Audi's New A3: Just An Average Car In Luxury Clothing?

"I’m fairly certain I’ve spotted a difference between this car and the previous model,” declared an excited motoring hack at the launch of the new Audi A3. “It looks to me as if they’ve altered the fuel cap.”

Clearly, a novice: surely no expert scrutineer could fail to notice the longer wheelbase , its shorter overhangs and its lower seating positions? How could anybody with half a clue be in any doubt that this is, as Audi rather defensively declared , “not a facelift and not a remodelling: it’s a completely new car”?

Well, ahem: you could have fooled me. Not only does this A3 look like the 2003 version, but the casual observer could also be forgiven for mistaking the new car for the very first A3 that appeared in 1996. Every sophisticate understands, of course, that “less is more”; but, in this case, somebody might suspect that Audi is not exactly knocking itself out.


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merce63amg - 10/3/2012 2:51:01 PM

+4 Boost

A golf for badgewhores..

chewy - 10/3/2012 4:40:24 PM

-3 Boost

Yet it still beats the 1 series in German comparison tests. You know done by the people who actually buy these cars.

bmwm6 - 10/3/2012 5:41:14 PM

+3 Boost

BMW 1 series just beat the new A3 in an autoexpress comparison.

JustaCar - 10/3/2012 4:34:46 PM

-4 Boost

I stopped reading when he referred to the Lexus user interface as the benchmark!

supermoto - 10/3/2012 8:08:46 PM

+1 Boost

I drove an A3 diesel all over southern Spain. It was fun to drive and got amazing mileage.

mclaren428 - 10/3/2012 9:07:29 PM

+4 Boost

Average indeed its too similar to the Golf, and no better to drive. In this segment there are many options that drive better as the article states.

skytop - 10/6/2012 7:47:40 AM

0 Boost

Is a Government Motors Chevrolet just an common car in an average looking package?

AutoSpies, your articles present a non sequitur argument. If BMW were not one of the few ultimate automakers, every other manufacturer wouldn't be copying, ripping off, duplicating, replicating the interior and exterior designs of BMW. BMW is among the finest marques that sets the standards that all others merely follow.