PLENTY OF INTERIOR GOODNESS IN AUDI Q3
BMW abandons pretence of being ultimate driving machine, and thus Audi looks better
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 are ascendant.
The latest conquest in this burgeoning market is the luxury version of these diminutive faux-by-faux vehicles.
A compact sport-brute 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.
Indeed, Infiniti was so eager that 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. And 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, for instance, 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 sportutility — even a small one — has actually bettered its rated fuel economy. The powertrain’s biggest drawback isn’t the engine, but the transmission which, on the Q3, is an automatic with but six speeds; eight seems to be the minimum these days to be classified as avant-garde, and nine or 10 now required to be considered truly class leading.
As for how much effect a new transmission might have, I suspect
that 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.
Indeed, 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.
But, let’s be clear; the Q3 still has all of Audi’s interior goodness — superior fit, finish and materials — but it’s a goodness, like the powertrain, that’s 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 — and it’s becoming common in more and more Audis — was the fact the MMI screen is fixed upright atop the dashboard rather than in it. Or, as used to be the Audi norm, popping out of the dashboard when the engine is started.
Mercedes started this trend of fixed-atop-the-dashboard LCD screens; I wish Audi hadn’t copied them. That said, the MMI is a doddle to use, even if having its main controller on the dashboard, rather than in the centre console as newer Audis do, isn’t quite as convenient.
Overview: Yet another nail in the sedan’s coffin
Pros: Quality, look, sophistication
Cons: Technology — both powertrain and interior — is a little dated Value for money: About par for the segment; the competition in this segment is amazingly egalitarian What I would change: Other than the unnecessary options, the latest, most powerful version of Audi’s TFSI four-cylinder engine would not go remiss How I would spec it: I’ll take the full Technik model but forgo all the options included on my tester — 890 bucks for what looks like plain ol’ red paint? I think not.