Video: 2015 Audi A3 Review

Audi finally got with the program here on the redesigned A3, which drops its predecessors' hatchback only body style for five seats, four doors and an ordinary trunk, which you see behind me here. There will also be a convertible and a hatchback version of the new A3, along with a higher performance S3. We have the A3 here. It's got a very classy styling outside and in. It should age pretty well. It's also got gutsy turbocharged engines, but we aren't sold on every aspect and we'll show you why. The A3 really doesn't break any new styling ground, pretty classic traditional Audi lines here, with a large upper and lower grill that are kind of fused together into the same sort of mouth here. It looks a little bit like a squashed A4, actually. The wheel base is a little bit smaller than the current A4, but overall dimensions are actually very similar to the first A4 that showed up in the 1990s. The interior has a very simple aesthetic, very gently sloping dashboard goes toward the windshield. There's a screen here that rises out of the center part of the dashboard. Actually, a pretty slick operation right here and it houses all your multimedia settings, obviously the navigation system, if you get that and it all works through Audi's MMI system, which actually has this touchpad atop the MMI knob down here. You can use that to do things like scrolling the map, fairly intuitive set up overall. Cabin materials, obviously a big battleground in terms of entry level luxury cars. The A3 has some nice touches here, a very consistent graining here along the dash and the doors, (knocking on door) could use a little more padding here along the upper doors where your arms and your elbows are gonna kind of rest, but you know, fabric down the A pillar, nice touches like that all the way down the B and the C pillars as well. Overall space, obviously something you're going to think about when you're looking at small, small kind of entry-level luxury cars. A little bit more cabin volume here than in the Mercedes CLA class, one of the A3's top competitors. Headroom overhead is decent. There's a standard sunroof here. It's pretty big. It does take away some headroom in our test car here. I'm six feet tall and I sit definitely a number of inches ahead of the seat being all the way back. So exceptional driver's seat adjustment range here in the A3. Standard features, an interesting mix here. Now, leather seats are standard, so is this sun roof. Those are typically features that you often have to pay extra for, even in entry-level luxury cars. Although things that our car doesn't have, automatic climate control, push button start, a backup camera, and a power passenger seat. Those are all features that you can get in cars at actually a lot less money. So kind of an interesting mix there. Let's take a look at the back seat. Leg room in the back seat is actually okay. That's where I'd sit to drive. The seat is a little bit low to the ground, and there isn't any payoff in terms of headroom because it's just really tight here. And for what it's worth, this is a similarity between the A3 and the CLA class. The A3 family has a range of engines, including a diesel engine and two turbocharged, four cylinder gasoline engines. We have the base gasoline engine, 1.8 liters, 170 horsepower, 200 pounds feet of torque. Enough power here, but it's not a very smooth situation here, both in terms of going and stopping. There's some turbo lag. There's some transmission lag. There's even some accelerator lag. They all kind of come together to make the car not very quick when you need to immediately get around other cars. Braking too, it's kind of an on again, off again, sort of binary position you're in here. Again, not the most linear experience coming down. Now, ride quality editors were a little bit split over. Some thought that it was a very good, actually. Others thought that it was kind of too firm and a little bit brittle over certain bumps. I'm kind of in between there, but I think the real reason that the A3 is not particularly fun to drive, has to do with the steering. Lots and lots of power assist in the steering. It doesn't have a lot of feedback. It's kind of numb. There's an optional Audi drive select system that can firm it up a little bit more, dials back the power assist, but overall, still not a very fun car. Now there is with Quattro all wheel drive, a two liter turbo four cylinder. Some of our editors have driven that. That makes 220 horsepower, 258 pound feet of torque. By the numbers, it makes this little A3, a pretty quick machine. The A3, like the CLA class, has a little bit more refinement and sophistication than competitors like the Acura ILX and the Buick Verano, two sort of bargain priced entries in this segment. But you also pay for it. Pricing starts right around $31,000 for the A3, goes well into the forties as you add up all the options. So there's definitely a price premium for these German cars. Does that make us necessarily want one? Mm. Maybe. But we'd really like to see Audi smooth out the driving experience, both in terms of acceleration and braking. Also, Audi needs to make a backup camera standard already, not optional. Fortunately, these are things the brand could fix in the next model year or two. So we'll have to see what happens. (engine revs and accelerates)