2009 Audi A3 Sline Turbo Charged Mpg
Road test: 2009 Audi A3
It may not sound like much of a revolution, simply, occasionally, when you play mix and match with automobile parts and engines, you tin make the overall packet far improve than the sum of the individual components.
It may non sound like much of a revolution, just, occasionally, when you play mix and lucifer with automobile parts and engines, you tin can make the overall package far meliorate than the sum of the individual components.
Have Audi's A3, for instance. It has always offered the company's much-vaunted quattro all-wheel-drive system equally well as the all-time engine in Audi's portfolio, the 2.0T turbocharged four. The only problem is that y'all couldn't go the two in the same automobile. The 2.0T was always Audi'due south base of operations A3, available only with front-cycle drive, and the quattro organisation was only available with the company'due south top-of-the-line 3.2-litre FSI V6. And, with apologies to that high-tech, direct-injection motor, it'due south not the class-leading powerplant the ii.0T is.
The ii.0T is certainly in the running every bit the all-time fourbanger in production. It's not just because it produces a good for you 200 horsepower or that there's an every bit salubrious 207 pound-feet of torque at a relatively low 1,700 rpm that lets the diminutive four deport like a larger-displacement V6. Information technology's non even that the Audi long-stroke engine is incredibly smooth for a iv (which are typically raspy when revved) or that information technology sounds as sporting every bit some motorcycles when yous button information technology hard. It'south that information technology manages all these things simultaneously, never once displaying any of the foibles that are typically the cede one must make when opting for the lower-cost four-cylinder options on about whatever automobile.
That's why it's so of import that the quattro is available with the 2.0T. In fact, what's surprising is that information technology may not exist in Audi Canada's all-time interest. Indeed, I'm sure in that location are at least a few owners of previous A3s who opted for the 3.2L not for its extra pistons but as the but way to go the quattro system. Now, they tin save a few thou loonies to pay off the Esso carte du jour as gasoline prices take spiked once more.
It'southward fairly useless for me to tell y'all I felt the benefits of the all-bike-drive organization since the whole point is to never discover its behaviour, peculiarly on a sunny September day. Suffice it to say that the A3'southward quattro system needs a Texas-fashion monsoon or a snowy Northern Ontario Christmas to really smoothen. Since I accept had that somewhat dubious pleasure (I in one case had to abandon a Dodge Magnum on a snowy hill and switch into a quattro Audi to brand an appointment), I can verily adjure to the fact that you should seriously desire the quattro system in an Audi. In fact — and I can already hear Audi Canada'due south marketing mavens screaming at me — what's the point of ownership an Audi if information technology isn't equipped with quattro all-wheel bulldoze?
What also passed unnoticed, much to my embarrassment, is that the A3 was equipped non with the six-speed automatic I suspected merely with the latest version of Audi's South Tronic DSG transmission that is garnering such rave reviews. Basically a transmission tranny with two clutches and an electronic controller, typical examples of these manumatics are usually quirky at all-time when they operate automatically. Gearshifts are either ponderously wearisome or annoyingly abrupt. Not this latest S Tronic. As I said, it shifted and so smoothly that I thought it was a regular slushbox. And, of form, when shifted via the steering wheel-mounted paddle shifters, it was very sporty indeed.
My only complaint with the quattro-equipped A3 is that, even though the lighter engine improves weight distribution and, consequently, steering feel, the unabridged plot seems softer than I would like. I wait sporty stuff from this tiniest of Audis, especially since the previous version I drove was an Due south-Line with stiffer break.
Audi Canada does seem to take a solution at hand, fifty-fifty though I didn't get a chance to exam it. The visitor will soon start importing A3s with an optional Magnetic Ride Control (MRC) interruption, which uses a magnetorheological fluid to vary the damping forces. That'southward a surplus of technological gobbledygook to say that the fluid in the shocks varies its thickness (as in viscosity) co-ordinate to electric current. This allows an amazingly wide range of intermission compactness and, since the fluid reacts much more apace than the mechanical valves typically used in adjustable suspensions, MRC should offer superior functioning. A similar system does wonders for Chevy's Corvette, so, with the usual caveat (as in making an a–of you and me), it might be safe to presume a similar benefit hither.
In other means, the A3 gets small revisions for 2009 with the always classic new front grille and front fascia and the also typical more stylized headlights and tail lights. At that place are too some small-scale changes inside, simply for the near part the A3 interior remains the same. That'southward no backhanded insult either equally Audi interiors are the class of the business with exquisite materials and splendid quality control in the panel gaps. You could fence that there are a few too many buttons and, for the outset time in recent Audi tests, I found the seat heaters largely ineffective (I utilise them even in the summer to warm up a sometimes reluctant lower back).
Minor niggles notwithstanding, Audi'south A3 is yet another serious contender at bringing the attributes of a luxury brand to an ever-increasingly younger and sportier oversupply. It might even brand balding erstwhile guys like me feel a piddling younger.
dbooth@nationalpost.com
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THE SPECS
Blazon of vehicle: All-wheel-drive, compact hatchback
Engine: Turbocharged 2.0L DOHC four-cylinder
Power: 200 hp @ 5,100 rpm; 207 pound-feet @ i,700 rpm
Transmission: Six-speed DSG
Brakes: Iv-wheel disc with ABS
Tires: P225/45R17
Price: base/every bit tested $39,950/$42,550
Destination charge: $800
Ship Canada fuel economic system 50/100 km: 9.4 metropolis, half-dozen.9 hwy.
Standard features: Power door locks, windows and mirrors, dual-zone climate control air conditioning, AM/FM/CD/MP3 player, steering bicycle-mounted audio controls, rain-and speed-sensitive wipers, heatable washer nozzles, cruise control, power glass sunroof, data display, tilt steering wheel, leather seats, heatable front seats, lx/40-carve up folding rear seats, auto headlights, dual front air bags, dual side air bags, side curtain air bags, electronic restriction-force distribution, electronic stabilization program, Brake Assist
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2009 Audi A3 Sline Turbo Charged Mpg
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