Houston to L.A., Day One - 2015 Audi A3 Long-Term Road Test

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Houston to L.A., Day One - 2015 Audi A3 Long-Term Road Test

We could have waited for our new long-term 2015 Audi A3 2.0T Quattro S Tronic to show up on a truck. Instead, we flew to Texas to pick it up and get to know it on an 1,800-mile return road trip.

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allthingshonda

You picked it up new in Texas then drove back 1,400 miles. Every break in procedure for just about every new car says to avoid driving at a steady speed for long periods of time. This is the one rule just about everybody suggests. For whatever reason piston rings will seat more effectively if revs are varied constantly. Got a feeling this will be the car many miles later that becomes an oil burner.

Repeating what I said in another post.

banhugh

The interior is so spartan that becomes a constant reminder that you should have bought that lightly used, 2 year old, 20K miles A4 for the same money

banhugh

Here's what I'm talking about: http://www.carmax.com/enus/view-car/default.html?id=11162513&AVi=0&No=0&Rp=R&D=90&zip=77074&N=4294963141+4294963080&Q=54c9e94e-478e-442f-bf00-671359a3d8c5&Ep=search:results:results page

darthbimmer

I don't know what kind of attention you're expecting to get. You're not going to get curious looks because your A3 looks like every other recent Audi sedan, if just a bit smaller. And you're not going to get envious looks because you're not driving a rare, distinctive, or especially high-dollar car. Back in 1984 a $40k German subcompact would've drawn attention, but in 2014 that money buys just another volume production car.

allthingshonda

banhugh said:

The interior is so spartan that becomes a constant reminder that you should have bought that lightly used, 2 year old, 20K miles A4 for the same money

The bland interiors seem to be a trend. Journalist complaints about too many buttons probably drove automakers to this trend along with it being cheaper to just put all functions in a screen with one knob to control it. Too me, however, the lack of buttons makes it look like a 90's econobox and not a $40,000 luxury car. And I absolutely hate having to go into menus to do one simple function. Tesla does it right. That giant iPad gets rid of clutter but it still looks like you're inside a very expensive car.

bryan__t

Slightly off topic but... the Road to Ensenada is still one of my all-time favorites, and I don't normally like country music.

mercedesfan

@allthingshonda,

Totally disagree with you about Tesla "doing it right", and I own a Model S. Is that giant screen "simple"? Yes. Clean? No. It looks terribly inelegant and even a little cheap. It works fantastically well so I have made my peace with it, but honestly the interior is what almost made me pull out of taking the Tesla-plunge. It is just so far behind vehicles of similar price that it's embarrassing. Simple needs to be paired with elegant to work.

emajor

Spartan or not, I like the interior of this car. The materials are solid and every secondary control from the MMI controller to the solid metal glovebox latch feels like quality. I've never liked the current A4 dashboard, something about that looming monolith of a hooded center stack always looked wonky and out of place. It's a classy understated little car inside and out. And also completely invisible for those reasons.

victorminator

I agree the A3's interior is wonderful. Simple, yes, but all the important controls are STILL buttons. Climate + audio.
The rest is controlled via the knob which is expected. It's just too bad German luxury makers seem to be allergic to redundant touch screen controls. My Mazda3 GT offers that (knob + screen although the latter locks out at cruising speed).

Mercedesfan I'm glad someone else sees the issue with that giant iPad screen. It totally removes the luxury ambiance that cars like the S Class and A8 would give you with their buttons and trim in the center stack. I'm surprised so many like it. I suppose a lot of them are first-time owners who didn't come from similar classes of luxury cars.