RENDERED SPECULATION: ANOTHER Iteration On The 2015 Audi A4 — We HOPE It Looks THIS Good

Wow, the changed the grill (insert sarcasm) 90% of Audi sedan styling is the front end. I know this is a rendering, but where's the dramatic change.

Thank you.

Damn, now it looks like the new Accord's front end instead of the previous Mitsubishi Evo's front end. I guess the saying, "the more things change the more things stay the same," is true.

I guess Audi likes the idea of BMW's recent exposed side grill design element....

Calm down everybody: it's irrational to get worked up about a fantasy design imagined by a car mag's artist simply because it fits your bias against Audi.

This is simply Autobild car magazine artist's interpretation of the few bits and pieces that Audi verbally revealed to them about the next A4's design. There is no spy photos of the next A4 even to guide these car mag artists. Autobild may be Germany's largest car mag... but when has any car mag's rendering proved to be accurate?

What's probably more accurate are the hard facts such as the bigger size and the weight savings.

Audi is a company run by rational and smart engineering professors. Audi's senior management knows that the new A3 and S3 sedans will likely be very successful (see below) -- and therefore it will canabalize sales from the BMW 3 series, Mercedes C Class and Audi A4 . Thus Audi management will do whatever is necessary to differentiate the Audi A4 visually from the A3, while still maintaining a family image and consistency. Audi has been more successful than BMW, Mercedes and other similar luxury car makers in maintaining consistent yet tasteful and elegant designs that most buyers and car reviewers like. It's irrational to presume that Audi has lost this ability based on the imaginations of artists at car magazines. The rational thing to do is wait until the actual car is unveiled, instead of getting excited over nothing.

Road and Track mag's First Drive: 2015 Audi A3 sedan
"By finally adding a trunk to the A3, Audi may well have created the best four-door in its class... Audi nails the formula with its new, compact luxosedan... The quattro version I drove at the launch in Budapest, with 180 horses of direct-injected, turbo four-cylinder power, is quite possibly the best small sedan in the world... Yep, if Audi gets this pricing right, this is going to work. Big time."

Autobild's video review of the Audi A3 sedan
http://www.autobild.de/videos/video-audi-a3-limousine-3939327.html

Autobild's video review of the Audi S3 hatchback
http://www.autobild.de/videos/video-audi-s3-3939677.html

Autobild's video review of the Audi RS7 (AutoExpress tested the RS6 Avant wagon at 3.6 seconds to 100 km/h on a wet track -- that's about 3.4 sec to 60 mph in the wet... since the RS7 is 100 lbs lighter than the RS6, so it should be able to do at least 3.2 sec to 60 mph on a dry track).
http://www.autobild.de/videos/video-audi-rs7-sportback-4282337.html

http://www.autobild.de/videos/video-audi-rs-7-sportback-3781060.html

How can it be the "best" in its class or the world for that matter when it still has the traditional Audi "numb steering?"

I forgot to provide the link to the Road and Track review...
http://www.roadandtrack.com/car-reviews/first-drives/performance-tests-first-drives-2015-audi-a3-sedan


F1_Driver: How can anyone jump to the conclusion that "it still has the traditional Audi "numb steering?" when they haven't driven the A3 sedan, which will be sold only from 2014 in the USA? In any case, you can have 10 drivers give their opinions on a car's steering and get 10 different opinions on the steering.

I prefer to rely on the two largest German car mags that tested the A3/S3 sedan (see links) and know the other cars in its class. They say that the A3/S3's steering is precise, even in tight curves.

http://www.autobild.de/artikel/audi-a3-limousine-fahrbericht-4242855.html

http://www.auto-motor-und-sport.de/fahrberichte/audi-s3-20-tfsi-bayerisches-300-ps-kraftpaket-6991319.html

Autobild mag concludes that the new A3 sedan is immmediately on par with the BMW 3 Series (even though it's slightly smaller).
http://www.autobild.de/artikel/audi-a3-limousine-bmw-3er-test-4249005.html

Because the A3 sedan has already been reviewed by the British media and they say the steering is light and uncommunicative. You can do a google search for these reviews.

You're probably jumping to conclusions probably based on the review of an inexperienced reviewer from one relatively small car magazine in Britain -- even though I've given you reviews from two of Germany's largest car mags on a German car (each of these German mags has larger circulation in Germany than ALL the British car mags combined). If British car mags were such a trusted source of info, more Brits would be buying these mags.

The new A3 sedan has been reviewed by very few British car media to date. Four of the five largest British car mags (Top Gear, What Car, Car, Evo) have not reviewed the A3 sedan/saloon yet. The second largest British car mag What Car also hasn't driven the A3 sedan. But What Car has reviewed the A3 hatchback, which it gave its maximum 5-star rating. The only thing WC mentioned about the steering was "the steering is precise."... just like the German reviewers repeatedly said.
http://www.whatcar.com/car-reviews/audi/a3-hatchback/full-review/25976-5

The third largest Auto Express (only 55,000 circulation) is the only top five British car mag to review the A3 sedan (see below). The young, inexperienced AE reviewer incompetently compared the sedan with a coupe, claiming "it’s a bit too neutral to ever be fun, with more of a point-and-go approach to going round corners than something more involving like a BMW 1 Series Coupe" -- instead of comparing a sedan with a sedan.
http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/audi/a3/saloon

I can show you German car tests that conclude that other variants of new A3 -- even with front wheel drive instead of quattro -- is as good or better than the BMW 1 Series: "...the Audi A3 and the BMW can really settle into any situation. The much-lauded BMW steering adjusts magnificently to the rear-wheel drive, but Audi despite being front-wheel drive is an equal.... the feedback from the steering on road conditions are absolutely on a similar level."
http://www.auto-motor-und-sport.de/vergleichstest/audi-a3-sportback-16-tdi-und-bmw-114d-der-diesel-ist-basis-der-anspruch-premium-7096698.html

Auto Express is the small foreign edition of Germany's Autobild magazine (Autobild has ten times the sales in Germany that Auto Express has in Britain). Autobild also is more experienced and competent about reviewing German cars. None of the German car media have so far complained about the A3 sedan's steering.

That's why Autobild compared the A3 sedan with the BMW 3 Series and concluded: "Who would have thought: The new A3 sedan goes immediately on par with the 3.
http://www.autobild.de/bilder/audi-a3-gegen-bmw-3er-im-vergleich-4249448.html
http://www.autobild.de/artikel/audi-a3-limousine-bmw-3er-test-4249005.html

You beat me to it RNeekChic, I was about to say the same thing, LOL! But that's a rendering anyway, so we can't say AUDI copied it.

Damn, do they ever change. Looks every close to last model, and the model before, and ...the model before.

Audi has clearly created a more complete car with its A3 sedan than Mercedes-Benz did with its CLA. Road and Track is just one of many magazines that has reached the same conclusion. Given Audi 's sales leader status in the important Chinese market and very strong sales momentum in the important U.S. market,, the A3 sedan will allow the brand to rapidly close the global sales gap with BMW. If you're a brand that has been the sales leader or experiencing very strong momentum and give consumer's a model they have been waiting for and execute it better than the competition, you will win.

From Road and Track below:

"Mercedes-Benz broke new ground with the CLA. Audi walked the same path, with more commitment, and made a better car. The A3 feels like it has more interior space, an airier cabin, more comfort, and fewer blind spots for the driver. It's also a sharper handler. Nothing in the class matches its cabin materials, and nothing offers the breadth of character the A3 has."

Autoexpress reached the same conclusion.

When you factor in the lower price, it's easy to see how Audi will be the segment leader.

I look forward to seeing the A3 sedan defeat the Mercedes-Benz CLA in numerous comparison tests and outsell it globally.

The new A3 sedan might hold the crown for a while, until the new 2 series comes along, then, it will become the second best, no doubts about it.

When is the 2 series coming out?

Sure, the A3's steering is light and uncommunicative like most Audi's but that is a small drawback in an otherwise exceptional vehicle. Audi's handling is vastly improved and now is nearly as good or better than the comparable BMW's. The interiors are still regarded as top-notch (despite the aging design in the A4, A5, A6, Q5 and Q7) which is due for a brand new design next year when the new A4 debuts. The efficiency is excellent, the technology features available are as good or better than BMW's and Mercedes-Benz's and the price will be significantly less than the CLA's.

Audi is clearly on a huge roll and the A3 sedan will only expand the brand's affordability and customer base