Fast Lap: 5 Things To Know About the Audi A3

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In one of his recent columns, Top Gear host Jeremy Clarkson went on about luxury car makers not building small cars that hold a candle to their higher-priced siblings. We agree. Why can't one of the luxury automakers build a cheap car that's as lust-inducing as its more expensive models? Some say the smaller, cheaper car may cannibalize sales of the larger models. We're not buying it. The dudes that cop S-Classes and A8s aren't going to cop a car that's easier to parallel park. However, some companies—like Audi with its A3—have been building worthwhile small cars that bring the brand's high-class aesthetic to a smaller scale. We took the newest A3 out for a test drive to see if it's really as fun as it it reasonably sized. Read on to find out.

It's not quite a "hot hatch," but the A3 can handle like one. Sporting an aluminum subframe for lightweight stability, anti-roll bars in the front and back, and speed-sensitive steering, the A3 handles impressively through twisty bits of pavement. Like most Audis, the A3 tends to understeer when pushed a little too hard, so be mindful. If you aren't, the ESP (which takes the push of a button to turn off) will keep you situated. Of course, it's easy to push around town. Thanks to the speed-sensitive steering, you can swoop the wheel around with your index finger when parallel-parking.

The A3 was always an attractive, if not slightly awkward-looking car. To wring all the style out of the exterior, one had to dress it up with parts from Audi's S-Line of performance accessories. Now, the S-Line package —side skirts plus front and rear lip— is standard, giving the A3 a dope sporty look. If you want it to look its best, you can soup it up with optional 18-inch alloy wheels and Xenon headlights with LED daytime running lights. If you're gonna go in, go all the way.

We developed a love/hate relationship with the A3's interior. We loved the fact that it was basically a miniaturized version of a full-sized Audi interior. Buttons on the center console were consolidated to make the best use of limited space. The fit and finish were the same as the brand's more expensive offerings. BUT, we hated the space. As nice as it was, carrying four full-sized dudes was a bit of a hassle. Why? Because the A3 has less interior space (legroom and headroom) than a Honda Fit. We're sure the geniuses at Audi can figure out a way to free up some more interior room.

More often than not, we prefer to shift our own gears. Yeah, the new auto transmission can shift super-quickly, but we think we know what gear we'd like to be in at any given moment. Audi's Tiptronic transmission is one of the rare automatic transmissions we wouldn't mind using on the regular. You have the option to shift gears yourself, which happens crazy quickly; or you can throw the level into Sport mode. The Sport mode wrung out the 2.0-liter turbo engine as well as we would have, hitting the redline every time we pushed it. More power would have been nice, but 200hp proved more than enough for tooling around the city.

Audi claims 25 mpg combined for the A3. We found it to actually be a bit better, getting almost 30 mpg during our tests. And, no, we weren't babying the throttle. We took long-distance drives, short spurts around the city, and even took it up north to whip it around some curves. It won't win any awards for its fuel economy (that's what the TDI version is for), but neither will it drain your pockets.

By all accounts, the A3 is everything we look for in a small car. It's fun, stylish, and gets almost 30 mpg without any tricks. All its strong points are enough for us to forgive its oddly constricting interior. We just wish the price tag —which can run into the low 40 Gs—wasn't so steep. All-in-all, if you're a city dweller looking for luxe ride that's easy to park, fun, and reasonably good on gas, the A3 is worth a look.