Looks like the real deal. Now I'd be curious to know where Audi is getting their batteries from...

http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/237065,audi-a1-sportback-concept-with-hybrid-drive.html

Not a Volt competitor but of Prius. It is a parallel hybrid and will drink gas under heavy acceleration or load.

60 mpg. Not bad. Not bad at all.

Much better than this gen's Prius but not Volt like.

However, since its an Audi, I doubt it will be cheap.

60 mpg. Not bad. Not bad at all.

Much better than this gen's Prius but not Volt like.

However, since its an Audi, I doubt it will be cheap.

True. Honestly, after owning a couple Audis, I don't know how they ever get repeat business (actually most of the people I've talked to don't buy Audis again). Don't get me wrong, they are fun to drive and all, but it is next to impossible to find parts for them other than the dealer and even the smallest piece of pastic can cost $3-400 easy. I am talking... a replacement shifter knob, $380. They are absolutely unyieldingly expensive and you have no option. They don't release electrical lay outs or ANY kind of repair manual publicly. Unless you can pull some Ocean's 11 heist and break into a dealer and steal a repair manual, you are stuck paying their ridiculously expensive mechanics any time something goes wrong, and when you use their mechanics, you have to use their parts. They absolutely rape you. Basically once the car is past its warranty, you don't want to own one. Even one guy I talked to told me that his whole engine seized up due to some random sludging despite his religiously regular oil changes and Audi wouldn't fix it under warranty and they wanted $3,000 to fix it or something.

Everyone knows that if you're going to buy an expensive car, you'd better be prepared for expensive maintenance costs, but Audi has taken expensive to a whole new level. A new rubber hose for my convertible top hydraulic system cost over $600...when a plastic wood grain panel cracked (about 3" x 5") that glued around the HVAC controls was over $400.

So far I have spent more in maintenance on the car in the last 2 years than I originally paid for it. (I bought it for $5,000 and maintenance has run me $6,000) And that's without doing any of the work at the dealership.

I wouldn't even want to know what an electric car's maintenance bill would run.

ditto BMW. I own a BMW 840C and can say it is an usual visit to get it thru the shop for less than $1K. I was fortunate to find an older service rep that would refer me to places I could buy replacement parts for a fraction of BMW costs. eg.,to smog the car I had to replace the catalytic converters. BMW cost estimate was$3200. He referred me to a manufacturer that would cut open the OEM cat and built new ones based on the internal design. Cost for the pair with new O2 sensors, $375. A rebuilt radiator cost me about $175 vs several hundred for an OEM radiator. A new brake hydraulic booster I got from Germany at his recommendation. $750 plus freight vs $1850 from the dealer.

Yes, this is true of all high-end auto shops. They truly rape you.

This really give me hope for the electrification of the automobile. Someone who is handy could potentially keep an electrical car running for a long time. How are companies going to make maintenance revenue? Probably charge a lot for little things. Thus, if an EV achieves very high volumes there will be after-market options for expensive parts.

Thus, I believe a high volume EV will finally bring affordable driving to many drivers. Not only in fuel costs but in total operating cost. If marketers are able to convey this message to potential customers they will be able to justify higher initial costs.

Maybe car dealers should hold time value of money classes before talking about the price of their EVs. Maybe we need to help get out the message once we know the data. These details are important to help justify the purchase of EVs. EVs essentially come with a tanker truck full of gas as well as a UPS truck full of spare parts including brake pads, oil changes, oil filters, exhaust pipes, air filters, gas line filters, emission control devices, etc.

I have had similar issues with a BMW. You guys bring up a lot of valid points. Maintenance will be much lower on an electric car which for the consumer is a good thing.

But an auto dealership like Audi, Mercedes or BMW survives on overpriced proprietary parts and service. Electric cars will really hurt them.

Of course, Audi can still charge $385 for a proprietary plastic knob but normal maintenance like oil changes will disappear.

Not a Volt competitor but of Prius. It is a parallel hybrid and will drink gas under heavy acceleration or load.

This article doesn't describe it very well, but this car is actually
quite well thought out. The front-wheel drive is a conventional
transverse 4-cylinder, and the electric motor is mounted to the
rear axle. So, none of the complexity of the Prius's transmission,
and in hybrid mode, you get all-wheel drive.

And certainly not in cost will this be a Prius competitor. :)

True. Honestly, after owning a couple Audis, I don't know how they ever get repeat business (actually most of the people I've talked to don't buy Audis again). Don't get me wrong, they are fun to drive and all, but it is next to impossible to find parts for them other than the dealer and even the smallest piece of pastic can cost $3-400 easy. I am talking... a replacement shifter knob, $380. They are absolutely unyieldingly expensive and you have no option. They don't release electrical lay outs or ANY kind of repair manual publicly.

I hate to say it, but most of this is not true. I don't know how hard
you looked, but all the resources you mention are very much
available:

Excellent quality factory repair manuals are available here:
http://bentleypublishers.com/

A truly brilliant OBD2 scan tool is available here:
http://www.ross-tech.com/

Substantial discounts on OEM parts are available here:
http://www.worldimpex.com/

We have a 2003 VW Jetta TDI, and I have used all these tools to
avoid a number of what would otherwise have been expensive
dealer repair trips.

I like the engineering on the VW and would embrace this Audi
in a hearbeat.

I hate to say it, but most of this is not true. I don't know how hard
you looked, but all the resources you mention are very much
available:

Excellent quality factory repair manuals are available here:
http://bentleypublishers.com/

A truly brilliant OBD2 scan tool is available here:
http://www.ross-tech.com/

Substantial discounts on OEM parts are available here:
http://www.worldimpex.com/

We have a 2003 VW Jetta TDI, and I have used all these tools to
avoid a number of what would otherwise have been expensive
dealer repair trips.

I like the engineering on the VW and would embrace this Audi
in a hearbeat.

Go ahead buy one then. You'll see.

I'm not making this up. I bought the Bentley Manual. It cost me $100 after looking high and low for a good price. After hearing about a friend totally blowing his engine replacing his timing belt, I looked into getting mine fixed. Even a hack mechanic wants $900 to do the job. A good mechanic said it could be twice that.

Maybe I didn't go to a very good place but an auto electric place I took it to said there was no access to the electrical diagrams and told me to go home.

Yes, you're websites have pretty good prices on easy to find stuff like brakes and rotors and whatever, but the rear struts (yes struts not shocks) are only made by one company in Germany and to have Les Schwab put them in, they have to order them from Audi (they have no other suppliers) and it will cost $400 each plus labor for stock struts. The final bill would be around $1,000.

And that's the easy stuff to find.

Any of the real specific parts like interior plastic stuff is not available online. I am having problems with my convertible top. First I had a hose bust open that is connected by a crimped endlink. The only way to fix this is to buy a whole new feed and return hose that come with uncrimped endlinks and recrimp it back on using a machine that almost no one has. Now the rest of the hydraulic system is so complicated the hydraulics specialist shop in Eugene (which came highly recommended) took one look at it and told me to take a hike. The key barely turns in the ignition and again, all of the auto lock places don't even want to try it. My trunk stopped unlocking a few months ago...nobody would even come outside and look at it. Too complicated. Too expensive (they can tell I don't have the kind of money it would take). The hydraulic fluid pump cost over $4,000 from Audi and I highly doubt I'm going to find that part on your websites. Any of the convertible top parts aren't even available at the VW dealer, I have go pay $600 and then drive 2 hours to get them and I live in the second biggest city in Oregon.

I'm not complaining. It's my fault, I should have done a little more homework before buying a German car I suppose.

Omnimoeish, do you live in the People's Republic of Eugene, Oregon? ;)

Omnimoeish, do you live in the People's Republic of Eugene, Oregon? ;)

for the last 20 years

I cant say this for sure, but my guess is the Audi and BMW owner that just posted have been taking their car to the dealerships. Thats your problem. I have owned the same BMW for 8 years. I found an incredible BMW only mechanic in my area that charges about half what I would pay the dealership to fix on major items, and he is about 25-40% cheaper on everything else. Its all in who you can find. Thats my big problem going to the Volt. I dont want to be stuck with stealership maintenance fees when the warranty runs out.