Got our 2017 etron today, dropping the Jetta TDI tomorrow

Put 400 miles on the etron today. Very comfortable, 39mpg on the nose. Hugely complicated car tho. My wife and I are planning on attending night school to learn how to use this car. A few other observations. The car is heavy and feels it. And while the combined hybrid HP is higher on the etron, the Jetta felt peppier. While we got what seems like a good deal, I wonder if we should have leased. This tech will change quickly and I fear this car will be dated quickly.

Also, if you are an audiophile, the Premium (base model) sound system will disappoint. Luckily, NPR sounds fine.

It's a fine replacement for the Jetta tho. I do miss the 6sp manual transmission tho, but I know I need to let go of that....

Congrats on the new car. I'm loving mine. I replaced a JSW and the e-tron gets better mileage and feels a little peppier, but I had the DSG in the JSW.

I haven't noticed it being that heavy, other than it really dampens out bumps. Handling seems okay to me. As for the sound, I'm happy with it. I never really considered the inside of any moving vehicle the place for an audiophile experience anyway. I guess the proof for me is that satellite radio sounds less crappy in this car than in the JSW. I do like the twin card slots. It's nice carrying all my music with me wherever I go.

Ok, second big road trip day. A few new observations. I drove from Phoenix to Albuquerque yesterday and after starting with a full charge. But I had only the single red light indicating no battery left. In the first 200 miles. So in Albuquerque this morning I tried to find a charging station. Instead, found Audi Albuquerque. They were great and let me charge up for an hour and I hit the road. Put the car in battery hold mode because I wanted to have battery left once I got to Colorado. After 200 miles or so... back to no batter left. So a few questions.

1. What does battery hold mean? Assumed it meant the charge would be preserved.
2. When in battery hold, is the battery recharged at from braking?

It is my experience as well the car seemed sort of heavy. OK.… It is heavy! However, when I got used to the ambling about due to the extra weight, I found that it served a pretty good purpose at keeping the car planted during cornering. Granted, it will not do well on the slalom. However, if you allow it to bite into sweeping turnabouts it's quite satisfying. And actually the extra weight with the extra dampening sort of reminds me of an old 85 Mercedes-Benz 300TD I used to own. Excellent handling despite the extra weight.

I just came out of a Jetta sport wagon TDI as well! At first I was convinced that the sport wagon was faster. However there is no denying that the JSW had its moments when the diesel engine just could not impress. As a driver you just find the sweet spot for the diesel engine and you hammer at that sweet spot to get that smile on your face. Well today, at 500 miles on the odometer, I mashed the pedal to make a left turn for a yellow. As soon as the needle hit the boost zone, the Audi pulled hard. What used to be my driving style for the JSW, resulted in going into that left turn a lot faster than usual. Now I know, it's all about that boost zone. Still trying to baby my new car and also keep the mpg close to 100mpg, however I know now that the e-tron is definitely a faster car when you hit its sweet spot.

As far as the hold function, when you mash the gas pedal and hit the boost zone, the car automatically goes into hold. I'm assuming that the car is anticipating that you're having a session of spirited driving, in this case you would want the battery simply for the boost. You are correct, the battery just holds its charge and only serves to supplement the gas engine. That part is kind of annoying, as I find myself switching back to EV after my fun. Allegedly the hold mode is for Europeans who need to commute to a downtown center and then use EV mode.