I was wondering, I do some long (200 mile) motorway drives each year and am thinking about getting an TFSI e to replace my 35 TDI.

What is it like having one of the plug in hybrids on a motorway drive of that distance. 

I guess at some point it must run on petrol only - can the petrol engine cope and still give good performance on a motorway drive of that length?

Hi Mark,

I can only comment on my Q5 55, 2.0 tfsi e.

This year alone i've done about half a dozen 350 mile trips.  A couple of trips i've put it in battery hold only and it has been perfectly fine.  You do feel like you are missing the electric motor at time.

When you do put it in hybrid, without any traffic and you are always above 50mph, I just run out of battery power.  Depends how aggressive your right foot is.

In hybrid, if you hit traffic or road works..... and are trundling along, yes, you will be using electric motor alone, so you might get to your destination without any battery charge.

So, it really depends on traffic conditions.

But all in all, no issues running the petrol engine on its own, even with such a heavy car.

Joe

Hi, I have had my A3 40 TFSI e for about 6 months now and have just done my first long distance run (200 miles each way) with no easy access to recharge while away, so I ran the car in Battery Save Mode most of the time - still uses the battery for initial pulling away but then switches to the petrol engine and stays in petrol mode for most of the time - I only switched to electric mode when in the town centre. So all of the motorway running was just using the petrol engine. I found the drive very good with no concerns about the performance - only niggle is the tyre roar especially on some of our crappy concrete motorway surfaces!

A few other comments on using the different modes...

Day to day, I leave it in pure electric mode for all local journeys (up 30 miles total). For slightly longer days out etc (up to say 100 miles total) I switch to hybrid and then for the longer runs use the battery save mode, perhaps switching to hybrid on the way home to use up any remaining battery. All works very well and the switching between electric and petrol is totally seamless and you often don't know which is being used, unless you look at the dashboard!

I had been running most of the time in the Dynamic setting (rarely have I also used the Sport mode on the gearbox as that does make the petrol engine a bit thrashy) but for the longer trip I have been using the Comfort setting and I'm tempted to leave it in that now.

I also purchased the Adaptive Cruise Control via FOD. This worked very well on the long journey, but I would suggest using it in the Comfort setting - in the Dynamic setting it will get you back to the set speed as quickly as possible when you signal and pull out to overtake, which on a busy motorway I found too aggressive at times.

BTW, in the battery save mode over the longer distance, it quoted about 55 mpg.

Anyhow, those are my thoughts and overall I am very happy with the car, having come from a nearly new BMW 420i.

On 4/4/2023 at 1:00 PM, cvp99 said:

Hi, I have had my A3 40 TFSI e for about 6 months now and have just done my first long distance run (200 miles each way) with no easy access to recharge while away

When you are running it this way - essentially on petrol only - how much mileage do you get?

Hi, across four days last month when I was away and not charging - so running in battery save mode (ie petrol 99% of the time), it is reporting between 45 and 55mpg each day - (44.8, 55.4, 54.3 and 53.3).

 

22 hours ago, cvp99 said:

Hi, across four days last month when I was away and not charging - so running in battery save mode (ie petrol 99% of the time), it is reporting between 45 and 55mpg each day - (44.8, 55.4, 54.3 and 53.3).

 

Thanks, that's good to know Was worried about this aspect as I'm often posted on customer sites without the ability to charge daily.

Hi cvp99

 

I am interested in purchasing a 2021 A3 TFSIe but it does not have the Adaptive Cruise Control and you mentioned that you can purchase this from FOD. How do you control it as it does not have the function button on the cruise control stalk on the steering wheel ?

 

Many thanks on advance

Hi,

If the car has the hardware necessary for the Adaptive Cruise Control, then on the cruise control stalk (lower left hand stalk on steering column), there should be a 'DIST' rocker - see image.
If the car does not have the DIST rocker, then I don't think it has the hardware necessary to activate the ACC.

I don't know when they started adding the hardware by default - mine is a late 2022 model.

If it doesn't have the hardware, then you shouldn't see it as an option in FOD.

BTW, the adaptive CC works extremely well and I wouldn't want a car without it in the future!

 

Thank you so much for the reply and the car I am looking at does not have the hardware or "DIST" rocker so I guess it can't be added. I did think it would be a long shot without addition on the stalk and it is something that I want so I will continue my search.

 

Once again thanks for the reply