The 2014 World Car of the Year comes to India with an efficient turbo-petrol motor under the bonnet – does it really have it all?
Story: Jim Gorde
Photography: Sanjay Raikar
Our printing staff may think it’s a really large sheet of paper but what the A3 is, actually, is the World Car of the Year. Oh, yes, it is something incredibly capable and dynamic; something which was meant for the world to have at the time it was needed. The A3 then is the new Audi sedan, probably starting off as a sketch on a paper with the same name. Just kidding. It is a compact one, yes, but it is no less dynamic than its bigger, more powerful siblings. Why? It’s light, agile, refined and can surprise you with how well it can do what it’s meant to do. No, not just go from A to B. It’s in a class of its own!
We’ve already driven the 35 TDI diesel version a few months ago, and now we sample the more powerful and extremely refined 40 TFSI petrol. It’s not a 4.0-litre V8, but a 1.8-litre turbo four-pot; but more on that later. The new badging is something we’re getting to grips with too. So the A3 steps in as a serious contender in the ‘Look, Ma, it’s the first luxury car I bought with my own money’ segment. While the diesel has a number of trims starting at Rs 24.5 lakh (ex-showroom), this petrol is available in only one trim – Premium Plus – at Rs 31.4 lakh plus tax. Petrol-heads will like the choice, but, at the same time, we have to wonder if those planning to pick up one of these A3 TFSI cars would want quattro to go with the whole package. This is a front-drive only model. But enough with the nit-picking.
The A3 is a gorgeous car. Its proportions are spot-on for city life and it’s built more than well enough for highway jaunts as well. The front end looks very A6, especially the sculpted headlamp cluster with LED signature daytime running lights. The black-finish grille aids the sporty stance, which is amplified by the S-line exterior bits that are standard on the Premium Plus trim. It wears skirts, but they are high enough not to be a bother over speed-bumps as we found out later. The highlight is the prominent shoulder-line, which, with its light-catcher properties, gives it an astonishingly good-looking side profile no matter what the lighting. The curvaceous wheel-arches are filled with attractive 17” five-spoke alloys wrapped in grippy 225/45 rubber. Sweep over the window-line, and you notice the dark glass of the panoramic sunroof with a subtle slope towards the rear. The LED tail-lamp cluster leaves a trail of red, more so if you happen to be travelling through a tunnel. More on the tunnel and that engine a little later.
