Louth Motors: Ronseal Electric – goes as as far as it says on the tin
That headline is a joy to write. It’s not that often you can report that the electric car you have just driven delivers what the brochure claims in terms of energy consumption.
Far too often the claimed range simply can’t be attained but with this Audi Q4 Sportback I managed 17.8 kWh/100km. That is smack bang in the middle claimed by Audi of between 16.7-19kWh/100km.
The variance is based on the different options fitted to the car and seeing as mine was of a higher specification, this is a terrific return. My return predicts a range of 460kms and not the 522kms Audi says it will cover.
Audi also claim that if this car was driven exclusively in a city environment it’s good for 661kms – I’d love to try that one day.
And remember at all times that to get the range the manufacturer claims you will need to drive like a restrained robot. At the risk of being part of the problem by always reporting the range this needs to be countered by asking yourself how often in Ireland will you be undertaking a trip that far?
If you build in a recharge time of say 20 mins. to get it to 80% from 20% does that really have much of an impact on your journey?
Mix the recharge in with a coffee and a safety rest and it’s no different to driving a petrol or diesel car provided, and this is a big proviso, you don’t have to join a queue to charge.
For sure we need a lot more chargers, and they are coming, for this not to be a bothersome issue.
So electricity range and recharge discussed what is it like as a car? Well, I’m not quite finished with the electricity element.
The Q4 Sportback has a grille that instantly identifies it as an electric car.
It’s closed and solid and I just don’t like them. I don’t need to be reminded that it’s an electric car because as we can see from the Irish car sale figures they are becoming the norm in new car sales albeit at the pricey end of ubiquitous.
Grille aside, Audi knows how to add a Sportback look to a car and the Q4, in Sportback guise, is a fetching car.
They went for a rear arc design as opposed to a sharp slanted look and I think they were right.
That rear design has thankfully managed to avoid reducing visibility so no sacrifice needed for flair in the Sportback.
The price premium over a normal Q4 is about €2k and when the car range starts at €47,900 it’s not that much extra.
The car’s dimensions are the same as the normal Q4 apart from the height, the Sportback is lower, yet somehow Audi has increased the boot space by 15l. That’s a neat trick.
You won’t quibble about the quality of materials they use either because this is their forte and they won’t let that slide maintaining the highest of standards. New to me was a floating central console in an Audi but I’d seen a similar one in a Renault Captur. I liked it then as I do now in the Q4 Sportback.
Road manners are what you’d expect from a premium brand and it’s smooth, especially on motorways.
Staying on normal urban roads and I’d say the ride is a little on the firm side. It has that powerful electric acceleration and 0-100km/h takes 8.5s - keep going and it’ll max. out at 160km/h. But you won’t, as I keep saying, because very soon you learn EV driving and you’ll always want to conserve your battery so responsible driving is the order of the day.
There’s two battery sizes and three trim levels with the Quattro version (it’s rear wheel drive normally) topping the range at €72,095. The sweet spot is either the Sport or S-Line with the bigger battery.
If you want a premium electric car that has an excellent, real world range and a quality ride the Q4 Sportback is a must for consideration.
Similar to the Volvo I reviewed last week the new kid on the block, the Tesla Model Y, is proving to be stronger at persuading buyers to part with their cash with its size and price advantage.
That’ll continue unless Audi, and others, pare their pencils. For sure the future, and future pricing, will be interesting.