There's more to life than a Rex. Maybe not in bang for your buck, but in the more subtle things like crashworthiness, body rigidity and longevity. Those factors may not cut much ice with the 0-100 brigade, but in the real world, when you drive a car every day in normal use, they start to take on a much greater importance. At $48,000 on the road, Audi's A3 Turbo is right up there in pricing with some of the hottest performance fours around, but that's not really the market it's headed for...
Using a sweet and hi-tech five-valves-per-cylinder 1.8-litre transverse four, the Audi A3 turbo develops 110kW at a relatively low 5700 rpm and peak torque at 4600 rpm - but the latter feels much lower. With variable cam timing, electronic throttle control, a well-matched turbo and 9.5:1 compression, this is one turbo car that never feels like it has a puffer under the bonnet. Instead, the torque delivery is linear, with good power available from the tractable and refined mill, even at low revs. It's quite easy to skip the in-between gears on the way up through the 'box - the car is happy with a first-third-fifth gear change sequence. The driveability provided by such a good torque delivery is not to be dismissed; this is one car that's very easy to hustle quickly because there're always two gears just right for the occasion! That's just as well, because the 'box is notchy with a long throw and is totally incapable of being hurried. In fact if you try for a quick two-three gear change, almost invariably all that you'll find is neutral. The clutch, on the other hand, is light and progressive. Launched hard, our test car was good for low eights in the sprint to 100 km/h.
On the road, the ride is firm - very firm in fact. The damping - especially on rebound - is strong, and the small dimensions of the car mean that it's susceptible to pitching. At times the wheels can be heard and felt to crash into sharp-edged potholes, and cumulative short-spaced waves in bitumen can give a very unpleasant bouncing. At speed, the ride flows a little more, but even at very high cruising velocities, bad road surfaces can still be unexpectedly intrusive.
But the upside of the tightly tied down suspension is spectacular handling. The car sits incredibly flat, the grip quite stunning from the 205/55 Michelin Primacy tyres being worn on 16-inch rims. At times the level of adhesion is reminiscent of a constant four wheel drive car, and when the front driven wheels do finally start letting go, the extraordinarily effective traction control system subtly reduces engine power. Perhaps it is the marriage of the electronic throttle with the traction control system, but the progressiveness with which the car's on-the-limit cornering behaviour is modified is quite stunning. Using a dash-mounted switch you can disable the system, but we can't think of any reason why in normal driving you would want to.
The grip may be fantastic, but like other Audis, the steering is uncommunicative and the rear end of the chassis not especially throttle steerable. The slow ratio around straight ahead and the lack of feedback also make the small car feel a little unwieldy; it takes time to develop the confidence to enter corners at the speeds where other cars would simply plough off into the scenery. At least there is nary a trace of kickback through the wheel, even when cornering hard over rough bitumen.
The poor ride is helped substantially by the very good seats, which also effectively hold occupants in position when those high lateral g-forces are being developed. Entering the cabin is easy, with the front doors opening wide and able to be notched in three different positions. Once inside the car you're faced with a very Germanic interior - the plastic finishes on the top of the doors and dashboard is unexpectedly coarse, and the cabin very dark in colour choice. Behind the delightfully chunky and tactile airbag wheel there are only the usual gauges - there's no boost gauge or anything like an engine oil temp gauge. The speedo's markings are also diabolically bad - try large digit increments that change in their spacing! How'd you like 50-70-100-140 as some of the major markings? Just crazy. Another poor design element is the use of illuminated red digits for the trip and odometer. It's instinctive that bright red lights on the instrument panel indicate warnings (and in fact the warning lights on the Audi are red!) and so it's damn' distracting to have illuminated digits always this colour. Add in a warning panel that displays such things as low washer fluid - it's either yellow or red depending on the importance of the information - and there is a colour complexity that simply has no reason to be there.
A comfortable driving position is easily found, with the front seats adjustable for height as well as the normal fore-aft travel, and the steering wheel variable for both reach and height. The seats are positioned a little towards the middle of the car, making it easy to brush elbows with the front seat passenger and placing the door armrests further away than is usual. However, in general the cabin is a well-equipped and comfortable place to be. The front passenger gets another airbag, and there are a further two hidden in the upper sides of the front seats. In addition, pyrotechnic seatbelt pre-tensioners are fitted, the rear passengers all get head restraints, and the centre rear passenger is provided with a lap-sash belt... not surprisingly, the car has performed very well in independent crash testing.
Standard equipment includes a 'Concert' sound system comprising numerous speakers (including a small boot-mounted sub), 6-disc CD stacker and AM/FM cassette. And it sounds very good, with exceptionally crisp treble. However, the markings on some of the radio buttons are quite confusing, and since the car was supplied to us minus its handbook, there were some audio controls whose function was never determined. The climate control is also unexpectedly complex, though in its ability to regulate the interior temp of the car and provide copious amount of ventilation it worked very well. But how do you switch off the air con while still having a good cabin airflow? We never found out....
In the back, full-size passengers will find knee room a bit tight; however there is space under the front seats for people to place their feet, which improves things a little. The rear doors do not open as widely as the fronts, and so here entry and exit can be quite difficult, especially for the old or disabled. Placing a child in a child restraint could also be a little daunting. But behind the rear passengers there is a heap of space under the hatch, with a full-size spare wheel hidden beneath the cover. And as with the rest of the car, the boot area is beautifully put together, with four hefty tie-downs provided and the space well trimmed. In fact, to feel the quality of the body, just shut any of the doors - the margins are tight and the doors shut with the thunk of a very expensive car indeed. Another indicator of the fully-galvanised body's integrity is its noticeable stiffness on the road.
But while we can admire the car for its undoubted strengths - build quality, very good equipment level, and superb levels of grip - the package as a whole comes through as slightly uncoordinated. The sweet engine doesn't provide enough performance to get remotely close to the hottest of the current fast fours, while the gearbox is slow and clumsy. The proven crash safety, 5-door body, large boot, conservative styling and slow steering spells young family practicality - but the ride can be uncomfortably hard. The handling is ballistically good, but the steering isn't in keeping with a hot-shot hatch.
For some people, that mix of pluses and minuses will be perfect - but not for us.
If Audi specified the 1.8 in the 132kW form in which it's used in the bigger Audi A4 - and then made it available in the lighter 3-door version of the A3 - we'd be talking another story....
www.audi.com.au
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