It came as no surprise to find out that the A3 range had been awarded ‘World Car of the Year’. The original Audi Quattro was thrown up the notorious ‘Pike’s Peak’, a partly surfaced hill climb in the States and there it had taken best time of the day, beating all other competitors. And if memory serves me well, a couple of lady rally drivers achieved the impossible only a few years ago and established a hill climb record at the same hill, even though it is now fully surfaced.
The A3 Cabriolet we had out and about was no muscular car, but the four wheel drive S3 on the other hand was able to reach the magic ‘ton’ in only 4.9 seconds must surely be macho enough for nearly every aspiring racing driver.
With the hood and windows down we enjoyed the sheer pleasure of gleaning the last ounce of fresh air suddenly ‘larded’ with strangely pungent odours coming off some of our lesser visited fields.
The handling of this car, the sheer agility to cope with some strangely cambered and unpleasantly undulating arterial roads was actually a pleasure to witness. The Cabriolet seemed wedded to the road surface and corners were taken at alarmingly high speeds without fuss or wheel squeal. I must admit that the fact that she has an active rollover system to protect the occupants in case of a serious confrontation the wrong way up is quite frankly most reassuring.
This car provided us with all the excitement of a true sports car, which is all the more surprising bearing in mind that although it has a beautiful four-cylinder, in line diesel engine with common rail injection, turbocharging and indirect intercooling, it only produces 110 Kw of power.
The acceleration to 100 km/h is only 8.9 seconds and this is partly thanks to the slinky shape and use of many light materials. Compare that with the magnificent Aston Martin DB3S sports racing two seater from my youth which took 6.9 seconds to reach 100 km/h and the Audi comes totally on stream in the old ‘sports car’ idiom.
The handbook says that the hood can be lowered while travelling up to 50 km/h. We raised and lowered it from 0 km/h, partly as the left hand is engaged during the whole operation, and partly because any sudden wind gusts will do no good at all to the expensive hood if the car is actually on the move.
We also switched off the stop/start function, a useful addition when making compulsory and normal halts, at traffic lights, or even stop signs when there is a lump of slow moving vehicles on the major road. In our increasingly popular areas of stop/start motoring, under most conditions the engine can be left ticking over rather than stopping every 20 metres.
The electric handbrake seems to have been cunningly sorted so that if the driver’s seat belt is fastened, the handbrake releases when the car begins to move
The electric handbrake seems to have been cunningly sorted so that if the driver’s seat belt is fastened, the hand-brake releases when the car begins to move. Of course, pushing down and then releasing the small handbrake switch can overrule all this.
Oh! for the days when the good old fly-off handbrake was a necessary addition for any real motorist, especially when competing round the bollards against the clock.
Cabriolets are from time to time somewhat suspect, especially if they tend to leak, with the hood up, in severe rainstorms. The A3 seems to have been carefully constructed so as to avoid the reason for any owner to complain.
The road holding, ability to dart hither and thither , the great feeling of control and safety that any experienced driver will enjoy, comes from a superbly engineered, carefully lightened chassis and suspension and it is the hallmark of this particular model, World Car of the Year.
Obviously the car can be upgraded with optional equipment. However, the car as we found it in the showroom has a fantastic selection of electronic masterpieces, all designed to take the fatigue, but one hopes not the skills that are needed to control the cabriolet when it comes to somewhat difficult driving conditions.
Verdict
Comfort
Great seats, great grip, as comfortable as any cabriolet visited in the last 40 years
Performance
Far beyond adequate, and yet wonderfully safe in experienced hands.
Cool
Yes, in my books a cabriolet is always worth a cool rating
Quality
The car on test was impossible to fault.
At a glance
Top speed
224 km/h
0-100km
8.9 seconds
Economy
Combined: 4.2 litres per 100 km
C02
97 g/km
Engine
1,968 cc, four cylinders
Power
110 kw
Maximum torque
340 Nm