Better Value Than a Luxury SUV! (Audi A3 Sedan 2023 review)
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- Опубликовано: 7 авг 2024
- The new Audi A3 sedan offers more kit for less money than a comparable SUV, so should you consider this entry-level premium car?
Time codes:
0:00 - Introduction
1:10 - Interior and Tech
5:15 - Back Seats
6:24 - Boot and Cargo Space
7:40 - Running Costs
9:23 - Driving Dynamics
14:28 - A3 Sedan Verdict
The new-generation Audi A3 small luxury car has been on sale in Australia for a few months. You can get a mild-hybrid 1.5-litre turbo 35 TFSI model, reviewed here in sedan form. It costs $49,600 before on-road costs. There is also an A3 Sportback hatch that is $2500 cheaper, and arguably more practical. Or, for $56,500 you can have an AWD A3 40 TFSI Quattro with 140kW.
The Audi A3 competes with the BMW 1 Series and 2 Series Gran Coupe, Mercedes-Benz A-Class and CLA, Cupra Leon and other premium small cars.
As always, we don’t accept advertising from car manufacturers, and we’re powered by Budget Direct - so this is an independent, honest review of the Audi A3.
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Love my 8V A3. Bought the 1.8T Quattro, 4 years old, 45,000kms, Mythos black paint and in immaculate con for only $21K (3 years ago). Added 19s with PS4s tires, rear swaybar and an APR ECU/DSG tune, an amazing car for the money. 0-100 under 6 secs, great steering feel, great interior, economical, great looks...love it.
Man spare wheel should be mandatory on cars sold in Australia!
Or an always available option.
Can someone elaborate on this?
@@recursion. it's so common to get ur tyre punctured in Australian roads
@@recursion. can be 100s of kilometres to a tyre repair shop,if out of the city.
Tom you’re not the only one. I like the simple and bright look of beige colour and the spacious feeling it brings!
I like the way Audi is integrating the center console screens on most of their vehicles, like the A3. They actually put some thought into it versus just sticking a tablet on the dash (the A4 has to catch up in that category).
I have been driving 40TFSI since June 2022 and it is a beast!!! I strongly recommend this option with Premium package.
Thanks for a great review Tom; as a former owner of five Audis including an S3 this car is well equipped and would satisfy me. The absence of adaptive cruise is, for me a bonus. Cheers.
Always best reviews from Tom👍
If Audi keep on making cars like this the looks of cars will be nice and many people will buy
Love your reviews as always! Is this the same 1.5TFSI as in the new Skoda Fabia?
Looks suprisingly good as a base model without the chrome.
I kind of appreciate the fact it’s in flat red too.
Interiors not so premium for a the $100k+ RS3 me thinks! Great review Tom, beige leather for me too.
Red looks great !
Makes the Mazda 6 Atenza look even better with more room and more luxurious with more safety features as standard for the same price essentially.
Honestly, I still prefer the previous model. That interior was so, so well built. And no shitty touchscreen controls. All knobs…
...including the driver?
@@bleukreuz thats a good pun i’ll give you that.
Great review
Between Audi A3 and Cadillac ST5 which one is better?
haha I love this format! I like when you tell us what you would recommend and not recommend! I agree, the red paint is not my taste for a premium car also :3
Keep up the great work team!
Yea never crazy about the red on a A3 sedan (except on the S3!)
What is the length of the car?
Good review Tom. Out of interest,I noted you parked the car in.the middle off the road across the double line. Seems a strange place to park. Was that a closed off road?
as I remarked in the video, it’s the Chasing Cars test track
@@chasingcars thx Tom. I missed that comment. All good 👍. I enjoy your style of presentation BTW.
A great car. Makes for a perfect daily driver. I would go for top the line. For a touch over 50k this is a much smarter buy and long term investment over that ridiculous BYD EV at the same price that I trashed in my other comment
Yes, well my 2018 Audi S3 has been on a tow-truck back to the Audi dealer 4 times in 4.5 years since I bought it (actually 4 times in just last 2 years). Two times was cooling system related, two times was fuel-pump related. Every time the car was undriveable. I do not trust Audi/VW/Skoda/Seat brand for reliability and dependability. (We have two VW's in immediate family, both are quality-wise unsatisfactory too - avoid). It is a pity that all those new car tests cannot measure the reliability and quality. My Audi was great to drive for the first ~2 years since new and then it dived in following 2.5 years. To be fair - my Mercedes and BMW has also proven to be less than good, much more reliable than Audi but not good enough to be considered in future. No wonder the waiting queue for a Toyota, Kia and Hyundai is between 6-18 months long and yet you can buy new Audi, M-B and BMW with almost immediate delivery. Changing of the guard.
If you're looking at the hatch and can live with slightly less rear seat knee room, save yourself 10k and look at the new Fabia Monte Carlo. Same 1.5 EVO and 7sp DSG, same 4.9l/100 rated mileage (without the 'mild hybrid' complication), same boot volume, same driver assistance tech (plus ACC), decent size spare wheel, really nice interior design, solid build, standard 7 year warranty, and cheaper servicing. OK, no faux leather, but great cloth sports seats. No brainer.
Torsion beam rear suspension, though, and the cheaper MQB-A0 platform derivative. Hence why it’s $10K less!
@@chasingcars Good enough for the Polo GTI. The result is what counts, not the approach.
…Yes, and the outcome is that the Fabia is, as expected, rougher, noisier and less adept at handling mid-corner bumps than the A3…precisely what you’d expect of a vehicle from the segment below with a more rudimentary suspension and a less sophisticated platform. Not an apples to apples comparison. If you want to save money, buy a cheaper car is a good rule, but the Fabia isn’t an A3 with a different badge. Quite different cars underneath.
@@chasingcars OK, maybe I was drawing a long bow, but 10k buys a lot of arrows :-).
Perhaps the A1 35 is a fairer comparison - same engine, same gearbox, *same torsion beam rear*, but less room, less features, less warranty, for about 5k more.
Some of us just need to be a bit smarter with our spending, eh.
Either way - Audi or Skoda - they're both better drives than most of their Asian competitors around the same price points, no?
I wish we could get the hatch in USA. I’m surprised the sedan is more expensive than the hatch version. That now makes even more sense why they’re not selling it in US: the car companies always look to take maximum money from Americans.
I really am upset that Volvo no longer makes hatchbacks anymore.
Maybe again in future.
Finally a reviewer concedes that map pockets are obsolete. Who carries maps today?
For first time in Audi’s history, the rear door cards are a lower plastic quality than the front, like a japanese or Korean econo car
The Mazda 3 has soft touch plastics in the rear for 20k less.
the current gen Mazda 3 actually doesn’t have soft touch rear plastics, but the Hyundai i30 does
@@chasingcars I politely disagree as a current Mazda 3 owner
@@givvia6782 maybe he’s talking about base model versions as per this Audi
Is that rellay that important thou?
How about the noise isolation?
pretty quiet
Nice Skoda!
I’m with you! I am also a weirdo!
WHAT you can't fold the rear seats in this?? I get it's a Sedan but that's a dealbreaker man :( I was considering this one otherwise...
You can fold the rear seats. You just need to do it from inside the car - there aren’t levers to do it from inside the boot.
Better than the Skoda Octavia?
Great question. Comparo needed.
I have the black one and it looks handsome and the driving experience is brilliant. I only have the 30 TFSI and 1.1 but the specs didn't tell the whole truth at all and far from it. On top of that, I save so much money from the gasoline wit such a small engine.
Until manufacturers put a real spare wheel in the boot for Australia, I will continue to purchase models that have one.
@Gordon Clark I agree somewhat, but my Honda Civic Hatch I purchased in late 2013 only has a space saving tyre. So perhaps you better get used to it and don't hold your breath, else you may never buy another new car. That's the way they are going (and have been for years and years).
Very few options thou.....agree spare is needed.
the screen is snappy? not really.
I’m happy I bought a demonstrator Passat at $44,990 1 month ago
Great car low reliability in the previous gen A3 mechanical problems galore with my 2013 1.4 TFSI DSG make sure you get the full maintenance plan for the bills are quite steep
Shits on a golf I just brought a new 24 it cracks also beautiful car golf got nothing on it bar a R if you want to go that far but huge bootspace in the sedan
why not get a used Audi A4 35 TSI? You will enjoy extra space.
The A4 is more expensive to run with an average MPG of 45.6 as opposed to 51.4. Also this A3 is newer and more updated than a used A4.
I have driven the hatch. Good low priced Audi
That models suspension is sitting far too high even with 19" alloys the model in your video must be a Australian specific one as it available in the UK on a side note The Ingolstadt factory where the A3/S3/RS3 was closed all of August and this closure has been extended another month ie the full of September so now even delays for all A3 models
In ten years time it will be on a used car lot for $8k with a blaze of check engine lights
Ha ha, true!
Audi used to be an nice car to drive with some state of the art technic..
now it’s just a stripped down car and pay for every switch there is.
Why shall I buy a stripped down German car or buy a fully packed Korean car.
Surprising to hear that you don’t need to pay extra for the steering wheel.
I thought if you bought an Audi you needed to buy another car as well so you have something to drive while your Audi is in for repairs.
Under Australian consumer law that extended warranty isn't even worth the paper it's written on.
Yeah? I’m curious if you don’t mind elaborating?
From someone who didn’t study law lol
ACL applies under the following circumstances:
Vehicles that were purchased after the 1st of January, 2011
Any type of product or service under $40,000
Any type of product of service over $40,000 as long as it is for personal, domestic or household purposes.
Vehicles that were purchased before the 1st of January, 2011
Any type of product or service purchased before the new ACL was implemented is covered by statutory implied conditions and warranties under the Trade Practices Act 1974 and state and territory legislation in force before 1 January 2011.
In terms of coverage, the ACL gives consumers guarantees that protect them against unacceptable quality under the heading of major and minor failures during and after the manufacturer warranty period.
Unacceptable quality is subject to a test to determine whether a reasonable consumer would consider the quality of their product or service to be durable, safe, free from defects and/or fit for purpose, amongst others.
The test then aims to determine whether the unacceptable quality event is a major or minor failure of the product of service. There are certain exclusions to this quality test, which are further outlined in the ACCC guidelines attached below.
If the failure is considered to be a major issue, the consumer is entitled to reject the motor vehicle and request a refund or equivalent replacement vehicle, or keep the vehicle and request compensation commensurate with the decline in value.
A minor failure on the other hand carries different obligations and guarantees for the consumer. Initially, the consumer cannot ask for a refund or replacement for a minor issue, but the vendor is entitled to fix the problem within a reasonable time as long as the failure didn’t occur due to abnormal use.
My experience is that the consumer law does not work, I had a issues and ultimately nsw fair trading gave the manufacturer the last say as , and of course the manufacturer said no ! No enforcement
Skoda Octavia is a better option IMO. More boot space, more handsome-looking and more practical
different
Lower level interior, even though it looks better
Too small for me but sedans and wagons are better than crossovers imo. Although not popular I prefer the tablet style entertainment center. Integrated is nice but it’s it’s too low I’d rather have it in a better line of sight
All those high sulfur fuel excuses sound like BS to me. Isn’t it just product differentiation by VAG?
I was underwhelmed by the interior - too much plastic. Noisy on the highway too
Don’t buy a GOOF !
A3, Leon or Octavia makes more sense at the moment.
This is basically a Jetta with an Audi badge for 50k
Dafuq?
Understated comment
Tiny car. Tiny engine. Tiny interior. Tiny boot. It's a big nope from me!
That what the car is ha ha, what were you expecting it to be?
What expectations did you have of an A3 aha clearly you’re not the target market, but for the target market this is a perfect car
4 people 1000 miles ski trip, no problem.
It is definitely a small car it’s peppy good driving dynamics if your not trying to wring it’s neck but because I got big babies It’s not practical for me maybe in a few years when my mid life crisis kicks in I’ll trade in the bike for the s3 or rs3
@@daweigo6851 I was referring to his comment in the video of "room enough for 4 adults". There's not.
At 6:47 is reported that it has 15 cubic feet or 425 liters of trunk or boot space. This is the typical FAKE GOURMET sedan, the one that comes ready to be swallowed by an SUV. In the ranking of decent sedans (TOP 500 SEDANS) with a trunk capacity above 500 liters or 17.6 cubic feet it does not enter. The trunk of this car is smaller than the trunk of the Renault Megane, a HATCHBACK sold in Australia which has a trunk of 434 liters or 15.3 cubic feet of capacity or Kia Cerato GT, a HATCHBACK which has a trunk of 428 liters or 15.1 cubic feet of capacity. That is, it has a mediocre trunk smaller than hatchback cars. It's a disappointing sedan.
Most people would not care in the real world, it just a boot..a lot of people buy a car they like to drive or like the design, not for boot space,
@@daweigo6851 You're single aren't you? The married guy with kids will always consider the trunk