Time into 2022, we are no longer unfamiliar with this species of electric vehicles, even if we learn that our relatives and friends around us are driving an electric car, we will not feel that TA is a maverick outlier, unless, TA drives such an electric vehicle.
Yes, if they drive Tesla, "Wei Xiaoli" and other new forces electric vehicles, or AION S, e2 with strong tool attributes, you will not feel anything strange, but this car can make you grow a few question marks above your head. To use a phrase that has long been used, that is: above the new forces, Porsche is not enough.
As far as the Audi e-tron Sportback edition one limited edition I got is concerned, its price has reached 735,800 yuan, and even the lower luxury model has gone to 669,800 yuan, which means that its owner must be a rich man.
What kind of considerations they bought this Audi electric car for, we may wish to explore through the performance of this car.
First of all, this is an Audi
This pure electric Audi, obviously, is an Audi at a glance, and most of the necessary elements of Audi are gathered everywhere visible to the naked eye, and there is no obvious qualitative difference between it and the existing Audi oil car. I even thought that the e-tron was originally the Q6 that Audi still lacked, because in terms of size and platform specifications, it seemed appropriate between Q5 and Q7, but because e-tron was Audi's pioneer in the exploration of electrification products, it was not named in the traditional way. However, from the latest information, the "Audi Q6" also has its own car, this disappointing news we will wait until it is really released.
From the outside to the inside, the e-tron Sportback did not appear the slightest temptation that would make the old Audi owner feel strange, as if any attempt to break the tradition was a taboo and infidelity. The lamp is Audi's lamp, the middle net is Audi's middle net, the waist line is Audi's waist line, the screen is Audi's screen, and even this big slip back is also a very coordinated one in Audi's slipback SUV. (There is an e-tron Sportback headlight easter egg at the end of the article)
We can indeed see some new things in the carriage of the e-tron Sportback, such as the shape of the gear bar is very innovative, but it has a very similar thickness to the Audi oil car gear bar; the dashboard has also changed from the embedded type of the oil car to a more concise plane, the interface is still familiar style, but the corresponding display content has been modified for the properties of the electric vehicle.
I think that for Audi, a luxury brand that emphasizes avant-garde technology, if there are more new elements in the electric vehicle product, it is also acceptable for potential consumers, as long as it is not too aggressive. Of course, the e-tron series was actually released as early as 2018, so what it represents may only be Audi's understanding of electric vehicles in that period.
In short, if it weren't for the fact that the car was hung with a green card, passers-by probably wouldn't have noticed that the Audi was electric.
Even if you call on the elders of the family to try the car, they may not find out that it is a tram except that the dashboard shows something different. Because the e-tron Sportback also drives like a traditional gasoline Audi, this refers to the Audi that is of course similar to the price point of the e-tron Sportback, which is a six-cylinder engine, such as the Q7 55 TFSI that was test-driven some time ago.
You may think that I am praising the Q7 instead of the e-tron, but I would like to say that although the e-tron is a tram, after you step on the electric door, the way of power release is very similar to the large-displacement gasoline engine, which does not make you feel panicked, but it is always enough.
Not only does the power feel very similar, good running quality is also the common advantage of both, of course, for the pure electric e-tron, this is the inherent advantage of the motor, after all, there is no reciprocating piston movement, vibration and noise can be said to solve the problem from the source. It is only compared to the multi-cylinder internal combustion engine at this price point, its advantage is not so large, compared with the low-cost four-cylinder machine or even the three-cylinder engine, that is called a dimensionality reduction blow.
In addition, in terms of overall driving quality, including the quality of the acoustic filter and the feel of the steering control, this e-tron Sportback is a very traditional Audi flavor.
▲ Audi can finally "hide" the exhaust pipe this time
However, it is still necessary to mention a detail, e-tron Sportback, like many high-end positioning Audi, equipped with air suspension, but may be because of the heavier curb weight, it presents a "sense of driving" will be more obvious than the Q7, and even sometimes let you feel that the body floats up and down too much, the suspension is not too much to pull the body, such as when the larger speed bump, and when encountering a larger undulation of the road. So I will be more inclined to adjust the suspension to sport mode during driving, which can alleviate this problem to some extent.
What is e-tron's understanding of electric vehicles?
This electric pioneer from the traditional luxury brand is not the same as the electric vehicles commonly found on the road in terms of understanding electric vehicles, first of all, it is often overlooked: the rear axle of the e-tron series also has a two-speed transmission. Mention this, the first thing that comes to mind should be the Porsche Taycan, we wrote an article to analyze whether the gearbox is meaningful for electric vehicles, and I will not repeat it here.
Secondly, in the case of D gear, the e-tron does not release all the power, "only" 265kW (360 hp) and 561Nm, can provide 6.6 seconds of hundred-breaking ability; after dialing into the S-gear, the extra "BOOST" scale on the energy meter is lit, then it will have the 300kW (408 horsepower) and 664Nm on the book, 5.7 seconds to break the hundred.
▲ Of course, when the battery is low, it will still be power-limited, the dashboard will become colorful (how good-looking), in addition to which you will get a turtle, which I call "turtle skill"
There is also a very key point, that is, the kinetic energy recovery that electric vehicles have to mention, which not only tests the calibration level of manufacturers, but also reflects the manufacturer's car-making logic.
For example, in a car of a new power brand, the hardware parameters are good, but the poor kinetic energy recovery calibration makes me stay away. There is also a new force brand that forcibly allows users to use kinetic energy recycling, and wants to cultivate users' habits of use like electronic products, but there are certain security risks.
In a traditional big brand like Audi, this is not to worry, e-tron Sportback by default is not open energy recovery, whether you use D gear or S gear, after releasing the electric gate, the vehicle will use inertia to coast, and because of the large weight of the car, it has a strong gliding ability in this certain speed range, that is, it can slide farther than you think.
The kinetic energy recovery function of the e-tron Sportback also has two ways to intervene.
The first is through the steering wheel at 9 o'clock position of the "gear reduction paddle", dialing it can activate the kinetic energy recovery of the two force levels in turn, and the intervention process is very natural, the next time you step on the electric door, the kinetic energy recovery is immediately lifted.
The second is to turn on automatic energy recovery in the vehicle settings, where the "automatic" is adjusted according to the distance between the car and the front car, which can play a semi-adaptive cruise effect, you control the acceleration, it controls the deceleration, the actual experience is quite good. However, no matter what kind of intervention method, after decelerating to less than 10km/h, the deceleration effect will gradually weaken and then exit, and finally you still need to manually step on the brakes to stop the vehicle.
In addition, the e-tron Sportback is also very natural for the connection between energy recovery and braking, and any brake pedaling force can be obtained accordingly. Just as I was crouching down to examine the six-piston caliper set, my wife said, "This color is really ugly." ”
Is this the logic of traditional brands?
If you remember, last year was about this time, we have test-driven several electric vehicles from traditional luxury brands, most of which are the first pure electric vehicles launched by those luxury brands, in fact, e-tron is also Audi's first pure electric vehicle, but this time we got the Sportback version.
As mentioned just now, the e-tron car series was first launched in 2018, and now it is the fourth year, which has gone through most of the life cycle in the traditional Fuel Vehicle of the German System, not to mention that the field of electric vehicles is more rapidly changing. Admittedly, the e-tron may only represent Audi's understanding of electric vehicles at that time.
However, as a pure electric vehicle launched in the early days of traditional luxury brands, e-tron also has a certain representative of traditional luxury brand electric vehicles. Most of the early electric vehicles brought by traditional brands have some commonalities - relatively conservative, especially after everyone has seen the new forces of various postures, there may be a sense of tastelessness for traditional brand electric vehicles, and there is no surprise to speak of.
For example, in terms of power performance, traditional luxury brands only make electric vehicles as fast as their oil cars at the same price, and there is no obvious difference from their original oil cars in terms of design concepts and operation interfaces, and even most of them have retained the step of "one-click start" (including e-tron). After immersing yourself in the avant-garde interface of the new power electric car, you will feel that the traditional brand is simply too old-fashioned.
In the final analysis, in the idea of building electric vehicles, the new forces will bundle electric vehicles with intelligence, while traditional brands have hardly emphasized this point on electric vehicles, so there may be a certain gap in the sense of experience between them.
Of course, this may be related to the fact that these traditional brand electric vehicles are still based on the underlying platform and architecture research and development of oil vehicles at this stage, and I believe that in the future development process, they will also optimize the design of the entire interactive interface according to the characteristics of electric vehicles.
But then again, while feeling the novel experience brought by the new forces, we often find some bugs, which can be big or small, not so perfect. However, when experiencing traditional brand electric vehicles, although there is little emphasis on intelligence, the functions they can give you are reliable, and they will also try to improve the experience silently. We believe that this is inseparable from the deep car manufacturing experience accumulated by traditional manufacturers for many years.
Therefore, the seemingly bland traditional brand electric vehicles always seem to be inferior in all aspects when compared with the new forces of electric vehicles with their own strengths, and people always say that after entering the era of electrification, the competitive landscape in the automotive field will usher in a round of reshuffle, but we think that things may not be as simple as they seem on the surface.
Write at the end
Back to the e-tron Sportback car, as said at the beginning, this car is not cheap, the people who choose it must first have sufficient economic conditions, but also have a different car selection logic, so the audience of this car is indeed smaller, which is the main reason why it is difficult to see this car on the road on weekdays.
Secondly, this car, or audi e-tron series, has been small since its inception, and it only reflects Audi's understanding of electric vehicles in that period. In fact, Audi in the traditional luxury brand for electric vehicles is one of the best, not taboo to say, e-tron car series is indeed based on the MLB Evo fuel vehicle platform developed, but Audi is also very careful about this car series, it does not have too many traces of "oil to electricity", such as the rear floor is much flatterer than mlB Evo oil car, and its armrest box, but also much deeper than the MLB Evo platform oil car.
I know that the e-tron Sportback has a small audience, and this test drive article may not have much reference significance, but I still took this test drive to experience it in depth, and the main purpose is to understand Audi's posture when it first entered the electric vehicle field through this car. Because they have a very far-reaching layout in electric vehicle technology, it will not be long before a new car based on a pure electric platform based on PPE will be available, and I would like to see what kind of new attitude the Audi electric vehicle will have at that time, and this e-tron Sportback should be a bottom for me.
Easter egg about car lights: