2017 Audi A3 Road Test and Review

2017 Audi A3 exterior front angle by Ron Sessions ・ Photo by Ron Sessions

Perhaps a nice job promotion or uptick in personal wealth has you thinking about trading in that trusty old hatchback for a stylish luxury sedan. But the budget will only stretch so far, and you don’t really want to give up the fun-to-drive character and easy maneuverability of your old small car for something that’s classy-looking, but a bit too starchy. If only some automaker offered a luxury sedan with all the latest comfort, technology and safety features that was also easy on the wallet and drove with the verve of a hot hatch.

Wait. Someone does. Read on to learn all about the 2017 Audi A3.

Fun-Size Luxury

Audi’s extensive luxury-car lineup in the U.S. includes sedans in four sizes, from the full-size A8 flagship to the midsize A6, compact A4, and entry-lux A3. Front-wheel drive A3 sedans start at $31,200 and Quattro AWD models at $34,200, so it’s not going to break the bank. The A3 is built for the congested cities and serpentine roads of Europe. Here in the States, it would be considered a subcompact car, about the size of a Nissan Versa and some 7-8 inches more abbreviated nose to tail than a Honda Civic or Toyota Corolla. The next largest Audi, the A4, stretches almost a foot longer.

Yes, there are some compromises to be made when it comes to rear seat room and trunk space, but unless your carpool mates are NBA forwards, careful interior packaging and a delightfully upscale cabin make the A3 sedan an easy car to live with. And about that old hot hatchback, you kinda hate to leave behind, know that the A3 is spawned from the same excellent MQB Volkswagen/Audi platform that underpins the Volkswagen Golf GTI. Feel better now?

Photo by Ron Sessions

Heart of a GTI

All 2017 Audi A3 models (with the exception of the limited-availability A3 Sportback e-tron plug-in hybrid) get the larger 220-hp 2.0-liter 4-cylinder turbo. That includes front-wheel-drive and Quattro all-wheel-drive versions of the volume-selling A3 4-door sedan as well as the A3 2-door convertible. Last year’s 170-hp 1.8-liter 4-cylinder turbo, which had been available only on FWD models, is dropped, as is the 150-hp 2.0-liter turbodiesel, a victim of VW’s emission scandal.

Keep in mind that the 220-hp gas turbo is the same engine that powers the Volkswagen GTI and Audi TT sports car. Compared to the old 1.8-liter turbo, the 2.0-liter A3 is easily a second and a half quicker from rest to 60 mph, doing the deed in well south of 6 seconds. FWD A3s work through a slick shifting 7-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission while Quattro AWD models use a 6-speed version of that gearbox. Despite the added 50 horsepower, the more efficient 2.0-liter gas turbo ranks 2-3 mpg improved EPA fuel economy estimates than the old 1.8-liter, now pegged at 26 mpg city/35 mpg highway for FWD models and 24 mpg city/31 mpg highway for the Quattro.

Photo by Ron Sessions

Sporty Moves

The foundation for the A3 is the robust MQB architecture, which not only gives it the kind of granitic structure you’d expect from a premium German car, but also the solid platform for the car’s sporty, fun-to-drive chassis. Ride quality leans to the firm side of the spectrum but harsh impacts don’t intrude into the cabin or upset the car’s balance. Shock absorber damping is tuned to shrug off small suspension movements so the car takes choppiness, grain, and smaller road imperfections in stride while firming up and providing good body control in bigger events. The A3’s brakes are right now responsive and powerful confidence-builders. They’re easy to modulate and it only takes a light touch to get a big result. The A3’s steering is quick, well-weighted and accurate and even though road surface feedback to your fingertips could be better, the car obediently goes where it’s pointed (provided the optional Active Lane Assist is switched off). Tire choices include 17 or 18-inch all-seasons and optional 19-inch summer performance rubber. On the road, the 2.0-liter 4-cylinder turbo is a bit grainy with a low-frequency growl, but throttle response at all speeds is enthusiastic due to the wide band of generous torque available.

Photo by Ron Sessions

Command and Control

As driving environments go, the A3’s is one of the best, especially in this price and size class. The A3 distils all of the goodness of Audi’s larger sedans into a more compact formula. Audi’s MMI infotainment control interface with a pop-up 7-inch dash-top display is standard on all models as is leather seating, a new 3-spoke steering wheel, a large sunroof, dual-zone automatic climate control, aluminum interior trim, a black cloth headliner and tactile controls that feel like extensions of your fingertips. If there’s one area for improvement, it’s the pair of illuminated but tiny cup holders buried under the dash at the front of the console.

Photo by Ron Sessions

Virtual Cockpit

These gauges may look like traditional analog dials but they’re actually digital representations of same on a 12.3-inch TFT high-definition screen with NVIDIA quad-core processing power, one of several screen choices available with the optional Virtual Cockpit feature. Another selection (not pictured here) brings the Google navigation screen front and center between the “gauges,” the idea being it’s more convenient and less distracting to glance down from the windshield than over to the right to the center of the dash. Virtual Cockpit is included in the $8950 optional Prestige package.

Photo by Ron Sessions

Hooking Up

With optional Audi Connect Plus, 4G LTE is onboard with a WiFi hotspot and the ability to connect as many as eight mobile devices inside the car to the internet. The optional navigation system provides 3D bird-view Google Map images with vivid terrain detail. Using a hard-wired USB connection, you can also create a smartphone interface to run Apple CarPlay and Android Auto.

Photo by Ron Sessions

Safety First

A backup camera is standard on all 2017 A3 models and the display image includes an overhead view of the car and trajectory lines that show current steering angle. Also standard is the Audi radar-based Pre Sense system that warns the driver of a potential forward collision and can initiate emergency braking to prevent or mitigate the impact if the driver fails to apply the brakes. It’s a system that can save your life, but it also can send false alarms such as the high-pitched beeping and flashing that goes every time I approach the bottom of my home’s steep driveway.

Additional optional safety features include radar-based dynamic cruise control with stop and go, front and rear acoustic parking sensors, high-beam control, blind spot and rear cross-traffic alerts and active lane assist. The blind-spot alert system is particularly useful thanks to four large bright yellow LEDs that illuminate on the side mirrors when the rear-facing radar senses a car, motorcycle, pedestrian or another object alongside the A3’s rear quarter and outside your field of vision.

Photo by Ron Sessions

About Active Lane Assist

Active Lane Assist is a feature that can save your bacon if you drift out of your lane when momentarily distracted or say, if you nodded off behind the wheel pulling an all-night interstate slog. It uses a camera to read the painted lines and actively develops steering torque to keep you centered between the lines. It’s not a huge amount of torque, but steering effort rises significantly if you try to ignore its urgings. Here’s the rub: it wants to keep you lane-centered even if that means hitting a pothole or fresh roadkill and if you want to swing wide around a bicyclist or jogger hugging the curbside line, it fights you. The assist function allows for semi-autonomous steering, but just for several seconds at a time. It wants you to have hands on the steering wheel at least every few seconds or it will shut off—sometimes mid-corner! Luckily, there’s a handy on-off switch at the tip of the turn signal. Use it.

Here’s the rub: it wants to keep you lane-centered even if that means hitting a pothole or fresh roadkill and if you want to swing wide around a bicyclist or jogger hugging the curbside line, it fights you. The assist function allows for semi-autonomous steering, but just for several seconds at a time. It wants you to have hands on the steering wheel at least every few seconds or it will shut off—sometimes mid-corner! Luckily, there’s a handy on-off switch at the tip of the turn signal. Use it.

Photo by Ron Sessions

It's a Small World After All

There’s a small price to pay for shrink-wrapping this great Audi sedan around you. The A3’s back seat is tight. You can fit adults back there thanks to decent headroom, but only by negotiating away a fair amount of front-seat legroom. Ditto for the trunk which at 12.3 cubic feet on front-drive models is small enough, but withers away to 10 cubic feet on Quattro versions due to space needed for AWD hardware. Luckily, that space is flexible courtesy of a 60/40 folding rear seat with a center pass-through door.

Photo by Ron Sessions

Honey, I Shrunk the A4

For 2017, the A3 is nicely updated with new standard LED taillamps, plus a wider, single-frame grille that brings it even closer to the styling of Audi’s best-selling sedan, the A4. In fact, the diminutive A3 is the brand’s second-best-selling car. The A3 blends sporty and formal as only Audi knows how.

Photo by Ron Sessions