HEART RE-STARTER
The Q3 baby SUV is designed and equipped to rejoin Audi’s top sellers
Declining sales and a string of launch delays meant Audi’s been crying out for a knight in shining armour. It arrives in Pulse Orange, the most vibrant colour of the new-generation Q3 small SUV’s palette.
Last year, the Q3 trailed only the A3 and Q5 as Audi’s top sellers. Its replacement was delayed — thanks to Europe’s new fuel economy and emissions testing rules — so that model sold out months ago, leaving glaring gaps in showrooms. Audi’s sales are down 25 per cent over this time last year.
The new Q3 is primed to address the slide, having grown in virtually every way.
It’s nudging into mid-size SUV territory with additional cabin and boot space, plus impressive technology, wow-factor interior and muscular exterior styling. It feels more grown up.
Audi’s bumped up the price of entry by $3000 but insists the value equation’s improved to the tune of $9000, given the claimed $12K worth of included extra gear.
That may sound all sales talk but the base 35 TFSI version is loaded to its chunky gills. All too often you hop in an entry-level prestige brand and feel like Oliver Twist.
The new Q3 doesn’t skimp on luxe even at the $46,400 start price. That’s a neat $600 under the Volvo XC40, the current premium small SUV darling, and similar to the prices of the Mercedes GLA, BMW X1 and Lexus UX rivals.
Prestige small SUV sales are up nearly 400 per cent since 2012, making it a busy segment. The Q2 stablemate skips in the same playground for a few thousand less but the Q3 is the more mature, practical pick.
“We’ve worked hard to fully equip the new Q3,” says Audi product manager Peter Strudwicke. “It’s designed to meet requirements of three key customer groups: young professionals, new families and empty nesters. The key buying reason for Audi customers has always been design, it has to appeal to the heart.”
Hopefully your heart races at the sight of some muscle. Gone are the old Q3’s quite feminine curves and straight lines, replaced by a more aggressive upright bonnet, squared-off wheel arches and vertical bars on the imposing octagonal grille.
Monochrome body colours look most sophisticated but Tango red and Pulse orange are standouts, especially over optional 20spoke, 19-inch grey alloys.
Where Audi often eclipses rivals is cabin class. The outgoing Q3’s interior was showing its age seven years after its introduction.
The new model makes up for lost time. Seat trim is real leather and the edgy, angled dash accommodates the 10.1 inch touchscreen and 10.25 inch digital dashboard.
It’s a struggle to find anything but soft touch plastics. Cutting-edge items include ambient lighting, wireless phone charging, wireless Apple CarPlay, Wi-fi hotspot, online traffic, Google maps and live fuel price monitoring.
Active safety is bang up to date, notable omissions being adaptive cruise control and heated electric seats. The $2600 Comfort pack remedies this — add $900 for the 360-degree camera.
Specification hungry shoppers can sign up for the Launch Edition. An extra $6350 buys the above extras plus grey 19-inch wheels, metallic paint, superior audio, more ambient light colours and bumpers in body colour.
All Q3s score an electric tailgate opened by the wave of a foot, revealing a 530L boot unmatched by most rivals. Rear seats slide on runners to give 675L of cargo space — occupants lose otherwise quite generous seating space but this versatility is commendable.
Two adults are well accommodated and seat backs fold with the pull of a strap.
ON THE ROAD
Swanky city streets are the natural habitat and that’s where the Q3 performs best. Its 110kW engine may be short on guts — the 0-100km/h journey requires patience — but the turbo engine’s torque gives it a peppy feel in town.
At times, the six-speed auto gearbox can be caught napping and the engine revs noisily if you’re too enthusiastic with the throttle. The lack of paddle-shifters robs the Q3 of some desired driver control.
The ride is impressively smooth, balanced and comfortable but the drive is never hugely engaging. The Q3 feels larger and more robust to drive than its dimensions would suggest, especially on longer highway drives.
There is no all-wheel drive for now but independent rear suspension gives solid control through corners and even on 19-inch wheels I never felt the car needed the optional adaptive dampers.
The chassis can handle more power, so those seeking enhanced dynamics can wait for 2.0litre AWD versions mid-next year or the pocket rocket RS Q3 a few months later. Meanwhile, Audi’s squeezing in a Q3 Sportback, an attractive if somewhat superfluous extra body shape to sell alongside this car and the Q2.