2004 Audi A3 Sportback

[Silverarrow]

its a pity that the front grill is distracting many from what is potentially a very looking fine car... must admit when i first saw the pics, the grill DID stand out as odd...

however the back of the car looks great though, and overall it looks like a fairly balanced-designed hatch (there are some that IMHO looks out of propotion... but that's ano story...). the light colored interior looks [at least on picture] great too (a good break from the grey-black bunch)...

 

now the remaining qn is, how does it drive, hmmm...

 

To many people, Audi has sadly gone the way of BMW in producing cars with controversial designs. I guess these manufacturers seek unique looks that will distiguish their cars from other makes, criticisms notwithstanding. Personally, I wonder if the resale value of these "single-frame grill" Audis will be affected by such a bold design.

 

Audi has commented that the A3 Sportback is built for driver enjoyment. That may be true for their competent suspension setups, but it remains to be seen if their engineers have tweaked their dead-feel steering to appease the rather influential British motoring journalists. I'll be awaiting eagerly for test drive reports from Autocar and What Car? on how good this latest A3 really is. Too bad it's priced slightly beyond the reach of most common folk here; such quality German cars are pretty darned affordable in UK.

[Tron]

hmm... never driven an audi before but sat in one many times... so cant comment on driver feel/involvement & handling etc..

 

but based on wat is going to be on offer with the new A3 - technology-wise and "fun" features makes it all very very tempting... wat wit 4 wheel drive, glass skyroof, DSG - which i believ it a clutchless manual... in fact it mentions tat it has a twin clutch or something = which is similar to the wat the NEW 6 spd selespeed box in the GTA selespeed has. And boy did i hear tat it shifted seamlessly and superfast as compared to the older 5 spd 3G selebox...

 

as a 147 owner, i dare say wat Audi intends to offer in the A3 is very very much tempting!! tho i love the looks of the 147 very much!! jus wished that AR quickly releases a wider variety of transmissions and engine choices!! i,e: 2.2 JTS twin turbo + 4WD!! heh...

 

only thing tat it will all boil down to will be the PRICE.....confirm shocker judging by the PREMIUM way in which AUDI prices their cars...

Edited June 24, 2004 by Tron

[Silverarrow]

but based on wat is going to be on offer with the new A3 - technology-wise and "fun" features makes it all very very tempting... wat wit 4 wheel drive, glass skyroof, DSG - which i believ it a clutchless manual... in fact it mentions tat it has a twin clutch or something = which is similar to the wat the NEW 6 spd selespeed box in the GTA selespeed has. And boy did i hear tat it shifted seamlessly and superfast as compared to the older 5 spd 3G selebox...

 

Volkswagen Group's DSG (Direct Shift Gearbox) differs from other "clutchless" manual transmissions in its implementation of a twin-clutch system, whereby a clutch is assigned to alternate gear cogs. In that way, shifts are much quicker and smoother than AR's Selespeed or Opel's Easytronic. I doubt we'll see a dual-clutch being featured outside of the usual Audis, VWs, Skodas and Seats, since the VW Group may have filed a patent on this.

 

You're right when you said the A3's 'technology-wise and "fun" features makes it all very very tempting.' And you're also right about their prices being "confirm shocker." What to do... high sticker prices for quality Conti cars is something we'll have to put up with here.

[Seansene]

Actually dual-clutch gearboxes have been used by Porsche before, and they're planning to implement them on production models. Ford and Opel are also readying volume models featuring similar technology

[Silverarrow]

Actually dual-clutch gearboxes have been used by Porsche before, and they're planning to implement them on production models. Ford and Opel are also readying volume models featuring similar technology

 

Hmmm... interesting bit of info.

 

Since Porsches are way out of the league of most people here, I guess we can only buy into Ford or Opel cars in order to enjoy these unique dual-clutch features.

[Seansene]

The transmission of the future, I believe

[Tron]

dun quote me, but i read somewhere that the new generation selespeed gearbox SPECIFICALLY for the GTA is derived from its bigger sibling; the Ferrari modena. Fact being that the AR' magnetti marelli box in the 3G 5spd gearbox cannot handle the power the GTA dishes out... so they crapped they whole thing and sourced from ferrari - tis is what i heard from the grapevine... as to the twin clutch thingy, it was told to me fren (who tested the gta sele) by EuroAuto tat the new 6 spd box had twin "something" therefore it shifted so very seamlessly as compared to the 3G box...

 

any one can enligthen??

[Seansene]

Definitely not a dual clutch, if it's the current GTA.

[Octane]

its a pity that the front grill is distracting many from what is potentially a very looking fine car... must admit when i first saw the pics, the grill DID stand out as odd...

however the back of the car looks great though, and overall it looks like a fairly balanced-designed hatch (there are some that IMHO looks out of propotion... but that's ano story...). the light colored interior looks [at least on picture] great too (a good break from the grey-black bunch)...

 

now the remaining qn is, how does it drive, hmmm...

 

Hmmm... yeah, i guess the front shield grill is designed to be bold and "in-your-face" (especially if you see it in your rearview mirror... heh), very effective to seperate it away from usual jap car designs which are starting to look like the current euro designs we've been seeing for a while.... its good that conti brands like Audi, BMW, Alfa etc dare to be style leaders and come out with new bold designs to re-fresh the car design scene...

 

Anyways, we know that we'll all get used to the design after a while (you'll know when the jap cars start to copy it too). :)

[Slidingturtle]

i would certainly agree that the contis' tend to have stronger designs, in my probably biased mind they have much more character a statement which my wife always laugh at me.