2015 Audi A3 Review |
| Posted: 13 Aug 2014 05:00 PM PDT  Share this Article Switching schools stinks, breaking up with your significant other is hard and dealing with a disagreeable decision someone else made is never easy. Change is challenging, but sometimes it's a good thing.
For the better part of two decades, anyone looking for a small luxury hatchback could turn to the Audi A3. I use "could" because for 2015, Audi axed one of the doors and made the A3 a sedan. I wasn't ready for that to happen. The old A3 looked good and its fifth door made it practical despite the small footprint. Believe it or not, Audi doesn't ask me before making major decisions, but did they throwing the baby out with the bath water or is the four-ring brand on to something better than ever before? What Makes it Tick?The A3 comes with one of two turbocharged inline four-cylinder engines. There's a 1.8-liter mill that makes 170 hp and 200 lb-ft of torque in base models or the model I drove with the same 2.0-liter powerplant in Volkswagen uses in the MK7 GTI.
Fitted with the larger, more powerful engine, Audi says you can expect to see up to 24 MPG during city driving, 33 on open roads or 27 MPG spread between the two.
Best Looking of the Bunch
As you might already know, the A3 is based on Volkswagen's MQB modular platform, which means this car shares its architecture with the Volkswagen Golf and little pieces of that show through in the A3. For example, the dual exhaust tips look the same as the MK7 GTI. Its basic equipment list includes 17-inch aluminum wheels while you can opt for 18's or even 19-inch versions should that strike your fancy. Prestige models like the car I drove also come with a more aggressive front fascia and side skirts. In fact, the A3 really just looks like a shrunken version A4 and that can hardly fall in the strike column. Keep in mind, the A4 sold more than five times for every A3 in 2012, so why wouldn't Audi want to let its smallest product ape bigger and better selling cars? After all, there's more competition than ever in this segment with the Mercedes CLA 250 on the market. Maybe that was the key point behind giving a heave-ho to the hatch. But that can't be the whole story. After all, there's the interior and, of course, the actual experience of driving the car. Benz-Embarrassing Insides
First things first; as a sedan, the back seat's got to be much worse, right? Well, you sacrifice almost an inch of headroom over the hatchback, but you actually get a little more legroom. Like the Golf, the A3 is larger this time around and it's apparent from the driver seat.
Even though this is their baby car, it does a good job of avoiding one of the worst pitfalls common in its price range: feeling cheap. There are some hard plastic surfaces, but for the most part it looks and feels like costlier products you will see it sitting beside at a dealer showroom.
There's one more thing to touch on: the new infotainment interface. Instead of the little dial from before, you get a big wheel with a pad that lets you enter addresses by writing with your finger. It requires acclimation, but before long you'll be punching addresses in without looking away from the road. Saves "Sporty" for Other Models
This car is bigger than the last generation and you might assume that means it's also heavier, but it's actually about 100 lbs lighter. Married to the 2.0-liter turbo four with 220 hp at 4,500 RPM and 258 lb-ft of torque blasting forth at only 1,600 RPM, slow is not a word I would use readily to describe the A3 in this guise. With that engine, it's supposed to hit 60 mph in 5.8 seconds and that seems accurate. Better still, the bigger engine only costs an extra $3,000. For that price, you get 50 extra hp and 58 more lb-ft of torque that would be a shame to skip.
Sure Audi offers its drive select system that lets you program faster shifts, stiffer steering and sharper feedback from the gas pedal, but it just feels so much softer than the GTI. It's designed to be comfortable over cracked pavement and it really is. Speed bumps and potholes are a non-issue and the cabin is well isolate at high speeds. Audi doesn't even offer a "sport" suspension in the A3 and that would be disappointing were it not for the fact that we're also getting the S3 and I've got to applaud them for separating the performance and luxury models. Pricing for the two-liter model starts at $33,795 including delivery although the car I drove costs roughly $10,000 more than that at $43,850.
The Verdict:With looks that are right at home in the Audi line and Benz-beating interior quality, the new A3 is a standout product. Yes, it loses some of its old five-door pragmatism, but it's hard to care when the rest of the package such a big step forward.
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| 2011 Porsche Boxster Spyder Review Posted: 10 Aug 2014 05:00 PM PDT  Share this Article For about $60,000, there are plenty of convertible sports cars to choose from. You could have an Audi TT-S Cabriolet, a BMW Z4 or even the Corvette Stingray.
But for my money, I'd rather drive something that I'm not likely to see someone else driving every time I'm out for a cruise. Surely there isn't something from Porsche to fit the criteria, is there? Actually there is: the Porsche Boxster Spyder. Now I know what you're thinking. "Isn't this a used car? "Yes, in fact it's got to be a Porsche certified pre-owned car so there isn't exactly a base price to talk about. But you can probably expect to pay between $58 and $65 grand for one according to Porsche's current U.S. listings. As you might remember, this car uses the same 3.4-liter flat six as its more common siblings, but tuned to put out 320 hp and 273 lb-ft of torque. That's an increase of 10 hp and seven lb-ft of torque. These things sold with a six-speed manual or optionally, the seven-speed PDK. Most importantly, Porsche went crazy and cut the curb weight down to just over 2,800 lbs and to put that in perspective with something on the market today, that's roughly the same as a Scion FR-S.
Unusually Sexy
By default, the Boxster Spyder comes with a specific suspension that puts it lower to the ground than the Boxster S. You also get 19-inch wheels specific to the Spyder model that contribute to the supermodel diet Porsche prescribed to this car. Keep in mind that this is a part of the 987 generation, so some pieces – like the front end – might look a little outdated. Except this is where Porsche's slowly evolving design comes in handy because this thing still has a stylish-looking face. And then there's the rear end. Porsche owners and passers by all tend to give the Spyder a second look because of its unusual backside. Instead of a conventional convertible mechanism, you sort of a two-piece canvas canopy that looks nothing like the normal Boxster's cover. Unforgettable TopPeeling it off is a hassle and honestly, the procedure is enough of a pain to give me pause about pulling it down in the first place, but what's hiding underneath is a real treat because Porsche styled the back end after the Carrera GT supercar. Much of the weight cut from less fanatic versions of the car is probably attributable to the fact that there isn't any sort of mechanism to take the top up and down. But it isn't the only factor at play. Those are legion.
Some of that stuff was available in no-cost option packages. For example, the car I drove had AC and a radio, but there's no getting around the fact that this thing is designed to be light first and comfortable second. For example, the seats are snug on me and I have a 29-inch waist and wear a size 36 blazer… But even with all the light weighting, the typical Porsche attention to detail is present. Everything feels like it was carefully manufactured. The stitching is precise, and even with a few years on the road this car is holding up well. The plastic housing around the passenger side door pull was starting to come loose, but it's hard to imagine that being a difficult item to fix. Seriously Special to Drive
Out on the road you're going to notice a couple of things right away. The Spyder is pretty loud and there isn't a lot of space. The door panels and rear hatch cover are both made of thin aluminum and needless to say, sound deadening wasn't a priority when Porsche went about designing this model. I drove one with the optional PDK, sport exhaust and Sport Chrono package that unlocks launch control and a 0-60 sprint in 4.6 seconds. For comparison, Porsche says the manual model is 0.3 seconds slower to reach that speed although I would take the acceleration penalty all day to drive this thing as a manual. Don't get me wrong, the PDK is great, but it's almost heart breaking not to have a third pedal in what is otherwise arguably one of the most purist-focused vehicles you can have for this kind of money.
While 320 hp might not sound like much in a world with cars that – for the same price – will make double that or more, it's important to remember that straight line acceleration really isn't the point here. It's all about handling. And still, at 320 hp, it hardly feels slow. In fact, I would be willing to draw a line in the sand here and say that any more power would be too much for such a small vehicle. Sure it could be more visceral, but sometimes it's really nice to drive a car that isn't constantly threatening to disembowel you over a minor indiscretion or two. As a sort of retro bonus, by stepping back a generation you will also be reverting to hydraulic power steering, of which the attributes are fuel for endless driving enthusiast debate. I personally feel that taking a scorched earth approach to electrically boosted handling is heavy-handed, but you do get an incredibly communicative connection with the wheels in this car. |
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