An outstanding car from Audi (Audi A3 2.0TDi DSG Sport/SE)

Member Name: Lools_24

Product:	Audi A3 2.0TDi DSG Sport/SE
Date:	07/11/09 (85 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great to drive, looks great

Disadvantages: Price to buy new

The time has almost come for me to swap my pride and joy (my car) for something more practical and family friendly. I bought my Audi A3 2.0 TDI Sport as a treat to myself 18 months ago and classed this as my firs "grown up" car. I have loved driving this car and although it did seem at the time (and still does) a rather extravagant purchase I feel that this was money well spent and I will be sad to see my car go over the next few months.


***Exterior***

The Audi A3 TDI 2.0 Sport has a very sporty look to it as the "sport" name may suggest. The Audi A3 model has a very sleek look to it anyway for a medium sized hatchback car however the 2.0 TDI Sport model has some features which give it that added "sporty" look. For example this model has a more rounded shape to it and includes a rear spoiler and double exhaust at the back. This is sporty looking without giving the car the tacky "boy racer" look.

The car has body coloured bumpers and wheel arches with colour coded wing mirrors. The particular model has sporty 5 spoke alloy wheels as standard however you can pay extra and upgrade to more expensive alloy wheels. The front of the particular model has a very sporty look and has slightly lowered suspension being the "sport" model than some of the other models of A3 and the standard TDI models. The front of the car has front fog lights and a silver grill on the front of the car.

It is possible to get the car in around 30 colours. There are both metallic and block colours. My car is a star grey which is a metallic colour. If you are buying from new to buy in metallic colours adds about £300 onto the price of the car.

I have a 3 door model which I feel has a slightly sportier look than the 5 door version of the same model.

***Interior***

The interior of the Audi A3 2.0 TDI Sport is finished to a high quality. If you buy from new there are a variety of options for the interior and you can customise the seat colours, material and dashboard. My seats are black part leather which are extremely comfortable. Full leather seats cost around £800 extra when buying new. The upholstery inside Audi's looks of a high quality and is not overly patterned therefore is less offensive than in some makes of car.

The dashboard has a high quality look and looks solid and does not look overly plasticy. As the 2.0 TDI sport version is a sporty model the gear stick and dials are trimmed in chrome and the foot peddles are aluminium.

The car is very spacious inside for a medium sized car. The car easily carries 5 adults comfortably and the back of the car also has a lot of leg room not just the front of the car. What surprised me most was the size of the boot. I can fit four suitcases in the boot without having to remove the parcel shelf as the boot is large but also deep. The BMW 1 Series has a boot half the size of the Audi which was one of the may reasons why I chose and A3 over a 1 series. Mr Lools and I are potentially considering a 5 door A3 when our boys arrive as the car is compact but still spacious.

Although the car externally is quite sleek the car does not feel dark dingy and enclosed in the same way hatchbacks like the Astra are and the windows let in a lot of light.


Standard Security and Safety Features Include:
-ABS Anti Lock Brakes
-ESP- Electronic Stability
-Front Seat Belt Pre Tensioners
-Driver Airbag
-Passenger Airbag
-Front Side Airbags
-Alarm
-Immobiliser
-Central Locking
-Isofix Car Seat Compatible

The A3 2.0 TDI comes with a variety of features internally including:
- Heated front windscreen and Door mirrors
- Electric front windows
- Air Conditioning
- Climate Control
- CD player

The gadgets inside of the A3 are very simple to use in particular the radio and CD player which is a main priority of mine. Built in sat nav is also available if you are buying from new for a further £600.

I also have rear parking sensors on my car. From new this costs around £400 extra. I use them sometimes but I feel in City Centre situations for parking especially when parallel parking the sensors are far too sensitive so I prefer to switch them off rather than have the sensors screeching at me distracting me from parking.




***Technical***

1968 cc
4 cylinders
16 valves
Power- 170 rpm
Max Speed 139 mph
0-60 - 7.6 seconds
Insurance group 14


***Drive***

The Audi A3 so far has definitely been the best car that I have driven and very comfortable for long and short journeys.

Driving around a city centre the car for a medium car is actually very nippy which surprised me as I went from driving a small nippy Vauxhall Corsa to the heavier diesel A3 therefore I was expecting a car which took longer to pull away but this was not the case. Speeds up to 30mph are very easy in the A3 and the car is quick without the engine noise being excessive or loud when you pull away quickly.

The car has 6 speeds (and reverse- I had to explain this concept to my mother). The car gets to 70mph very easily when you are driving on motorways and even when you drive in gear 6 at 70mph you can speed up very easily in this gear if you need to overtake. I feel that the car in fourth gear probably has the most power and you can get from 50mph to higher speeds (in excess of 90mph if you want to drive that fast) very quickly without excessive noise. I do a fair amount of motorway driving and being honest drive at a speed of around 80mph (probably 85mph) and the car is very quiet and you do not hear much engine noise. Although I can't comment on the top speed as I HAVE NOT driven my A3 at 139mph I would feel the car is capable of this speed and the car can easily get to speeds of over 100mph without excess noise or the car rumbling in the way some smaller cars do at higher speeds.

Driving on long journeys theA3 is a very comfortable drive. I am not the tallest of people therefore I usually need to adjust the seat however in the A3 I did not feel dwarfed or right up to the steering wheel when I moved the seat forwards. On the other end of the scale my dad is over 6ft tall and when he drove my A3 he felt he had plenty of leg room and did not feel squashed. It is also possible to adjust the steering wheel height. These are features which make driving more comfortable but should be expected of a car in this price bracket.



***Reliability ***

My A3 now has around 24,000 miles on the clock and I have encountered no issues with my car. For a car I paid nearly £20,000 for I would expect this to be the case and feel confident that I have bought a reliable car.

One of my close friends has had an A3 (two different cars) for over 10 years now and has found that they are very reliable. He did mention that after 40,000 miles it is recommended for the CAM belt to be changed in the TDI models, but apart from that has had no major problems in terms of reliability and found that even in his 6 year old A3 TDI it did not break down on him once or need to have any major repairs during MOT's or servicing.


***Cost***

The cost of the Audi A3 2.0TDI Sport is the biggest disadvantage of the car. To buy new you would expect to pay around £ 21,000 . This is one of the more expensive models in the A3 range as a basic model new costs around £17,000. I personally felt the 2.0 TDI Sport was worth paying a little extra for due to the performance and the added features both internally and externally. In comparison to it's competitors the A3 2.0 TDI is around £1,000 more expensive than a similar BMW 1 Series model, and around £1,000 less to a similar sized Mercerdes CLC. I did not look at the Mercedes however did consider a BMW 1 Series when purchasing my Audi. The Audi was worth paying £1000 more as it felt it was far superior in terms of performance to the BMW (slightly nippier, more comfortable to drive) and internally looked a lot better quality than the BMW 1 Series as the Audi inside looks more solid and finished off to a high quality.

I bought my car 18 months ago (an 08 reg) from an Audi dealer which was 4 months old and had less than 2,000 miles on the clock and this cost £18,995. Included in this price was a three year warranty (up to 60,000 miles) and a yearly service for two years. I felt although this was a high price to spend on a car I got excellent value for money

Depreciation wise Audi's hold their price more than other makes of car. For a 4 year old Audi A3 2.0 TDI with around 30,000 miles on the clock you would expect to pay around £13,500. Therefore although this is a big investment if you decide to sell your A3 you should feel more confident that you have not lost a lot of money as the car has depreciated greatly in value.

The Audi A3 2.0 TDI is in insurance group 14 which is an above average insurance group. I pay around £550 a year in insurance costs ( I'm probably medium risk to insure due to being under 25 but do have 5 years no claims), which is higher than many car but I feel is reasonable as I paid the same amount on a 1.6 Fiesta 2 years ago.

The technical specification on the A3 2.0 TDI outlines that the car does around 54.3mpg. I mostly drive around the town centre/ on duel carriage ways (and at times quite aggressively after a bad day at work) and I find the car typically runs to around 45.9mpg and to fill up the tank full I find this costs me around £55 which lasts for around 550- 600 miles. Mr Lools has a Vauxhall Astra CTDI 1.9 SRI and which I find I have to fill up much more regularly and a full tank in the Astra costs £55 but would last for 100 miles less at least.


***Overall***

The Audi A3 2.0 TDI Sport 3 door is a fantastic car. A sporty, reliable fun to drive car which I really am very sad about having to swap for a more "family friendly" car with 5 doors! Although the car is quite a sporty drive and has a lot of power I found that this is a quite an economical car to run and my 2.0 TDI Audi A3 used up less diesel over the same number of miles than Mr Lool's Vauxhall Astra 1.9 CTDI SRI. Reliability wise in the 18 months that I have had my car (which was 4 months old when I bought it) and over the 20,000 miles I have covered in it, I have encountered no problems.

The main disadvantage of the A3 is the price; you will pay a premium for the car because of the Audi badge but in my opinion I felt my money was well spent. If you have £20,000 to spend on a car

In comparison to what I would consider the A3's nearest competitor; the BMW 1 Series this is a far superior car in terms of performance and although a similar in size the Audi feels more spacious. An A3 is around £1000 more expensive than the BMW 1 Series but you get much better value for money as the interior and exterior feel is finished to a much higher quality and has the feel of an "expensive car".

Fingers crossed I can convince Mr Lools to trade in our 3 door Audi A3 for a 5 door which I feel still fits his "family friendly" criteria but is a car that I will not only enjoy driving but be proud to drive.

Summary: A brilliant medium sized car that's fun to drive and reliable

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