A3 Sportback is simply the best premium hatch

Audi's A3 Sportback has all the bases covered — from performance, to looks, to passenger comfort and technology levels

At the front of the A3 Sportback you have Audi’s new ‘smiley’ corporate grille and a feast of LED lights, as well as a raft of vents and front air dam boldness. Pictures: Paddy McGrath

Audi A3 Sportsback
Rating	★★★★☆
Price	From €40,450 - €43,928 as tested
Engine	Petrol turbo with mild-hybrid sensitivities
The Spec	Good, but expensive add-ons
Verdict	The best premium hatch

It is easy to be confused these days by the melange of cars on offer, all of which ostensibly compete with each other even if they are all essentially the same thing.

This sort of thing occurs when you have vast conglomerates which own a variety of brands and carry out policies of — in the jargon — ‘interactive synergies’. This, essentially, means that cars of varying hues and expense use exactly the same platforms, drivetrains and much more.

Look at Peugeot for example. Part of the French PSA Group, Peugeot was a sister company with Citroen, Opel/Vauxhall and DS Auto. 

A few weeks ago, PSA merged with FCA — that’s Fiat Chrysler Auto, to the uninitiated — and that now means there are now many more siblings in the family.

Aside from its French brethren, Peugeot now — under the ‘Stellantis’ umbrella — has names like Dodge, RAM, Maserati, Alfa Romeo, Fiat, Lancia, Chrysler, Abarth, Jeep and Chrysler in the fold. Soon many of them will be sharing engines, gearboxes, technologies and loads of other stuff.

Then you look at the Volkswagen Group, which has esteemed nameplates such as VW, Audi, Skoda and SEAT under its umbrella, not to mention less mainstream but gilded names like Lamborghini, Bentley, and Bugatti.

When you distil down the practicality of such an association and take, say, a series of everyday cars made under the VW Group roof such as the VW, Golf, the Skoda Octavia, the SEAT Leon and — this week’s tester — the Audi A3, you find that the amount of stuff they have in common is quite astonishing.

The stylish interior features twin screens, one for all the instrumentation and the other for the infotainment and connectivity. 

Being the premium player amongst those cars, however, the A3 is supposed to be superior in any and every way and, as such, has no direct rival among any of them. Seems strange?

Well, maybe, but the fact of the matter is that the Audi’s main rivals come from BMW and Mercedes and not in-house. The reason for this is that the Octavia operates on a different plane and is not, technically, a rival. 

The Golf is the Golf and has rivals elsewhere from Ford and so forth. The SEAT Leon is the only ‘in-house’ one that challenges the Golf directly and the only reason that’s been allowed is that VW is now concentrating on electric cars.

The Audi, therefore, contends not with its siblings (despite sharing so much with them), but the BMW 1 Series and the Mercedes A-Class. And do you know what? It is probably the best of them too.

It was always a bit better than the similarly front-wheel driven A-Class as a driving car and as BMW has only recently relinquished its 'rear-wheel drive only' hereditary and is now making a front-wheel drive 1-Series, Audi has the whip hand on that too, largely because of the Munich concern’s inexperience with the genre.

In basic terms, the A3 now comes only in saloon and sportback versions as the three-door hatch has been deemed obsolete and it was the sportback we tried.

Although nominally a four-door hatch, this car now has more of a look of an estate than a mere hatchback. Maybe it is what they have done with the styling that achieves this outcome.

At the front you have Audi’s new ‘smiley’ corporate grille and a feast of LED lights, as well as a raft of vents and front air dam boldness, but these are just visual treats rather than anything that does anything by way of cooling and so forth. 

Flared wheel arches and more LED trickery at the back add their tuppence worth, but it is what they have done to the flanks, where the side sculpting is most eye-catching, that gives it a truly solid stance.

This is a bold-looking car and one which while it may not everyone’s cup of tea, certainly looked good to me and in this department, I felt, beat the others into a cocked hat. And this isn’t the only area where it wins.

Although nominally a four-door hatch, this car now has more of a look of an estate than a mere hatchback.

Inside there is that aura of sophistication which Audi has made its trademark and the sheer feeling of wellbeing that you get just sitting in it. You’ve got twin screens, one for all the instrumentation and the other for the infotainment and connectivity. 

Thankfully, however, Audi has eschewed the minimalist approach adopted by both VW and SEAT in the new Golf and Leon respectively.

Rather, you get physical controls for interior climate management and I certainly found these much easier to utilise — particularly when you’re on the move — than the ‘slider’ system utilised in the others. 

On the other hand, it is notable too is that Audi now uses the same stubby gear selector for the auto gearbox as now seems common across the range of its VW stablemates.

But, there are new seats (which are terrifically comfortable) and issues such as rear legroom seems to have been at least partially addressed and passenger room back there certainly does not seem as squished as it was previously.

The 1.5 litre turbo petrol is now a familiar thing across the VW Group range (even in mild-hybrid form, as this one was) and — in tandem with the seven speed S-Tronic ‘box — work very well here with a nice balance of both pace and economy available depending on mood or needs. 

Top speed is 220 kph and the 0-100 kph dash is achieved in 8.2 seconds. An easy right foot will also see a return of 5.3 l/100 km (52.8 mpg).

On the road, the A3 is composed and sure-footed and, from what I’ve seen is certainly the more sorted of the trio comprising itself, the 1 Series and the A-Class, which is not bad for what might be classed as a mere Golf derivative. What sets it apart is the dynamic chassis and suspension tuning and — on this one — the sports suspension option.

So, with a price tag well in excess of forty grand, is this — as a mere Golf offshoot — good enough to warrant the cost.

The answer to that question lies within the collective wherewithal of those for whom a premium automotive product is as essential as leather-soled shoes.

Sure, you can buy a machine from within the VW Group which has all the same essential elements, but none have the interlocking four-ringed badge.

You pay a premium price for a premium product and, that being the case, Audi has nothing to blanche about here. 

In every aspect of its being — from performance, to looks, to passenger comfort and technology levels, this car has all the bases covered. Not only does it look premium, but it feels it too.

Undoubtedly there will be those who pooh-pooh the idea of paying the money for this car when they could get a VW, Skoda or SEAT for much less money, but those who do splurge will not in any way feel short-changed by their decision, because they’ve bought the best premium hatch there is right now.

Certainly, shared technologies and interactive synergies are all part of our automotive futures, but that sure doesn’t mean any dilution of quality from those from whom you expect it most.