The Audi A2 e-tron is an ID.3 in a very expensive suit, and the tailoring works

Audi pulled the covers off the reborn A2 e-tron on Monday with a drag coefficient of 0.24, a claimed 401 miles of range and a German starting price of about €38,200. Underneath, it is closely related to a Volkswagen ID.3, sharing the MEB platform, 400-volt electrical architecture and rear-drive layout. That is the number the entire car has to justify: roughly €4,000 more than the Volkswagen for the big-battery version.

Across three separate hands-on walkarounds filmed at the reveal, one pattern holds: Audi spent much of that money on aerodynamics, packaging and touch rather than wholesale powertrain reinvention.

At 4.32 metres the A2 is only fractionally longer than the Q2 it replaces, but the wheelbase is 2.77 metres — longer than an A3 Sportback's. The nose carries a black panel that swallows the sensor suite, an active shutter behind it, air curtains on S line cars and what Audi calls gap reducers between tyre and arch. The underbody is flat. Wheels run 18 to 20 inches, all aero-profiled, on narrow 225–235mm rubber at higher-than-usual pressures.

Design lead Jakob Hirzel told Top Gear the shape was a deliberate fight against the obvious answer. “An overly aero-oriented car usually has a teardrop shape but the A2 has edges, solid sculpted surfaces, and a proud volume at the front,” he said. “The black panel in the nose absorbs all the sensors and clutter we have to package now. It gives the car a distinct face.”

The motors are new permanent-magnet units badged APP350 and APP550, with low-viscosity gearbox oil and polished gear spurs — half-percent chasing that only shows up on a WLTP certificate. Four power levels, 167bhp to 322bhp, rear-drive throughout. No quattro.

The payoff: 4.85 miles per kWh for the 187bhp car fitted with the efficiency package, S line body kit, lowered sport suspension and 19-inch aero wheels on low-rolling-resistance tyres. Auto Express's Phil McNamara said the outlet had driven a prototype and averaged nearly five miles per kWh in ordinary driving; Top Gear's Jason Barlow reckoned five-plus was achievable. Anything above four is genuinely frugal, so the claim survives contact with a road.

The line-up reads 52, 61 and 84kWh gross, or 50, 58 and 79kWh usable; the two smaller ones LFP, the big one NMC. Except there are only two physical packs. Autogefühl's Thomas, walking the car at the reveal, pointed out that the 50 and 58kWh options are the same hardware with the smaller one restricted in software — and said he had told Audi directly that if it wanted to sell a limited battery it should at least sell it as a function-on-demand upgrade the owner could unlock later. Charging a lower list price for a capped version of a pack you have already fitted is a defensible tactic in a company-car tax market. Doing it in a premium segment with no unlock path is a different conversation.

Audi's final technical table resolves the charging figures by version. The 52kWh LFP battery peaks at 100kW and takes 24 minutes from 10 to 80 per cent; the 61kWh LFP pack peaks at 105kW and takes 26 minutes. Both 84kWh NMC versions peak at 183kW and take 29 minutes. Those are respectable rather than class-leading numbers, and the shared 400-volt architecture helps explain why Audi has chased efficiency as hard as outright charging power.

This is where the Audi premium stops feeling theoretical. The dashboard is wrapped in Softwrap, a post-consumer fabric that runs from the doors across the fascia and into the rear cabin. Vertical vents flank it. The panoramic MMI pairs an 11.9-inch instrument display with a 12.8-inch curved touchscreen, and the phone tray charges two handsets wirelessly at 25 watts, actively cooled.

The A2 is also the first car to use Fidlock, a magnetic-and-mechanical fastening system borrowed from mountain biking. Cupholders, cable bags and luggage straps clip into anchor points scattered through the cabin and boot. Top Gear tried to break it and could not. Mat Watson at carwow spent a happy chunk of his review relocating a cupholder around the console for the pleasure of it, then found the frunk too small to swallow the charging cables without unravelling them first — which, on a car given a frunk specifically so you have somewhere to put the cables, is a miss.

Boot volume is 396 litres, 1,336 with the seats down. Rear knee room, on a car replacing the notoriously tight Q2, is the standout: Watson reckoned it felt closer to an A6 than to anything in the class. Towing is rated at 1.6 tonnes with an electrically deployable hitch, matching a Model Y on a car that is smaller and cheaper.

The winglet door handles will draw fire. There is no mechanical inside release; each door carries a charged capacitor good for around 40 operations if the car's electronics die. Autogefühl's read was that this is over-engineering to solve a problem an ordinary handle already solves, and he suspects the missing manual release is one reason the A2 is not bound for the United States. It is not going to China either.

UK prices start at £32,200 and run to about £45,000 for a loaded car. Audi expects the A2 to qualify for the Electric Car Grant, which could pull the entry price close to £29,000 — within a rounding error of a petrol A3 Sportback. In Germany the big battery lands near €49,000 and the quickest version €51,000.

The original A2 weighed under 900kg thanks to an aluminium space frame, returned 94mpg from a three-cylinder diesel, collected awards and died in 2005 because almost nobody would pay for it. Watson's verdict on the sequel was that it is nowhere near as groundbreaking. That, he argued, is exactly why it will sell.