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| 2015 Audi A3 Sedan (Image courtesy of Audi of America) |
Recently we had the opportunity to sample the 2015 Audi A3 Premium outfitted with the 2.0T FSI engine, Quattro and MMI navigation package. Our short drive route consisted of both city traffic and highway cruising giving us a sample of what the new A3 has to offer. Around town, the A3 is a very capable car, the revised S-Tronic transmission handles stop and go traffic with aplomb. Unlike with the previous generation DSG, we had no problem pulling smoothly away from stoplights and into parking lots, not once did we find the automatic in the wrong gear. Acceleration was brisk but didn’t feel like an exciting mid 5-second 0-60 time. If given the opportunity for a longer test period, we will get out the data acquisition equipment and get some official test numbers. As enthusiasts, we are disappointed by the complete lack of a manual transmission option. Hopefully the upcoming S3 or the yet to be confirmed RS3 will satisfy those needs.
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| 2015 Audi A3 Sedan (Image courtesy of Audi of America) |
Once on the highway we discovered that the new A3 has a lot of wind and road noise. Depending on the surface we drove on, it was loud enough to make conversation difficult. The noise was coupled with steering that was some how both busy and uncommunicative about what the front end was doing. Again, a longer test with the car would bear out if this A3 was a victim of poor Michigan roads or if there was a real issue.
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| 2015 Audi A3 Sedan (Image courtesy of Audi of America) |
On the technology front, we found the Audi’s MMI to be on par with other systems for initially connecting to a phone (read: more complicated and frustrating that it needs to be) and better than average once connected. We didn’t have any issues programming a navigation route and found the quality of the Bluetooth audio to be good.
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| 2015 Audi A3 Sedan (Image courtesy of Audi of America) |
In all, the 2015 A3 is a good car. That said, it doesn’t feel like a special place to be or a special car to drive. Given our test cars sticker price of around $37,000, quite frankly we expected more. The A3 did not feel like a substantially better place to be or a better car to drive than the MKV GTi owned by your author even though it is 8 years newer and has a sticker price over $10,000 more. It isn’t to say that the A3 isn’t a good car; it just isn’t a great car. We applaud Audi for making a solid entry into the small car luxury market and hope that this is the place that they decide to start from and only get better. If you are looking for a luxury car that is on the smaller side and does have sporting intentions, the 2015 A3 should be on your list.
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