For the
better part of the last two decades anybody looking to buy a small luxury
hatchback could turn to the Audi a3. I say could because for the 2015 model
year the company is axing one of those doors. So are they throwing a baby out
with the bathwater or is the four ring brand on to something bigger and better.
The a3 is
offered with two engines featuring forced induction of the snail shell variety.
There's a 1.8 litre turbo at the base making 170 horsepower and 200 pound feet
of torque. Meanwhile there's also a 2-point OT putting out 220 horsepower and
258 pound-feet. There's only one transmission here Audi's six-speed S tronic
dual-clutch. for MPGs the 2-liter car stickers at 24 miles per gallon in the
city, 33 on the highway or 27 on average. Pricing for the two liter model
starts at just under 34 grand including delivery although the car that I've got
here today costs roughly ten thousand dollars more than that.
As you
might already know the a3 is based on Volkswagens MQB modular platform of
course that means that it shares its architecture with cars like the golf and
all of its derivative models and some of the styling elements peek through to
hint at exactly that. For example the dual exhaust pipes are pulled directly
from the mk7 GTI. Standard equipment on the car includes 17-inch aluminum
alloys although this car has the optional 18s and you can upgrade to 19-inch
versions if you prefer.
Now
everything about this car fits in directly with the rest of Audis lineup in
fact the a3 now looks a lot like a shrunken version of the a4. Now this is the
prestige model which means that it gets the more aggressive front fascia and
side skirts among many other options. If you're wondering why Audi decided to
move away from the hatchback keep in mind the a4 sold more than five times for
every a3 in 2012. Why shouldn't they move to something that's more appealing. After
all mercedes-benz is starting to crowd the market with their new CLA 250. But
that can't be the whole story can it well of course not because we haven't even
looked at the interior.
Well you
do give up about an inch of head room in the back but you also get a little bit
more legroom thanks to the fact that like the golf this again is based on MQB so
it's actually slightly larger than the vehicle it replaces. Because this is a
loaded prestige model it is brimming with all of the options that will offer
for example you get adaptive cruise control, sport seats, and brushed aluminum
inlays in the dashboard and also on the doors. Of course, none of what I just
mentioned is a part of the standard equipment list still. It's really not that
bad if you buy a car like that for example you always get leather seats you get
a panoramic sunroof and you get dual zone climate control, no matter which a
three you choose. Even though this is the baby and Audi's lineup it doesn't
come across as feeling particularly cheap. Audi does a great job of masking the
less expensive surfaces. The buttons all have a satisfying click the bezels
around the air vents rotate and when they move into place again there's a
really satisfying. Clicking feeling when you put them either all the way to the
top or all the way to the right. There's one more thing I got to tell you about
this car comes with Audi's new itouch system and to you that means that you're
going to be able to do things like right with the tip of your finger on the new
larger dial that also has a touchpad so for example while you're trying to
enter an address. You can actually just use the end of your finger to right
let's say h-o-m-e for home and then it'll find the preset you can also use your
finger to direct the cursor on the navigation while you're looking through the
map to go left right up or down.
Earlier I
said that this car is bigger than the previous a three and it is you might take
that to assume that it's also heavier but in fact this car is actually about a
hundred pounds lighter than the previous generation. This car has the more
powerful 2-liter turbo engine and that puts out 220 horsepower and 258 pound-feet
of torque. Now Audi says that it's supposed to accelerate to 60 miles an hour
in 5.8 seconds and honestly it's pretty quick I don't doubt that that's true.
Now out all so says that peak torque comes on. Its sixteen hundred rpm and I'm
going to see I have to question that part a little bit. Because it doesn't
really feel like it still as soon as you get into boost there's plenty of power
and to make it clear this engine makes 50 more horsepower and fifty-eight more
pound-feet of torque then the 1.8 liter. It only costs three thousand dollars
to upgrade from the smaller to the bigger engine and honestly if there's
anything you're going to pay extra for in this car that should be it.
If you're
keeping track at home you might be thinking those numbers are exactly what
volkswagen has for the GTI if you pay for that optional performance pack and
you're absolutely right. Because this is the same engine presumably the same
exhaust system. It should be it's designed to be comfortable and not
necessarily particularly sporting speed bumps and potholes are a non-issue in
this thing and that's really nice while you're driving over rough cracked
pavement like I am right now. At high speeds the cabin is nicely isolated and
you really don't get very much road noise coming through and at that speed the
steering also stiffens up very nicely to give you at least a little bit more of
a responsive feeling even if the suspension is kind of squishy. You might be
disappointed by that but I've got to hand it to Audi for forcing separation between
their more luxurious and the more sports oriented models.
With
stylish sheet metal and bends beating interior quality the a3 is a standout
product. yes it gives up some of the pragmatism of old hatchback models that it
replaces but it's hard to complain when the rest of the product is such a major
improvement.
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