We’re big fans of the Audi A3 here at Overdrive, and the new one looks even better with the new Audi family headlights and front bumpers. We drove the new A5 Cabrio recently with the new Audi face and, in the metal, it looks fantastic.
The new A3 has been quite extensively reworked though, and will feature three reworked engines, for better fuel economy and more power. We reckon pretty soon all cars are going to run on fresh air and produce 1000 horsepower.
There’ll be more engines as the range grows old, but initially you’ll be able to pick from a 1.4 TFSI (122hp) and 1.8 TFSI (180hp) petrol and 2.0-litre TDI (143hp). I’m sure much later we can expect a wilder S3 and a properly bonkers RS3 version as well. The 1.6TDi looks like the winner though, Audi are claiming fuel efficiency of just over 3litres/100km!
The interior has been reworked as well and now features a Star-Trek inspired pop up screen for SatNav and all your media needs. To my eye the interior borrows much from the smaller A1, but that’s no bad thing. Audi is good at pop up screens, the way the screen folds out of the dash of the A8 was a highlight of my year last year. Yes, being a car nerd has its advantages.
Audi’s thrown in a bunch of safety system’s from more expensive models up the range, they range from radar-assisted adaptive cruise control to Audi side assist, Audi active lane assist, traffic sign detection, park assist and the Audi pre sense basic safety system.
We’ll get hold of Audi SA and let you know the South African launch date as soon as we have it.
