Almost by virtue of being a motoring journalist I don’t have the world’s best fashion
sense and actually saloon cars have been struggling to stay current too. As people flock to SUVs
and crossovers faster than skinny jeans can fill up charity shops.
So why you may ask, has Audi seen fit to release a saloon version of its A3? Well two very
big reasons are China and the USA where 4-door saloons are still very popular.
It’s amazing how much seats affect a car’s interior and these rotor grey alcantara numbers
really stand out. In fact, while they might not be to all tastes they wouldn’t look
out of place in an exotic sports car. The same goes for all the S line goodness
which includes this flat bottom steering wheel and this bespoke gear lever. And a special
mention also goes to the air vents in this car, which can either fan or jet the air depending
on you push them in or out, they’re some of the best in the business.
Of course being an Audi there’s plenty of tech too, and you can watch our recent sportback
review for more information on that. But highlights in this car include Android
Auto or Apple CarPlay integration, along with the option of in car WiFi and this adaptive
cruiser control which coupled with the automatic gearbox can actually bring you to a halt then
speed you back up again on the motorway, really taking the stress out of traffic.
So, 4 doors instantly give it an advantage over the 3 door hatch but compared to the
sportback you can tell there’s not quite as much space back here. So there’s a little
bit less headroom and a little bit less knee room. You can also see its slightly more upright.
Its ok and you’d easily get 4 adults in here, but they might not want to stick around
for a long journey. It’s a bit of a similar story with the boot,
which measuring 425 litres is actually bigger than the sportback’s. Although this smaller
aperture means it harder to load in large items. It’s also slightly beaten by the
CLA-Class which has a 470 litre boot. You get a nice square area to put stuff into,
but there is a bit of a step when you fold the rear seats down and you do have to do
that from inside the cabin. The way the A3 saloon drives is actually a
bit like the way it looks, so it’s very neat but it’s also a bit sharp edged. I
love the way this S line body kit with a slightly lower suspension looks, particularly on this
car with the huge 19-inch alloy wheels that Audi have fitted to it which does mean the
ride is pretty firm on British B-roads. Saying that there are 2 possible ways around
that, you can either ask Audi to delete the S line suspension and go for the free comfort
option instead, or you can do what we’ve got here which is to fit the magnetic ride
dampers. You need to have 3 different settings for comfort, normal and dynamic. In comfort
mode that’s actually the one I’d recommend sticking with on most roads because they’re
plenty firm enough and the car handles pretty well.
Being an Audi there’s an engine for pretty much every occasion, now we’re in a slightly
left field choice for us Brits which is the 1.4 litre turbocharged petrol but it does
get the same 148bhp as the more popular 2.0 litre diesel.
Now there’s no getting away from the fact that tis not quite as economical as the diesel
so in our time with the car we’ve been getting into the mid 40’s mpg whereas in a diesel
we could get around 50 to 60. But it does have some advantages, its economical for a
petrol with 2 cylinders that can shut off on demand, and it’s also quite punchy so
it’ll go from 0-62 in 8.2 seconds. It’s also very refined so particularly coupled
with this S tronic automatic gearbox you really do find that its very smooth and quiet and
you can just waft around. What you perhaps won’t get though is those petrol thrills
where you want to rev it out, because actually with a small turbo this engine does its best
work in the low to mid revs.
Unlike the sportback the saloon only comes
in sport and S line trims. This 1.4 litre starting from £24,000 just undercuts the
CLA-Class 180 sport. Of course this being an Audi you can also start really throwing
some serious options at it. This car includes a £1,400 tech pack, a £1,100 wheel upgrade
and a £1,000 for the whole magnetic ride system.
The coupe aping Mercedes CLA-Class might be more overtly stylish than this car, but there’s
no denying that the A3 actually does look pretty good with 4 doors and a boot. If the
added practicality of a hatchback is an absolute essential for you then this car does everything
the regular A3 can remarkably well whilst also being rarer and very easy to mistake
with a model from the class above. But what do you think of Audi’s style sense?
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