2006 Audi A3 2.0T Road Test

(Photo: Justin Pritchard, Auto123.com)

Up front lives a two-liter, four-cylinder engine with sixteen valves, two camshafts and a turbocharger. It generates 200 horsepower and 207 pound-feet of torque as aided by VW's FSI (Fuel Stratified Injection) technology. This engine was recently voted one of Wards ten best engines for 2005. It spins the front tires through a six-speed gearbox with a shortish throw and accurate shift action.

I'm going to spare you from me gushing quarter-mile pass times like I'm seventeen again, but instead I'll just comment on the impressive acceleration.

That's right kids, this sucker hauls.

It makes heaps of torque just about everywhere throughout the rev range. Plant your foot in any gear at 2,000 rpm and it's only a split second before your neck begins to strain. Just after that, all occupants are pressed into their seatbacks, grinning. That power stays on strong almost until the tachometer needle meets the redline and you have to grab another gear. The torque generated from this little brute is very impressive indeed, and 200 ponies is a great number which is well suited to the A3's front-wheel drive layout. The 2.0T engine is a racy one when you want to drive hard, and an economical and quiet one when you don't.

Being chosen as one of Wards best engines means it has to be a little bit special. Amusing power curve aside, the 2.0T engine has another entertaining facet--its efficiency. I don't know what the EPA says the A3 achieves in terms of mileage because the EPA figures are bit like reading

(Photo: Justin Pritchard, Auto123.com)

those tabloids at the cash register in your local grocery-mart: useless. I spent my week in the real world, with real driving which included such things as stopping, accelerating and traversing hills. Besides, I don't know anyone who drives indoors on a dynamometer, so here is what the mileage looks like in real terms. On a road trip with 800 pounds of passengers, 100 pounds of hiking gear and mostly highway driving at a healthy rate of speed, the A3 drank only 9.8 liters per 100 km. If you forget your radar detector at home and have to follow the speed limit more closely, that number drops down to just over 8. Average combined city and highway driving was consistently 10 liters per 100 km. Take your A3 to a track day, and you're looking at 11.3 liters per 100 km of premium.
 
I figure that if I'd graphed the fun-per-liter of every car I've ever driven, this would be off the page.

(Photo: Justin Pritchard, Auto123.com)

Is there anything wrong with the engine? Yes, albeit minor. For one, upon startup, it clatters and rattles like a diesel for just a second or two.

All of this to get across, that even if you say to heck with the biology exam, to heck with dollar-a-pint-night at the local sports bar and just decide to drop out and be groovy for a day or two, you can still enjoy full-throttle romps through slow traffic with thrash rock blasting on the amazing Bose stereo and know you're not swilling as much gas as it feels like.