Audi A3 E-Tron review

Costing roughly the same as the speedy S3, you’ve got to really buy into the A3 e-tron’s petrol-electric repertoire to stump up the cash – a diesel model will cost you upwards of £5,000 less to buy and it’ll take an awful lot of city running before that’s clawed back. Remember too, the headline 176mpg figure assumes you’ll always be able to recharge those plug-in batteries at a plug; if you don’t, it’s barely any more economical than a regular TSI. Then you need to factor in the still-unpredictable residual values of electric cars. But then again, no annual road tax, free EV parking and a congestion charge dodge ramp the smug factor back up.