New A2 E-tron

[JKP]

I've been calling for a smaller EV with proper range for a while, as electric cars have been either way too big or only suitable for city driving, with ridiculously short range. The A2 E-tron looks exactly what I've wanted, on the paper - but now that it's released, I can't say I'm impressed enough to be really interested in it. The outside design is tolerable, though not exactly stunning. But the interior is even worse than in the other recently introduced models, which I didn't even think was possible. The skateboard screen with crappy graphics is there as expected, but on top of that all the surfaces surrounding it look extremely cheap. Some cloth accents are nice looking, but covering the entire dash and the upper halves of the door cards with it looks just so damn bad. And it must be hard to keep clean really, when all the dirt digs into it by time. What the hell are they thinking in Audi? Make a car that's surely an anticipated concept, and then make it completely unwanted by such a bad interior - after being beaten for the poor interior designs for few years now!

What are your thoughts? Do you find it somewhat more appealing or agree with me?

 

[Simon50s]

My first impression was ‘not bad’ but certainly not blown away. I like it because the exterior design is appealing (to me anyway) plus it’s compact and practical. I’ve always thought Audi were good at producing cars that don’t look dated even after 10+ years and think this follows - nothing too radical but modern and classy.

I don’t like the door handles but that’s a minor thing. Otherwise not too bad for me and I wouldn’t be opposed to owning one if I wanted to downsize.

It’s been roasted by lots of haters on Reddit, which I feel is a bit unfair. I still think there’s better to come from Audi (I’m an optimist).

 

[JKP]

I don't even bother reading Reddit, I don't know what exactly should be released to not get roasted there. It's just a too easy platform to bash anything without any perspective.

The door handles are one example of things that nobody wants but they put them there anyway, for the sake of being "inventive" or extraordinary. I don't find them a deal breaker though.

The Auditography guy said that he discussed with some Audi employees that said the basic design was done few years ago so it was too late to change it anymore. I think that's a bad excuse - they should have used some more time to refine the most obviously bad parts of the interior, and their entire lineup would benefit from overhaouling the graphics, so I don't understand why it's not done yet, since literally everybody hates the current one. I'm pretty convinced those two things would be enough to amp up some Audi-like wow facor that would also convince customers like me to think of buying one.

 

[JKP]

Our configurator is up now. Turns out the most basic model is totally out of play - worse battery and charging tech, and while they make it look affordable, it's still expensive. The configuration I could imagine living with would cost € 48 000 and the nice one is € 56 000. That's ridiculous money of a car that doesn't actually make me feel like I wanted one in the first place. And no Quattro available, that's the final deal breaker for me. I wouldn't buy a RWD EV in Finland, they are just too unpredictable in winter conditions.