Green NCAP, the body that monitors the emissions of vehicles sold by major car manufacturers, has published the results of the latest tests carried out in November. Five vehicles were ‘tested’: Lexus UX 300e, Nissan Leaf e +, Renault Captur E-Tech, Volkswagen Golf 8 GTE, Audi A3 Sportback 35 TDI. And the latter was the surprise, despite having obtained the lowest score of the lot, that is three stars out of five.
Specifically, Green NCAP tested the 2020 model of the Audi A3 in diesel version, with S-tronic automatic transmission. The 2-liter diesel engine impressed not only with reasonable fuel consumption figures, but also with excellent air quality, minimizing the emission of pollutants. The performance of the state-of-the-art exhaust aftertreatment system was effective under all test conditions, but further improvements would be possible, especially for short journeys with a cold engine start. Here is the final judgment: “Audi A3 Sportback 35 TDI with diesel engine scores very well for clean air and energy efficiency, but greenhouse gases cannot be forgotten. Still, a three-star Green NCAP rating is solid performance for a traditional diesel-powered car“.
The five stars Lexus and Nissan have achieved with their full electric models are much less newsworthy. Despite this, there is room for improvement. Eg the UX 300e has lost ‘fractions of a point’ due to the energy used to heat the interior of the vehicle, deemed too high. Green NCAP also measured an autonomy lower than that declared by the House (from 305 km it dropped to 241).
The two PHEVs from Renault and Volkswagen achieved three and a half stars each. As with all plug-in hybrids tested in the past, they offered the best performance while using the battery only; however, both also recorded an efficient after-treatment of exhaust gases, with low emissions when running on petrol.
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