My turn to receive a new e-tron today.
It's a US market, Scuba Blue Premium. Love the car but was reminded why I dislike the buying process.
Here are some random thoughts and observations after a couple of hours driving and setting things up. Weather today was clear, 21ºF/-6ºC temps with dry roads.
At delivery, there were 24 reported EV miles available. Went for a 30 mile, hour long drive in battery charge/auto drive modes. Top speed was 45 mph/72 kph. Mileage display went up to 27 miles and then battery charge wasn't available (it defaulted to battery hold). Reported gas consumption was 38.7 mpg (US gallon). Total range to empty was initially listed at 505 miles (gas + battery). While in battery hold mode, I could get the instaneous gas mpg to go up to a max of 300. Or a low of "---" when the engine shut off at a stop light.
A couple of shorter (less than 4 miles total), stop and go trips in EV mode took it down to 18 miles. Using a public, level 2, ChargePoint site, 2.02 KWh brought it back to 27 miles ev range in 45 minutes.
Bluetooth pairing to a phone is straightforward but music lacks base. The equalizer helped some but I've heard better on hardwired connections. I haven't tried using the auxiliary input yet to see if that improves the sound.
It was unclear from the marketing material what the shape of the steering wheel would be, a circle or one with a flattened bottom. It is circular, perhaps the sports package has the flattened wheel.
Also unclear is what the backseat looks like. When I did a test drive, they said those cars didn't necessarily have the final design so I didn't look. What was delivered is a 60/40 split (larger bit on the passenger side) with a pass through for longer items. There is an armrest that folds down, has a shallow storage area under the cushion and includes two pull out cup holders.
If you have tall travel mugs, they won't fit in the cup holders in the front console. The dash overhangs the holders too much.
Previously downloaded the iOS app but hadn't registered since the car wasn't mine until today. Since I didn't buy Audi Connect, the salesman didn't think the app would work and couldn't set it up. Called the number in the app (click on "No account?), after about 10 minutes on hold, it took less than 5 minutes to set things up (VIN, name, etc.). Next up will be an e-mail with my login and pin. I was told getting those may take a day or two, Verizon Telematics has to receive the request and set things up.
It'll take some time for my muscle memory to learn Audi-ese. For example, when a list of options is shown on the display, turning the control button counter/anti-clockwise to move down the list feels backwards. Maybe I just need to find the setting to reverse that behavior.
Being able to retract the MMI screen manually is a Good Thing™ but the button placement on the row with the driving mode and ev/battery mode buttons seems odd. I
If the screen is retracted and you put the car in reverse, it pops up to display the rear camera and then retracts again when you shift back to "D". Nice touch.
It would be fascinating to know the thought processes behind some of the decisions that Audi makes:
Why is there a jack considering there is no spare tire? Especially considering that there is no place to store the jack other than clipping it to one side of the trunk space?
Even though I don't have Audi's nav system (the map apps in my phone have more up to date info), nav still gets a dedicated button on the steering wheel.
The various display that go on the screen between the charge-O-meter and the speedometer don't provide much technical information. I rented a cheap Chrysler over the weekend and got more data in that than from the e-tron. Individual tire pressure? Nope. Oil or transmission fluid temps? Nope. Battery voltage level? Nope. (Ok, so the Chrysler only had one small battery to keep track of, not two).
The battery "fuel gauge" is at the 4-5 o'clock position in the left dial of the cluster (aka the charge-O-meter) and the gas fuel gauge in the same position in the speedometer dial. I'd been driving for 20 minutes before I realized there were two gauges. Once my left to right reading eyes found the battery gauge, they stopped looking. Only after I noticed it went up while I was driving did I look around and find the gas gauge.
To put the previous comment another way, the charge-O-meter dial isn't particularly useful.
Why can I only get the on-line manual 2 pages at a time? In other words, why can't I download the entire thing to be able to review it when I don't have a connection? You can't beat ctrl-f in a soft copy manual to actually find what you're looking for.
Speaking of the manuals, why do the paper, on-line, and videos manuals have different information? For example, try finding "preferred scheduling" in the printed or on-line manuals. It doesn't exist in either manual but there is a video teaching you how to use it. Sure, production time needed to produce the paper manual means it will always be out of date but they had at least a couple of months after US production started before they could actually deliver any vehicles to bring things up to date. And the on-line manual doesn't include it either.
Oh yeah, when using the on-line manual, your session will time out if you go away too long.
I'll have more to say later. It is supposed to be cold tonight so I need to figure out using the MMI to ensure the car is nice and toasty first thing in the morning. Let's see if it is as easy as the video makes it out to be.
Edit - no joy setting up preferred scheduling. :-( The menu selections shown in the video simply don't exist on my MMI. Maybe I'll be able to use the app once the account is working.
