A word on the car's door hinges. It's nice to have indents in their mechanism so they stay open, but it's downright frustrating in the A3. Open the door too quickly, and it snaps vigorously back at you; getting slapped by a car door hurts.
Gutsy engine
The turbocharged 2.0-litre four that's found in the A3 produces 200 horsepower and 207 lb-ft of torque. Teamed up with the S tronic automated transmission, it's good for 7.9-second bursts to 100 km/h and provides plenty of punch at low revs.
The optional Sport Package on our test car includes 18-inch wheels, sport seats and Audi's Magnetic Ride shocks. The latter reverts to a stiffer setting at the touch of a centre-console button and reduces body motions so you can charge country back roads harder. We left it off most of the time because the car's ride is unnecessarily harsher on the highway.
Fuel consumption is low, averaging 8.9 L/100 km in this A3 tester. If you do a lot of highway driving, your average will be even lower. The only trade-off is that you have to fuel up with super unleaded.
The A3's quattro system is developed by Haldex and favours the front wheels under normal driving conditions; it can send up to 100% of power to the rear once it detects front wheel slippage.
Competition
The 2009 A3 with front-wheel drive and a 6-speed manual starts at $31,800. Our 2.0 TFSI quattro Premium with S tronic costs $39,950, and includes the Sport Package ($3,700), rear side airbags ($500) and metallic paint ($650), for a total of $44,800.
As mentioned at the start, there aren't many direct competitors to the A3 in our market, but if we stretch it a little, we can include a few station wagons to the list. After all, the A3's price range of 32K to 56K leaves room for more alternatives:
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| Fuel consumption is low, averaging 8.9 L/100 km in this A3 tester. |
Gutsy engine
The turbocharged 2.0-litre four that's found in the A3 produces 200 horsepower and 207 lb-ft of torque. Teamed up with the S tronic automated transmission, it's good for 7.9-second bursts to 100 km/h and provides plenty of punch at low revs.
The optional Sport Package on our test car includes 18-inch wheels, sport seats and Audi's Magnetic Ride shocks. The latter reverts to a stiffer setting at the touch of a centre-console button and reduces body motions so you can charge country back roads harder. We left it off most of the time because the car's ride is unnecessarily harsher on the highway.
Fuel consumption is low, averaging 8.9 L/100 km in this A3 tester. If you do a lot of highway driving, your average will be even lower. The only trade-off is that you have to fuel up with super unleaded.
The A3's quattro system is developed by Haldex and favours the front wheels under normal driving conditions; it can send up to 100% of power to the rear once it detects front wheel slippage.
Competition
The 2009 A3 with front-wheel drive and a 6-speed manual starts at $31,800. Our 2.0 TFSI quattro Premium with S tronic costs $39,950, and includes the Sport Package ($3,700), rear side airbags ($500) and metallic paint ($650), for a total of $44,800.
As mentioned at the start, there aren't many direct competitors to the A3 in our market, but if we stretch it a little, we can include a few station wagons to the list. After all, the A3's price range of 32K to 56K leaves room for more alternatives:
 |
| The turbocharged 2.0-litre four that's found in the A3 produces 200 horsepower and 207 lb-ft of torque. |