Audi debuts handsome A3 hatchback

Will Audi soar where others have stumbled?

With its new, $25,000 A3, Audi is the latest manufacturer to tempt Americans with a hatchback.

Hatchbacks are valued around the world for their utility, versatility and efficient use of space. In the States, they’re perceived as downscale and, with a few notable exceptions, have not sold well.

The A3 is a wonderful little car, though, and has a fighting chance of converting the non-believers. It’s surprisingly roomy, a blast to drive and features the up-level accoutrements expected from a premium European brand.

Entry-level means different things to different makers, but the A3 is the entry-level offering in the Audi family. It’s smaller and less expensive than the A4, yet, thanks to the efficiency of the hatchback layout, it rivals its sibling in both passenger room and cargo space.

Maybe Audi could market it as a mini-wagon, but then Americans don’t much like small wagons, either.

The A3 shares its platform with Volkswagen but adds a distinctive and luxurious Audi twist. It’s available in just one trim level and standard features include 17-inch alloy wheels, automatic dual-zone climate control, one-touch power windows, keyless entry and a 10-speaker, 140-watt audio system wired for either XM or Sirius satellite radio.

A Sport Package adds stiffer suspension tuning, fog lights, sport seats, aluminum interior trim, roof spoiler and leather seats. The Premium Package adds leather, power driver’s seat, an auto-dimming rearview mirror, rain-sensing windshield wipers and HomeLink.

Safety gear includes a full set of airbags, including curtain-style bags for both rows of seats. Side-impact airbags are standard up front and optional in the rear. Electronic stability control and four-wheel disc brakes with ABS are standard.

But features do not a personality create; that’s the responsibility of the designers and engineers whose job it is to animate a 3,246-pound assemblage of inanimate objects.

With the A3, they’ve succeeded. The powertrain is sublime, the platform is as good as any in the small-car universe and both the interior and exterior design are exemplary.

The latter point is subjective, of course, and there are those who find fault with Audi’s brash new grille, but I’m not among them. On this little car, it makes a bold statement and should preclude use of the word “cute.”

The A3’s skin is stretched taut over its rigid unibody structure, lending a hint of muscularity and purpose. The 17-inch radials neatly fill out the wheel wells.

On the inside, occupants are treated to a cabin redolent with design cues from the A3’s more expensive kin, but in particular there are strong reminders of the TT’s trend-setting interior. The round, chrome-rimmed air vents and gauges and dash struts evoke TT design, as does the beefy, three-spoke steering wheel.

In keeping with the A3’s luxury-sport mission the cloth-covered seats in our tester were firm and well bolstered. They can be raised and lowered manually, the steering wheel tilts and telescopes and the pedals are ideally positioned for the heel-and-toe maneuver.

Rear-seat passengers are well accommodated, with a reasonable amount of legroom and even decent headroom. Thirteen cubic feet of cargo space lurk behind the 60/40 split seats; that number jumps to 36 cf with both seats folded.

This is all just the warm-up for the fun to be had behind the wheel.

For starters, there’s a wonderful, new power plant, a 2-liter turbocharged four that makes 200 horsepower and belies its artificial breathing apparatus with a broad and flat torque curve. A high compression ratio (10.5-1) and direct injection (it shoots the fuel directly into the cylinder, rather than premixing it) give the four-banger more low-end grunt than we’re used to from a small, turbocharged engine, and by placing the turbo close to the engine block Audi engineers have eliminated all traces of turbo lag.

It’s a nifty little package and under normal conditions, the A3 is docile and well behaved, soaking up surface irregularities like a much larger car. Punch the throttle, though, and it morphs instantly into a street fighter, all snarl and snap.

Directing that power to the front wheels (the all-wheel-drive quattro system will come later) is one of two transmissions, a short-throw six-speed manual or the optional DSG (Direct Shift Gearbox) clutchless manual.

We drove the stick and reveled in its clean, quick shifts, but the DSG may prove to be the best gearbox of the new century. It’s certainly the best clutchless manual out there, thanks to its two-clutch setup, which allows it to pre-select the next gear before disengaging the active gear.

Upshifts are crisp and sharp, while downshifts are downright miraculous, as the engine-management computer momentarily increases engine revs to match the transmission’s speed for smooth and instantaneous shifts.

With either tranny, the A3 will accelerate from 0-60 in about 6.5 seconds. Top speed is an electronically limited 130 mph.

Not bad, considering the EPA rates mileage at 24 city/32 highway.

Although the A3 is blessed with the appropriate pedigree, it’s probably not the car in which you want to squire your elderly Aunt Agnes to church. With its short wheelbase and sport-tuned suspension, the ride, while not exactly punishing, is perhaps too firm for many riders.

Audi shoes the A3 in all-season radials, which soften the ride but impose artificially low handling limits. The $1,800 Sport Package replaces them with performance tires and I suspect the forthcoming six-cylinder, 250-hp, 3.2-liter A3 will wear more aggressive rubber.

Is this Audi’s moment to fly high where others have crashed and burned? Perhaps fun-loving Americans will get hooked on the pleasures of the A3 and in the process discover the benefits of the hatchback format.