With all the promotion that Audi has going on for the launch of the A3, you can tell that the automaker is just a wee bit excited (Happy St. Patty’s Day, lads!). We have our own launch event on April 3, but despite all the promotion videos and buzz and events, we want to focus on the A3 for what it is: an excellently made car—not a glorified smartphone with five seats and four wheels.
We’ll do so by highlighting an excellent first drive review by Car & Driver, and let you read elsewhere about the Ricky Gervais commercial and the 4G LTE data plans. The A3 is going to be a huge deal in the U.S. auto market because it’s Audi way of challenging the sub-$30k price point for well-made sedans.
This has historically been the turf of a number of auto brands who made chipper, reliable and economical vehicles primarily for families. The A3 challenges that segment by going after the sensible driver who appreciates his car but doesn’t love it, who enjoys the Fast & Furious movies but would never drive like them and who thought that the only turbo his car would ever see would be the eponymous animated movie about snails in his kids’ DVD player.
To this driver, Audi brings all-wheel drive Quattro handling and a choice between 1.8 and 2 liter turbocharged engines. Car & Driver recommends using the (included) sport mode if you go the way of the 1.8 liter, which delivers “silky smoothness” that reminds you that you own an Audi now. Even better, however, is the 2.0 liter which is far more enlivening to drive with, “higher shift points and predictive, throttle-blip downshifting make hot-shoeing more enjoyable.”
Have you heard of this concept, this “throttle blipping”? It’s basically the revving of an engine that happens when you have an engine worth revving. And with a fuel economy superior to the 1.8’s—we have no idea how that’s possible—the 2.0 liter engine appears to be the better choice.
Keep checking here for our launch of the A3 soon, and give Car & Driver’s full article a read.