Steering is another thing Audi has just about right. First of all, I'm not going to go on about how it needed more 'steering feel'
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| Steering feel and effectiveness is ideal for everyday use. (Photo: Jonathan Yarkony, Canadian Auto Press) |
because at the point at which you really need this 'feedback', you've probably grossly overshot the speed limit and are conducting a closed track cone or speed test. How many people are going to take their A3 to the track on weekends? Suffice to say, the variable steering meant fitting its compact booty in my parking spot was a cinch and on the highway or getting onto one, the wheel required only subtle adjustments to get the car pointed in the right direction, and the car slotted into those small A3-sized gaps just waiting for me to merge or pass. Could it be even tighter at cruising speeds? Possibly. Could it use slightly more weight? Sure. Would I pay an extra $4,500 for the improvements? Not really. I'd say it's in the realm of 95 percent perfect, if such a concept is logically valid.
The one last item I'd like to highlight is safety: Audi just recently won a silver medal in the midsize category from the
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| Audi just recently won a silver medal in the midsize category from the IIHS for the A3. (Photo: Jonathan Yarkony, Canadian Auto Press) |
IIHS for the A3. While I won't go into detail about all of its airbags or how its ESP prevents you from going into a spin, I can tell you that it is one of the safest vehicles on the road in its class. This selection takes into account results from frontal, lateral and rear impact crash tests, as well as head protection and restraint effectiveness, giving you an idea of the total protection this vehicle can provide.
I still have an urge to go on talking about some of the driving adventures I had, chatting with other over-caffeinated drivers at stoplights, or how much my sister liked the Brilliant Red paint job (though her name for it was slightly less direct, and vastly more suggestive, a shade often used to describe lipstick), but as it is I must be testing your endurance if you even chose to read this far, or were clever enough to skip to the end (although in this case, I'm not really sure what that would gain you). Other favourite details were its 16-spoke bicolour wheels, the Open Sky system for great natural lighting, cargo netting in the back, and did I mention 200-horsepower?
