New Q3 a little dated, but a pleasure to drive
COMPACT CROSSOVER: Audi delivers a sport utility vehicle that is comfortable and hugs the road, icy or not
Sedans are dead, shunned, say the analysts, for the compact crossovers that are now the consumer’s darling. Whether it be Toyota or BMW, GM or Mercedes-Benz, sedan sales are suffering and jacked-up station wagons ascendant.
The latest conquest in this burgeoning market is the luxury version of these diminutive faux-byfaux vehicles. A compact sportbrute can’t match a flagship sedan in the pound-for-pound profit sweepstakes, but selling a boatload of them — 4,400 of them, as Mercedes-Benz Canada did with the GLA last year — sure makes up in volume what is lost in class.
Such is the hurry to cash in that there’s something of a rush to market. Infiniti was so eager it signed a deal with Mercedes to borrow its GLA hardware. Audi, instead of waiting for an all-new sport brute before launching in Canada, brought its Q3 to market last year. Then, barely months after it landed, it offered up a mid-model refresh with a major facelift.
Thus armed does Audi go into battle against the BMW X1, GLA, Infiniti QX30 and even Lexus’s new NX. And the Q3 more than holds its own.
Oh, there are some tribulations. The Q3’s 2.0-litre in-line four is not Audi’s latest TFSI engine — the more recent A4 Allroad Quattro version boasts 252 horsepower, compared with the Q3’s 200 hp — but it’s more than smooth enough, torquey down low and gets fair gas mileage.
My long-term tester averaged 10.1 L/100 km of combined highway/urban driving versus a rating of 10.3, one of the few times a sport-utility — even a small one — has bettered its rated fuel economy. The powertrain’s biggest drawback isn’t the engine but the transmission, an automatic with but six speeds; eight seems to be the minimum these days to be classified as avant-garde, and nine or 10 to be considered truly class-leading.
I suspect a simple transmission upgrade would see the Q3’s fuel economy, both real and rated, improve. I’m not sure it would make much difference to the Q3’s comportment, as the six-speed shifts smoothly and the engine is never uncivil; an eight-speed’s ability to reduce the cruising revs by a few hundred rpm wouldn’t necessarily improve things much.
The Q3’s drivetrain may be a little dated, but that doesn’t mean it feels unsophisticated. The same is visible in the Q3’s interior. It’s an older design, with more buttonry than current Audi designs and none of the TFT-screened Virtual Cockpit design seen on more recently released products from Ingolstadt. The Q3 still has all of Audi’s interior goodness — superior fit, finish and materials — it’s just a little dated.
All that is required is present and accounted for: heated seats, an easily navigated, er, navigation system and an excellent — though not quite as excellent as the Bang & Olufsen — Bose audio system. The part of the interior I disliked the most was the MMI screen is fixed upright atop the dashboard rather than in it. That said, the MMI is a doddle to use.
The front seats are pleasantly firm, headroom is plentiful (though legroom in the rear is tight) and Q3 owners will enjoy a cargo capacity — 48.2 cubic feet (1,365 litres) with both rear seats folded flat — envied by its peers.
Though the Q3 is available in frontwheel-drive format, Audi’s forte is all-wheel drive. Though it uses the older version of Quattro — newer versions are completely computer controlled — the Q3 is a model of tractive ability.
The Q3 fairly hugs the road, icy or not. On dry pavement the Q3 steers with a precision that used to be the sole purview of BMWs: exacting, well weighted and with plenty of feedback. That said, the penalty is something of a rough ride, even when the suspension is set to its Comfort setting. The stiffness is perhaps the result of my tester being equipped with Audi’s optional sportier S-line’s suspension.
Avant-garde or not, there’s nothing wrong with the Audi, at least compared with its competition. The whole segment is a little flawed, but the Q3 is nonetheless a pleasure to drive.
If this luxury subcompact ute thing has legs, I expect the next generation of premium sport utes to be even more developed. For the Q3, we’ll see Audi’s latest Ultra quattro system, more horsepower, better fuel economy and an even more modern interior. I doubt, however, they’ll improve on its quality.