Subsidy

[h5djr]

Would members who have purchased or who are thinking of purchasing one have done so if the was no taxpayer funded £5,000 subsidy.
The reason I ask is that the current subsidy scheme ends soon and, as yet, they is not new scheme in place.

 

[jetron]

Would members who have purchased or who are thinking of purchasing one have done so if the was no taxpayer funded £5,000 subsidy.
The reason I ask is that the current subsidy scheme ends soon and, as yet, they is not new scheme in place.

Good question Dave
To be honest, as the £5k incentive on the car is surely incorporated into Audi UK's pricing/specification strategy, I don't think that I would have gone ahead if HM's incentive wasn't there. Saying that, if it wasn't there in the first place, I think Audi UK would have priced/specified the car differently so there is still a cloud over the issue.

As there was both a £5k car subsidy as well as a £1k charging point subsidy, I think I did OK out of the deal and am very happy with the vehicle

 

[pjuk]

The £5k incentive was a nice bonus given the already high specification and probably wouldn't have opted for a etron if it wasn't included. Plus I didn't feel so bad adding a whole load of options which took it back up to close to the RRP.

 

[MDPlatts]

Hopefully whichever group of misfits win in may they won't announce the end of the subsidy immediately - or at least keep it going on existing orders. It helps but its still not a dealbreaker. Be nice if Audi repriced the car for the 12%+ change in the £ vs Euro exchange rate.

 

[pjuk]

My order form/invoice has the subsidy already included so the way I see it it's not my problem if it gets removed.

 

[jetron]

My order form/invoice has the subsidy already included so the way I see it it's not my problem if it gets removed.

I doubt it any government would pull the plug on the subsidy that quickly. You will need to fill in the Government forms online with the sales exec so that they can recoup the £5k when you go to collect the car.

 

[markyy]

Its not a case of 'pulling the plug' (nice pun btw) on the subsidy. When it was set up there was a set amount of cash available in a fund. When the fund is gone there will be no more subsidies unless the new government tops up the fund - which I think they will.
I read somewhere recently that there is enough in the fund for a further 19K vehicles.

 

[MDPlatts]

Maybe it was this which the BBC posted on Friday - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-32217969

 

[markyy]

it was indeed

 

[Pulp84]

Just bought a Renault ZOE as a little run around for SWMBO. I have had the full £5,000 grant and the grant for the home wall charger.

After doing much research the ZOE was the cheapest to own and run new car I could find considering it's very high spec (sat nav, cruise, parking sensors, alloys etc). However, it is very cheap for two reasons - the grant and Renault discounts. £18.5k car becomes £14.5k with the grant and then I negotiated a £4k dealer discount. The Renault dealer was very honest - Renault offer the highest sales bonus on the ZOE hence a good discount.

So a brand new car for £10.5k with low running costs and cheap finance (£120 a month, no deposit). Other super minis and city cars (VW Up!, Pug 108, Twingo) etc just can not touch the ZOE in terms of running costs, spec and cost to finance. But, without that grant and discount would I have bought it? No. It would have been too expensive.

I will be interested to see what the next gen A3 e-tron will be like - at the moment I think the current one electric only range is too short. Lots of town driving and short commutes is where electric only saves you a lot of money!!

 

[jetron]

Congratulations, I'm sure Mrs Pulp will be very happy as it looks like a great deal.
The e-tron certainly has limited EV range but well within my needs. I believe however that one of the unsung benefits of the e-tron is its regenerative capabilities, benefiting from Audi's development and winning experience in FIA World Endurance Championship with their R18 e-tron. Similarly, I guess that the ZOE benefits from Renault's experience in FIA F1 development (if not winning )

 

[Pulp84]

Congratulations, I'm sure Mrs Pulp will be very happy as it looks like a great deal.
The e-tron certainly has limited EV range but well within my needs. I believe however that one of the unsung benefits of the e-tron is its regenerative capabilities, benefiting from Audi's development and winning experience in FIA World Endurance Championship with their R18 e-tron. Similarly, I guess that the ZOE benefits from Renault's experience in FIA F1 development (if not winning )

Have you noticed much difference to your weekly fuel bills Jetron? In a week of ownership with ZOE I have put £25 less diesel in my ICE BMW 320d where short journeys and Mrs Pulps commute are now done all electric. 160 miles driving this week all have cost me not a penny where I have used my local councils charger for free too

I suspect the next gen A3 will probably be part electric / ICE across a lot of the range. I note the new Mercedes C-class 350 PHEV uses the battery to "boost" performance and use less diesel. No full electric mode but it's interesting way of doing things.

I saw my first e-tron the other day driving through my town! Didn't realise it was an e-tron until I saw the big white e-tron stickers on the side so was a demo. The e-tron seems to be the best integration in to a "normal" car of this technology out there at the moment IMO.

The regen on the ZOE unfortunately doesn't really "top-up" the battery all that much, but it does take some pressure off how many KW you use. The e-tron's sounds very advanced in comparison....

 

[jetron]

Although I have only covered about 1000 miles since new, partly due to being off the road for a month while my back was acting up, I have only filled the tank up once since the middle of January. I manage to cover most of my journeys using the EV mode at the moment and when taking longer trips, I have managed to achieve up to 75 mpg according to the DIS. I charge using a 32A Rolec tethered charger, albeit at the 16A rate as that is the maximum possible with the current e-tron.

The e-tron is quite inconspicuous as you say, it does manage to get away from a standstill very rapidly thanks to the hybrid drive but if you didn't know it, most people would think it was a normal A3. So far very impressed.