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A video link - https://youtu.be/IPXdvZfd3I8 A Poem Audi, Audi, oh my Audi Your A3 S-Line, made me moody Car was new and driving easy But only two bags, in your booty Audi, Audi, oh my Audi Nav was good but controls messy Press but can't find things easily Maybe I am just very lousy Audi, Audi, oh my Audi, Loved the drive, but not my family Sitting behind, kids got cranky Sorry Audi, I need my harmony Audi, Audi, oh my Audi, Your A3 S-Line, made me moody Car was new and driving easy But only two bags, in your booty ------------------- A picture.

Singaporeans have always loved their sedans. Look at the amount of Mercedes-Benz and Toyota sedans on our roads if you aren't convinced. Not to be outdone, Audi introduced their A3 sedan with its 122bhp 1.4 TFSI engine. While its power output is nothing to shout about, it goes about providing the A3 sedan with plenty of low end torque (200Nm of it from 1,400rpm) to make merging into highways a stress-free experience. I personally felt the engine performed at its best if driven sedately. Revving the engine to its redline revealed slight breathlessness as with most turbo engines. . While the rest of my colleagues drove it pretty hard when we had the car, I tried a short eco-friendly run from the west to the central of singapore and I registered a similar 17km/L reading when we road tested the A3 Sportback. Riding softer than its hatch sibling, the sedan settles into a nice cruise at highway speeds. While the steering is not the best of its kind, it provides enough feedback to the driver and weighs well. Inside, it is business as usual for Audi with probably the best cabin in its class. Cabin space is decent but sitting three at the back might be slightly uncomfortable for long drives up North. We think the A3 would do well here with its handsome, crisp silhouette and a proper trunk. Seems like the Mercedes-Benz CLA-Class just got itself a pretty decent rival!

This is a review of the brand new Audi A3 sedan, which replaces the A4 as the new entry level saloon for the Ingolstadt carmaker. The variant reviewed is the 1.4 TFSI which features COD (cylinder on demand), direct injection and turbocharging technologies. It produces 140bhp with 250Nm of torque and sends the small German sedan from 0 to 100km/h in 8.4 seconds. There are other engine options for the A3 sedan at launch which include a 2.0 TDI and 1.8 TFSI. The 1.4 TFSI variant reviewed should be the volume seller when it touches down in Singapore. The review is quite positive. The cabin is said to feel a lot more expensive than its price tag and the driving experience also matches a much more expensive car as the refinement is fantastic. At the end of the review, the reviewer even commented that the A3 sedan is a pretty good alternative to the Audi A4.

After much anticipation, the all new Audi A3 sedan has made its world premiere at the 2013 Shanghai Motor Show. The A3 sedan replaces the A4 as the new entry level sedan for the German brand. The A3 sedan is designed to ward off competition from the Mercedes-Benz CLA-Class and the upcoming BMW 1 Series sedan. The styling is very typical of Audi and one would not mistake it for any other makes. The baby Audi sedan measures 4,460mm long and 1,800mm wide with a wheelbase of 2,640mm. This makes the car shorter but wider than class competitor, the CLA. Base engine is a 1.4-litre TFSI petrol with 140bhp and 250Nm of torque. 0-100km/h is performed in a brisk 8.4 seconds while it sips fuel at 4.7L/100km. Range topper for the petrol version at the moment is a 1.8-litre TFSI with 180bhp and 250Nm of torque that allows the car to complete a century sprint in a timing of 7.3 seconds. Transmission options include a six-speed manual or seven-speed S-Tronic gearbox. A high performance S3 version that runs a turbocharged 2.0-litre four-cylinder engine with 296bhp is said to be in the pipeline. Although the spiritual successor of the Audi 80 is the A4, the A4 has grown so much that it is close to the size of the last Audi 100 that we have. Customers looking for a true compact, well built German sedan can now rejoice with the arrival of the A3 sedan.

Previewed by the Audi A3 Concept at the 2011 Geneva Motor Show, the production version of the A3 sedan will be making its global debut at the upcoming 2013 Shanghai Auto Show come April. Audi CEO, Rupert Stadler, commented that the new model will be an important derivative which will stimulate additional growth, especially in China and the U.S. Perhaps this explains the sedan's debut in Shanghai. The A3 sedan will be a direct competitor to the Mercedes CLA. The A3 sedan will be built at the country of launch. Chinese press reports that the A3 sedan will be assembled at the FAW-VW joint venture that also manufactures a variety of Audi models. However, I believe there will be other manufacturing sites around the world. Measuring about 4,400mm long by 1,840mm wide by 1,390mm tall, the baby sedan will be built upon VW's MQB platform. The engine lineup is expected to be carried over from the 2013 A3 hatchback. This means a range of TFSI petrol power plants ranging from 1.4-litre to 2.0-litre as well as 1.6-litre and 2.0-litre TDI options. S-Tronic transmission is available as an option on all models. Note: Photo shows A3 Concept

I have been doing a little bit of reading here and there about the future of car interiors. Aside from the fact that I had nothing else better to do I have realized that I actually spend a whole lot of my time in my cars and also the other cars I happen to get my hands on from time to time. An average person would spend at least an hour or two in their car trying to get from here to there during rush hour or trying to get about town and that car seat and all the controls like the steering wheel, gear shifter and hand controls are what you interact with as you drive. But note that in the near future, you will see that only the seat you are on and the steering wheel in front of you would be similar to the car of today. The sketch you see above is one of a future Audi A3 Sedan. Ignore the funky steering wheel as it may be drawn that way to show the rest of the dashboard. And what do you actually see? A dashboard devoid of signal switches, wiper stalks and gear knobs. We already see a lack of gear knobs and shifters in the latest BMWs, Mercedes' and Jaguars. This has turned into a rotary selector on the transmission tunnel. And according to Audi the dashboard you see is how the envision their future interiors to be, slightly different from what we expect these days. We will also see wiper stalks/controls going missing as when most cars adopt automatic rain sensing wipers and then light switches going missing too when all cars adopt light sensing automatic headlights and cars that will detect lane changes and auto signal (this may happen eventually). And then you add the fact that you now have multi-media systems in the car telling you the temperature, location, air conditioning and entertainment in one screen (which will be touch sensitive and voice activated soon) and everything will be controlled through it soon. You can either scroll through a smartphone like interface to reach for the wipers if you want them on manually or you can do that Star Trek thingy and say 'Computer, wipers on to full. Rain factor heavy'. And so you do not need hand controls any more. Check out the interior photograph above. The interior is a design study that was actually designed by Johnson Controls, the people who are actually at the forefront of automobile interior systems and OE manufacturer to most manufacturers around the world. Note the sparse interior that is dominated by the instrument cluster, multi media screen and the armrest that has all the necessary controls. Say bye-bye to signal stalks, gear shifter and wiper stalks. Say hello to a cleaner looking car interior. And before you know it, car manufacturers will get rid of the steering, brake pedal and throttle pedal too. Everything will be automated and hidden away. Remember the Audi R90 that was featured in I-Robot? That Will Smith movie with the futuristic Audi (pictured below)? He had the option to over-ride the computer to drive manually. This is the future and it isn't that far away actually. Whether we like it or not, as is usually the case. And since all of these changes omit lots of 'unimportant' stuff, can we expect larger and deeper cupholders for those extra large coffee cups?