise responsible for the sound system in the new Audi A8 - focused on extending spatial representation and populating the soundstage with the highest levels of aural detail. The Blindside & Olufsen premium 3D sound system in the Audi eastward-tron provides a big sound show, its 16 speakers able to evangelize speech and music without the handicap of mortal gainsay with a growling combustion engine. In fact, the organization does not have to fight rolling noise either, and our tour through Copenhagen showed just how effective the acoustically insulated wheel arches are equally route noise filters.

What remains is pure audio alike to what yous might experience at home in your living room. Output from the 3D speakers positioned high in the A-pillars and the center-speaker reflecting off the windscreen significantly increases the soundstage in the vertical airplane. Even applause during live recordings sounds quite authentic.

The 3D sound upshot can be tailored to individual preferences in three steps, while a virtual slider on the Touch MMI's vii-inch OLED display allows y'all to continuously adapt the surround effect.

From the rider seat some discoloration in the vocal bandwidth, and glitches in image stability detracted from a totally convincing audio experience. However, it is important to remember that this machine was a paradigm, and high-terminate car sound systems are often optimized with more than bias towards the driver regardless of the selected setup.

Audi says the organization benefits greatly from the symphonic algorithm B&O adult in cooperation with the Fraunhofer Found in Erlangen. This calculates the information with semantic abilities to distinguish between direct sound and spatial components from stereo or v.1 recordings in the third dimension and prepares them for the 3D speakers.

The depression-midrange drivers of the 705-watt B&O system are housed in their own enclosures and integrated into the front doors. This creates the all-time weather condition for controlling bass frequencies while shielding the output of the speakers from the environment. This has the added benefit of keeping conversations private when you are making a easily-complimentary phone call. The deep bass frequencies are the responsibleness of the bespoke 200mm diameter dual voice coil subwoofer built into a narrow and rugged integrated package at the dorsum of the torso.

While depression frequencies are omnidirectional and more than tolerant of background dissonance there was no question that the absence of road dissonance allowed our ears to discover the nuances this high quality powered sub-woofer is able to generate. As with a good dwelling house audio set-upwards the quiet environs likewise mercilessly revealed the variation in quality of low-frequency reproduction across the music exam tracks stored on the hard disc.

Our short city tour of Copenhagen from the rider seat was far from plenty for a proper judgment of the forthcoming e-tron, but it certainly whetted our ambition for more than, which is exactly what Audi intended. Watch this infinite for the next chapter in the e-tron story.