Audi has officially unveiled its new A3 concept sedan at the Geneva motor show, teasing us with a new, attractive, entry-level AWD four-door to complement its A3 lineup and put Mercedes' small cars in the closet. The concept measures 4.44 meters long, 1.84 meters wide, and 1.39 meters high, and makes use of a lot of CFRP.
That carbon fiber-reinforced plastic finds its way into the grille, front air intakes, 20-inch wheels, side mirrors, and rear diffuser, while aluminum highlights can be found inside and out.
Under the hood are a 2.5-liter turbocharged 5-cylinder (300 kW / 408 horsepower ; 500 Nm / 369 lb-ft) and 7-speed S tronic transmission which help hurl the car to 100 km/h (62 mph) in 4.1 seconds on its way to a limited top speed of 250 km/h (155 mph). Efficiency figures go like this: 9.1 liters/100 km (25.85 US mpg), with 212 grams CO2 / km (341.18 g/mile) in emissions.
Chassis improvements are derived from Audi's RS3 pocket rocket, using McPherson struts and a lot of aluminum up front and a four-link setup in back with steel control arms.
Inside the light, conservative interior are four sports seats, a customizable information display between the speedo and tach housed behind the sporty steering wheel, and reportedly plenty of space due to a longest-in-class wheelbase of 2.63 meters. The A3 concept sedan also has 410 liters / 14.48 cubic feet of trunk storage capacity.
The backs of the front seats have one really neat feature for fans of Steve Jobs: iPad holders. After all, this car is a wireless hot spot and surfing the internet on your iPhone is so 2009. Between those front buckets reside the knob and touchpad for the MMI multimedia system, which controls the snazzy screen that raises out of the top of the dashboard.
Scroll on down for live pics, while more official info should be out later this year.
By Phil Alex
14 Comments:
I love this C pillar, derived from A4 B5.
This car is so nicely designed it will cannibalize some A4 sales. The interior however needs to be sportier.
My next car. I love it! It's perfect.
Guess Audi is really saving money here. They just design one car and build it in different sizes.
I´m not saying it looks bad, I´m just getting bored of it.
Ditto - more "same again" styling; a dull choice of car for people with no imagination...
Impressive engine at 408hp/2.5l. This is the future, small displacement and big power when you need it (hopefully little turbo lag too).
The car looks better than everything Audi has made, at least on the exterior.
I can't see what some say about Audi's interiors. This one looks awful, round vents make the car look like a down market Yaris. The centre console doesn't meet up with the dash; it just goes under it and looks like the fat roll of an obese woman. And for a 2.5L engine, 9.1L/100 is abysimal.
The Audis are getting so beautiful that in a near future they will be able to use an Alfa Romeo badge.
"And for a 2.5L engine, 9.1L/100 is abysimal"
It does 0-100 in 4.1 seconds. Did you read that part?
Gorgeous car! Reminds me of one of my past cars, a modern version of the 1998 A4. I look forward to this, and hope to trade my current Lexus in for one.
this is too close to A4, what is Audi targeting? They already have S4, what's the point of this car??
booooring
There would be no need for an A4 if this hits the show room. I really like the interior look all though, it would most likely be toned down from the concept.
I'd rather this be the new A4
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