SWEET AUDI Q3 LANDS IN SOUTH AFRICA

The new Audi Q3, its maker’s answer to the runaway BMW X1, can now be bought from your nearest Audi dealership. Compact and premium, the Q3 falls just under the bigger, more expensive Q5, but is nobody’s kid when it comes to features. From the reaction of some of the journalists invited for its launch in Cape Town, the Q3 will practically drive itself off the dealership floors.

While it may not immediately look it, Q3 is actually quite spacious. At the scales it measures 4.38 metres long, 1.8m wide, and 1.6m high. The space is felt as one gets into the front seat, with easy ingress into the cabin, thanks to the higher-than-normal ride height. Not enough for serious off-roading at all, but at least climbing those Sandton pavements won’t be difficult at all.

Q3 looks beefy, for its size. The six-curve front grille is quite typical of Audi SUVs, which sport a braver, bolder face than the normal sedans and sports cars. A slanting roof toward the rear gives that very popular coupe look that every automaker seems to favour these days. Downside is of course bad rear headroom, although people under 1.8m tall won’t be too bothered.

Being one of the new Audis on the block, the LED lights no longer comprise of dots of bulbs as seen by the naked eye, but of one continuous light pipe that forms a sharp blade-like shape by the grille.

What we find in the interior are different shapes; trapezoids, squares, rectangles and of course, circles. Solid are the build materials that make one feel safe and warm, feel at home and in command. Of course it’s an Audi, which means plenty of buttons on and around the driver-focused dashboard area. Features are plenty, but just as plenty is the optional stuff, for which you have to pay quite handsomely to access.

MMI, as in the A1, isn’t in the centre console but on the dash itself. Operating the thing can be quite an ask for the average-height user who has to reach out and touch each time. Nevertheless, there’s lots of lovely stuff to play with. Like the 3D satellite navigation – where applicable, a pop-up LCD colour screen, leather and brushed aluminium everywhere, as well as a few electrically-operated items. Excluding the seats, sadly which are manually-adjustable. Irritatingly too, Audi has stuck to its old decision of installing two SD card slots where USB ports should be. They might have gambled on SD cards being the next big storage thing after USB ports. They aren’t. Yet. I mean, who carries around an SD card with music on it, apart from testers like ourselves? Thank you for the Bluetooth though, very useful as always.

At hand for my pleasure were the 2.0-litre TDI and a 2.0-litre TFSI, the latter tuned to deliver two different power outputs. The 2.0 TDI metes out 130kW and 4200rpm, and strong pulling power of 380Nm between 1750rpm 2500rpm. It’s very friendly with its 7-speed double clutch automatic, sending good vibes to all four wheels via quattro AWD. Audi says it will average 5.9 litres per 100km of fuel, giving it a tank range of just over 1000km. Impressive indeed.

As for the two petrols, essentially the 2.0 TFSI has been remapped to stiff out two different power outputs. One is good for 125kW between 4300rpm and 6200rpm, with torque at 280Nm between 1700rpm and 4200rpm. It’s a peppy little 4-cylinder petrol turbo, turning out thrust and push between the four wheels without scaring its passengers. Because the 6-speed manual shifts nicely between gears, accessing power is not that difficult. Acceleration is therefore pegged at 8.2 seconds according to official records. Average fuel consumption is said to be 7.3 litres per 100km.

Lastly the 2.0 TFSI is supplied with 155kW between 5000rpm and 6200rpm, while maximum torque is 300Nm between 1800rpm and 4900rpm. It runs on 215/65 R16 tyres, wrapped around 6.5Jx16 aluminium wheels. As the most potent motor in the range, this one is currently the performance pick of the bunch. Current because later there is possibly a 2.5-litre turbo powered RS Q3 / Q3 RS coming within the next year, perhaps based on the concept recently revealed in China. Should that happen, it would be the first performance SUV / crossover in this new segment. Expectedly I liked it, straight off the block when it took off in front of a cloud of dust, heading towards who-knew-where.

Although there were over 30km of gravel travelled, I didn’t see why this was necessary, given the Q3’s overwhelmingly obvious urban bias. Besides, even a Toyota Corolla can eat up kilometres of dirt, so one cannot honestly say a real off-road trail was covered. Nevertheless, I guess it’s useful to know the car is sturdy, well-insulated against unwanted gas elements and stable when faced with shifty ground.

Q3 will no doubt cannibalise on the bigger Q5, as a reflection of the current buy-down trend forged by financial crisis after another, high fuel prices, and the very high cost of new cars itself. Those who do get into one though, will find a quiet, capable, spacious, comfy and feature-rich high-rider with very meaty engines. No regrets.

Q3 will no doubt cannibalise the bigger Q5, as a reflection of the current buy-down trend forged by financial crisis after another, high fuel prices, and the very high cost of new cars itself. Those who do get into one though, will find a quiet, capable, spacious, comfy and feature-rich high-rider with very meaty engines. No regrets.

Audi Q3 Pricing

Q3 2.0 TDI 103kW manual (R370 000)

Q3 2.0 TDI 130kW quattro S tronic (R431 500)

Q3 2.0T FSI 125kW quattro manual (R404 500)

Q3 2.0T FSI 125kW quattro S tronic (R421 500)

Q3 2.0T FSI 155kW quattro S tronic (R467 000)