Here is my latest car, the new-gen. all-electric Audi Q4 Sportback 45 quattro.
Two weeks ago I drove it 750 km to Croatia. Last week I drove it 950 km from Croatia to Turin. When I arrived in Turin after a day on the road I wasn’t as tired as you might expect because I had been forced to take regular half-hour breaks, every two to three hours, in order to recharge.
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William
How many km per kwh did the Q4 achieve on a run like that?
Peter
Hi Peter,
Approx. 21 kW / 100 km in total and I was doing 130 km/h for long stretches.
It uses significantly less when tootling about the countryside.
Best,
William
Edit: @northpole Peter, today I am driving from Lake Lugano to Munich. End-of-holiday traffic made progress extremely slow which is reflected in superb economy of 17.3 kW / 100 km. We have now driven 350 km and the remaining capacity is approximately 90 km. As we speak I have stopped to charge the car at a Tesla Supercharger.
The car is being charged at 165 kW. I would have needed 5 to 10 mins charging to get home on but we are taking a break and it should be nearly full by the time we are ready to hit the road again.
This week i test drove a new Mini F66 Cooper S, compared to my ‘23 F56, i found a drastic reduction on tyre noise, It rides better, the gearbox, still the Getrag 7speed Is noticeably faster and incisive on downshifts, however, paddles are only available with JCW trim. Overall It’ s more refined, too much perhaps.
The cabin though, Is a big disappointment. They got rid of pretty much every physical switch/button and everything Is set via the new round OLED screen, into various sub menus. This Is utterly demential and dangerous while diving, of you want e.g. change fan speed/temperature. Every time you start the engine. The dashboard and Door trim Is now a sort of recycled fabric down on quality from previous gen. Definetely i’d not be tempted to change mine with this
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Agree totally about the insanity of touch screens and multiple menus. My wife’s Golf mk8 was imo dangerous to use on the move and we changed it for a Honda Jazz. Physical controls for heating were quicker and safer and also less frustrating.
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In the future, It’ s probable a U turn to physical controls for safety reason. I’ m really happy that the BMW series 1 we have on arrival now, is not yet the facelifted one and still has a classic dashboard
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I am of exactly the same mindset - there has been such massive negative feedback across the board from the motoring press/ you tubers/ buying public, that I find it impossible to imagine a complete reversal from the manufacturers to reintroduce physical controls for the essential functions needed whilst driving. The current blinkered approach by manufacturers is verging on insanity. Quite how the road safety ratings aren’t reflecting this sentiment is another mystery to me!
Peter
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I totally agree about the unsuitability of nested menu systems in the modern automobile. I also agree that the screen-based menu systems currently in use are far inferior to physical controls (such as the superb rotary pushbutton in previous generation Audi cars) for the reasons mentioned above.
A look at the brand new Audi Q6 shows how these systems will evolve: not to return to physical control buttons, but to integrate wide-format displays with enough room for the required functionality on one menu level. Plus an additional screen for the front passenger, so they can play with the satnav while the driver concentrates on the road.
I just hope the software quality improves, as I think the intuitiveness of the on-board software has been steadily degenerating.
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BMW i3 got the balance spot on in 2013 to 2022. Love mine for these reasons and more.
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I read the euroncap ratings will at some point address this?
As a committed dinosaur I miss the controls from the BMWs or Mercedes I had in the early - mid 90s, and for that matter the instruments, especially with the dim orange BMW used to use.
I suppose there were fewer things to deal with without seat massage, Dolby surround etc etc.
(I also miss the build quality of those Mercs.)
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It could be forced by new EU rules. We know that vocals controls are available but to be honest Is quote daft talking with a car and not always works
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Even after so many years I consider it still one of the best and most forward looking small electric cars out there.
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There is little to not like about the car. A luxury city car than can do long miles as well. I can see me keeping mine for quite a while.
Whilst attending a wedding in Bath in 2010, I got talking to a not quite 70 year old who had owned a new Mercedes S class for three months. He was the recently retire owner of a substantial business & clearly no-ones fool.
He said that it was a lovely car but he wished it didn’t have so many switches in the cabin, about 70 in total. He was not happy that it had taken him a couple of months just to work out how to change the radio station!
I have often wondered what the motor manufactures are thinking when installing the vast touch screens in their top of the range vehicles when most potential buyers/users are wealthy persons of advances years who are less likely to be nimble with the touch screens than the younger generation who, on the whole, will never be able to afford one of these vehicles.
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I couldn’t agree more with the Mercedes owner. Until last year, I owned a modest Citroen DS3. It was OK to drive but was let down by poor build quality. I passed it on to my son, whose car had failed its MOT and was beyond sensible economic repair and got myself a Volkswagen Up! For the very small amount of driving that I now undertake, it suits me fine. It has no unnecessary technology in it whatsoever. It’s a small car but I still get Volkswagen build quality. I love it! It may not be a prestige car but it is fashionable in a very chic way.
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What a beautiful machine. I know YorshirePud (it seems no longer of this forum, sadly) has one too.
The A110 seems to be the perfect antidote to too much weight, too much power and too much tech that pervades the car scene these days.
Mark Walton has been running an A110 in Car Magazine, but I’d be very interested in what you think of yours, if you wouldn’t mind ?
Thanks James.
I love it.
I’ve been a petrolhead since I was about 5 years old, and although I’ve not had exotica I’ve had some fun cars. Earliest being a Triumph Herald convertible, followed by a TR5. A TVR, VW Corrado VR6 and Cayman S (987.2) being the most notable in a line of 50+ cars since then.
After the Caymen I “realised” that modern sports cars were too fast and too boring on the twisty bits.
An unexpected encounter with the A110 at Thruxton changed everything I’d felt about modern sports cars. After selling the Cayman my son and I resorted to track days in 981 Caymans there. In ‘21 we saw the Alpine and booked it for our ‘22 outing.
Sold.
Literally that. I’d thought I’d no interest in any new sports cars, and no longer the desire to work on the good old ones. The Alpine is a fun, fun, fun car. It’s fun.
It’s like being in the best car that 1980’s me could ever imagine existing.
Ask any questions you’d like, here or via PM.
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Thanks for that - it sounds like you are rather pleased ! Always good to read about the real ownership experience.
Thanks again 
James
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At a time when Lotus has recently introduced a 2.5+ ton electric monster (what would Colin Chapman have made of this?!) I found it so very refreshing that Renault had the tenacity to develop and bring to market what I would imagine a modern day Lotus should be. Fantastic concept especially for UK roads. Steve Cropley from Autocar has one and is remarkably enthusiastic about it (mind you he has just added a Ford Raptor to his fleet!). I can’t recall the detail but he was left stranded by a fault which is apparently common. Easily fixed and by all accounts a tremendous car. I recall reading that one of the variants has a slightly different seat arrangement which much better accommodates those longer of limb. Shame that the public did not have the confidence to embrace it and make it a commercial success.
Peter