2016 Audi A3 Sportback E-Tron: First Drive

What is it? A gas-electric plug-in hybrid compact luxury hatchback.

Starting price: $37,900. Qualifies for some federal and state rebates.

Competitors: Toyota Prius Plug-in Hybrid, Chevrolet Volt, Ford C-Max Energi, Hyundai Sonata Plug-in Hybrid

Pros: Can make short trips on electric only power. Can make long trips with regular gasoline. Provides the best of both worlds.

Cons: High starting price may discourage some buyers.

Would I buy it with my own money? Absolutely.

Discussing alternative powertrains leaves most people glassy eyed and their mouth slightly agape. Watching ducks float is more exciting than talking about the benefits of diesels or plug-in hybrids. These are the fringe vehicles that park on the edges of normalcy that only true believers discuss with passion. The rest of us just want something that gets from A to B without being recalled.

Even in the automotive world, plug-in hybrids get shorted. Everyone seems to love talking about hydrogen fuel cells or self-driving cars. Those are in the future, a future that, quite frankly, is not likely to happen. Meanwhile, in the present, plug-in hybrids, as unsexy as they sound, fill the void between total electrification of the world’s fleet of vehicles and what we drive today.

They may not have reached the mainstream yet, but they will. Now is the time to start getting excited about an alternative powertrain.

The 2016 Audi A3 Sportback e-tron offers the newest alternative powertrain that can run on electricity as well as gas. It can zip around town never emitting a puff of smoke or cruise across the country while getting 37 mpg on the highway (and 33 mpg in the city). It may look like a typical A3 Sportback – a wagonesque car not currently offered in the U.S. – but it’s anything but ordinary.

First is its powertrain of an electric motor and gasoline engine mated to a six-speed automatic transmission. The 1.4-liter gas engine creates 150 hp and the liquid-cooled, permanent magnet-driven electric motor located inside the transmission housing creates another 102 hp. Combined, they offer 204 hp and 258 lb-ft of torque.

That torque gives the A3 e-tron guts for the quick highway roads around Palo Alto, where I got the chance to test the A3. It’s pick up is smooth and feels fast. (Audi says the e-tron can go from 0 to 60 mph in 7.6 seconds.) That’s plenty quick to merge onto the highway or launch from a stoplight.

The 8.8-kWh lithium-ion battery pack packaged under the second row seat charges in 8 hours with a 120-volt outlet and just over 2 hours with a 240-volt outlet. This gives the A3 roughly 16 miles of electric only range up to 80 mph. That beats the Toyota Prius Plug-in Hybrid, which has a range of 11 miles. But A3 e-tron doesn’t match the likes of the Hyundai Sonata plug-in with a range of 27 miles, the Ford C-Max Energi with a range of 19 miles or the Chevrolet Volt, with a range of 53 miles.