2015 Audi A3 Sedan / S3 Sedan
Help Dreamed: American buyers for fresh compact sedan from German luxury brand. No, not the one with the three-pointed starlet. No, not the company with the non-kidney-shaped kidney grille, either. Must like dual-clutch transmissions, four-cylinder engines, and the looks of the Audi A4. Harshly 30,000 positions available.
Consider the current A3—that little hatchback at the back of Audi showrooms—just a toe in the water. A project. An experiment. Audi never expected big sales numbers from its little five-door in the U.S., instead only seeking to attract some youthfull people to the brand while testing the temperature here for premium-badged petite cars.
When the next A3 arrives early next year (in the very first quarter of two thousand fourteen as a two thousand fifteen model), Audi will no longer be playing around. Specifically to please American and Chinese car shoppers, the third-generation model adds a sedan figure style to our previously hatchback-only A3 lineup. We still will get a hatchback in the form of the five-door Sportback, albeit only the e-tron plug-in hybrid version has been confirmed for America.
The sedans, tho’, are where Audi is focusing its efforts. A base model will use a 1.8-liter turbocharged four-cylinder engine with one hundred seventy horsepower and more than one hundred eighty lb-ft of torque, a fresh unit unrelated to the old 1.8T wedged into Audis of the last decade. (It’s part of the EA888 engine family, further details on which can be found here.) A slightly larger Two.0-liter version of the engine, omnipresent in Volkswagen and Audi products, and will serve up about two hundred horses in the all-wheel-drive A3 Quattro. Diesel makes a come back appearance in the American A3, too, and would you believe that more than half of the A3s sold in the U.S. in the past few years were TDIs? The fresh two thousand fifteen A3 will carry the latest Volkswagen-family Two.0-liter diesel four—TDI geeks, here’s its backstory—delivering about one hundred fifty horsepower. Torque from the diesel will very likely come in at around two hundred fifty lb-ft.
From what Audi has said so far, it emerges as if only the Two.0-liter four will be paired with all-wheel drive. That the base 1.8-liter engine and the Two.0-liter diesel will be front-wheel-drive-only isn’t a big deal, really—Benz will be selling a front-drive version of the CLA250—although the diesel’s torque might make hard launches a bit of a handful. Dynamically, we came away mostly struck from our drive of a Euro-spec three-door hatchback, which bodes well for the sedan. The suspension consists of struts up front and a multilink rear, while steering is of the efficiency-boosting electrical type.
Regardless of the engine or driven wheels, the only transmission on suggest is a six-speed dual-clutch automatic. A six-speed stick, available on the base trim of the outgoing A3, is off the books for the fresh sedan. Keep your fingers crossed that, should Audi suggest a conventionally powered A3 Sportback in the U.S., a manual transmission shows up on its options list. (Update: Nope, no chance. An Audi executive told us there is “no business case” for it.)
Speaking of lists, here’s one of available A3 technology (some of which we previewed way back at the two thousand twelve CES showcase): the latest MMI infotainment system, full-LED headlamps, LED interior lighting, 4G LTE connectivity for Google Maps integration and other internet-type functions, and a 705-watt, 14-speaker Bang & Olufsen audio system. Leather upholstery will be standard, as will rain-sensing wipers and a big sunroof. The car also will suggest what Audi calls a “phone box.” Basically, drop your phone into the center bin under the armrest, and the car will boost your cell signal using an antenna embedded in the rear glass.
Audi Drive Select can be fitted for the very first time to an A3, and permits the driver to shuttle through Auto, Dynamic, Convenience, and Individual settings to alter steering effort, throttle response, and the transmission shift schedule. Safety stuff you’ll have to pay extra for includes blind-spot monitoring and active cruise control that can brake the car to a accomplish stop.
How ’Bout a 300-Horse S3?
In Europe, high-po S3s have been suggested for both of the very first two A3 generations, but we’ve never seen one here. (We also never eyed the very first A3.) That switches now. Harshly three hundred horsepower will flow from a tuned, tweaked, and perhaps meth-addled version of Audi’s (and VW’s) latest Two.0-liter turbocharged four. It teams only with a six-speed dual-clutch transmission and all-wheel drive.
On paper, Benz has the S3 hit with its fresh CLA45 AMG. The swoopy Mercedes also uses a turbocharged Two.0-liter four, all-wheel drive, and a dual-clutch transmission, but boasts three hundred fifty five horsepower and a seven-speed gearbox. But those are only numbers. How they work on the road, how they’re priced, and how they look inwards and out matter even more than the spec sheets. When we eventually can put a cane to the pair, we’ll know which car reigns supreme in the real world.
For now, Audi is announcing the S3 only in sedan form, but the S3 hatchback and convertible might land in our dealerships, too. A 400-hp RS3 is still a remote possibility for U.S. sales.
Here, Have Something, Greenies
Okay, we don’t mean that derisively. But next to a hot sports sedan, the A3 Sportback e-tron is resolutely less sexy. Still, slew of shoppers will appreciate the marriage of luxury-brand logo and plug-in hybrid. Audi isn’t ready to discuss American-market details for the plug-in A3, instead inviting us to re-examine the concept version shown at the Geneva auto demonstrate earlier this year. That car had a 1.4-liter turbocharged four, a 100-hp electrical motor, combined system output of two hundred horsepower, and an estimated electric-only range of thirty miles. For now, the e-tron package will only be sold here in the hatch, and—sorry to bring up that little automaker in Stuttgart again—Mercedes-Benz is expected to do something similar, selling its B-class hatchback here only as an EV.
Whether an A3 shopper wants the responsible hybrid, the Euro-fetishist diesel, or one of the conventionally powered versions, all will share a long wait. Sales don’t begin here for almost a year.