Audi A3 2.0 TDI Sedan Test Driven


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Akash1886

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Friends,

Finally I got the opportunity to Test Drive the Audi A3 Sedan today. The car came to my neighbors place as he recently bought an A3 Sedan but wasn't clear of certain functions.

The A3 sedan comes equipped with a 2 Engine variants i.e 1.8 TFSI Petrol and 2.0 L, 4 Cylinder TDI Diesel Engine. Since I drove the Diesel one so I found it really refined and picks-up really well. One just needs to feather touch the accelerator. As of the braking, that too is extremely responsive. The engine noise is minimal and I did not feel the engine noise inside the cabin. The average fuel efficiency with mixed driving pattern was 13 km/L. The total fuel tank capacity of this A3 Sedan is 50 Lts of which 45 Lts can be utilized.

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Moving on to the speedo-cluster, the speedometer is well designed and the MID is quite informative since it readily informs the driver with car's requirements and at what speed does he/ she need to shift the gears. The A3 comes with 6 Speed S-tronic in Diesel and 7 Speed S-tronic Transmission in Petrol. The car can also be driven in manual mode with dual-clutch. The gear shifting was also really smooth in manual mode.

Apart from this there is cruise control which can be set during highway drives. The cruise control experience was actually a very good but was short since the traffic was there. Once when the brakes are applied the cruise control disengages.

The multi-info color display is of 7 inch and displays info Radio, Music, Blutooth and touch pad interface. The acoustics setup of the A3 sedan include 8 speakers in all (F&R) with total output of 80 Watts. Though there is also an option to upgrade this system with Audi Sound System that consists of 10 Speaker, 6 Channel Amplifier and a total output of 180W.

The Automatic Climate Control is also an effective feature of the A3 and there is also a separate vent for the rear passengers.

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Some other good features that I noticed in the A3 are the electrical IRVM with auto dim at night to avoid glare and Electrical ORVMs with integrated LED turn indicators. An important feature of the IRVM is that the driver can switch off the anti-glare feature during day-driving if needed. The electrical IRVM does not have any impact on the battery of the car. But only one thing, I found that the viewing space of the IRVM was slightly less. The roof lamp cluster is also ably designed to provide adequate cabin light.

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What I Appreciate

* Sporty Exteriors.

* Engine Response.

* Power Steering is light so no fatigue.

* Reverse Sensors activate as the car's speed get's below 30km/L

* Multi Info Display

* One of the easiest-to-operate Automatic Sedan.

* The anti-skid feature which protects the car from skidding off the road at high speed braking.

* Xenon Projector Headlamps looked really sharp in design that provide the aggressive look to the front profile of A3 Sedan.

* LED tail lamps further add to the sporty looks of this sedan.

What Could be Improved.

* Paddle shifts can be added.

* Low seating according to me since I am 6ft so found it slightly low.

* No push-button start-stop feature in diesel variants.

* Manually operational sun-roof. Panoramic Sun-Roof is an add-on only.

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In terms of safety too the A3 Sedan doesn't fails to impress. It is equipped with Driver side Knee, Head and Frontal airbags with front passenger airbag deactivation switch and first aid kit. It also comes with adaptive braking and hold assist, ABS, ESC and electrical hand-brake.

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There are 3 choices offered in A3 Sedan Tyres i.e

* 205/ 55/ R16 with 10 Spoke Alloys

* 205/55/ R16 with 15 Spoke Alloys

* 225/45/R17 with 5 Spoke Alloys.

All the above are equipped with anti-theft wheel bolts.

The boot space offered in A3 Sedan is 425 Lts with rear seats upright where as the same can be increased to 880 Lts with rear seats folded.

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Coming to the seating, I found the A3's rear seats quite comfortable with adequate legroom and thigh support. Though ingress/ egress is slightly tricky. The overall finishing and fabrics used are really good and give an elegant feel to the cabin. However, 3 fully grown adults won't be able to sit in the rear comfortably so it seats only 2+2 and one kid.

Some Quick Specs of the Audi A3 Sedan

* Top Speed in TFSi is 250 km/h and 215 km/h in TDi

* Fog Lamps are not standard in all variants.

* 0-100 km/h in TFSi is 7.3 Secs and in TDi it is 8.6 Secs.

* Avg. FE in Petrol is 16.6 km/L and in Diesel it is 20.3 km/L.

* Comes in 6 Shades i.e White, Brown, Black, Red, Blue and Silver.

* There are 5 upholstery options in A3 Sedan i.e 3 varieties of Black and then Beige and Brown.

* Space Saver Tyre provided as standard in all A3 variants.

* Immobilizer is also standard feature across variants of A3.

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So friends, I hope this test drive review is helpful!

Regards

Akash
 

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