There’s only one transmission here – Audi 6-speed S tronic Dual Clutch. For MPGs the 2-liter car stickers at 24 miles per gallon in the city, 33 on the highway or 27 on average.

Pricing for the 2-liter model starts at just under 34 grand including delivery, although the car that I’ve got here today costs roughly 10 thousand dollars more than that. As you might already know, the A3 is based on Volkswagen’s MQB modular platform. Of course, that means that it shares it’s architecture with cars like the Golf and all of its derivative models. And some of the styling elements peek through to hint at exactly that. For example, the dual exhaust pipes are pulled directly from the MK7 GTI. Standard equipment on the car includes 17-inch aluminum alloys, although this car has the optional 18-s and you can upgrade to 19-inch versions if you prefer.

Now, everything about this car fits in directly with the rest of Audi’s lineup. In fact, the A3 now looks a lot like a shrunken version of the A4. Now, this is the prestige model, which means that it gets the more aggressive front facial and side skirts among many other options. If you’re wondering why Audi decided to move away from the hatchback, keep in mind the A4 sold more than five times for every A3 in 2012. And why shouldn’t they move to something that’s more appealing. After all, Mercedes Benz is starting to crowd the market with their new CLA 250.
But that can’t be the whole story, can it?

And beside the Mercedes CLA 250, this car is leaps and bounds ahead in terms of general material fit, finish and quality. The buttons all have a satisfying click, the bezels around the air vents rotate, and when they move into place, again, there is a really satisfying clicking feeling when you put them either all the way to the top, or all the way to the right. And there’s one more thing I’ve got to tell you about.

You can also use your finger to direct the cursor on the navigation while you’re looking through the map to go left, right, up or down. Earlier I said that this car is bigger than the previous A3, and it is. You might take that to assume that it’s also heavier, but in fact this car is actually about a hundred pounds lighter than the previous generation.

This car has the more powerful 2-liter turbo engine and that puts out 220 horsepower and 258 lb.-ft. of torque. Now, Audi says that it’s supposed to accelerate to 60 miles an hour in 5.8 seconds, and honestly, it’s pretty quick. I don’t doubt that that’s true.