Julian Kirk reports back on our long-term Audi A3.

P11D: £38,105 BiK: 31% CO2 EMISSIONS: 130g/km MPG: 49.6mpg ON FLEET: 42.1mpg

Report 4:

The recent cold snap highlighted a chink in the A3’s usually solid reputation – the full-blast windscreen de-icer function is very slow. With every minute counting during a weekday morning with children to get to school and meetings to attend, having to wait for the A3 is clear its screen is a painfully slow experience.

I’m not sure if it’s because I’m used to the electric screen de-icer in the family Volvo, but it takes a good few minutes to get the ice melted. The problem is that’s there’s not enough blowing taking place – it simply doesn’t gust with enough gusto.

It’s a rare thumbs down in my experience with the A3 so far, although the infotainment system continues to frustrate thanks to its myriad screen alerts, which you have to respond to in order to access functions such as navigation.

On the plus side, the A3 offers affordable motoring – I’ve just filled her to the brim from empty and it took just under 45 litres of unleaded. That’s £60.50 for a real-world range of nearly 500 miles… Of course, a home-charged EV will be much cheaper, but if it’s charged in public that gap will be an awful lot smaller.

There’s a lot to recommend with the revised A3 family, although I don’t think my money would go towards our test car – I’d save £2,500 and drop down a trim level and plump for an S Line with this engine and gearbox – affordable, well-built and with the right badge cachet to appeal to middle management user-choosers.

Report 3:

I find it strange how many people still focus on the list price of a car, rather than taking the more holistic view of looking at monthly costs – after all, how many people actually buy a car outright these days?

I was chatting with a friend who has ordered a new A3 in S line trim; he wanted the Black Edition looks of my car but thought the £1,700 extra charged at the front end over ‘his’ S line wasn’t worth the outlay.

I can see his point, to a certain extent – it’s a lot of money for some black exterior trim and fancy alloys – but in terms of monthly finance payments there’s little in it. ‘My’ A3 costs around £430 a month on a three-year/60,000-mile lease deal, compared to around £410 for an S line.

For my friend, an extra £20 a month is not going to leave him penniless and, when I told him that there really wouldn’t be much in it on monthly payments, he seemed almost surprised.

I did console him with the news that his car on slightly smaller 18-inch alloys will be a little more forgiving on UK roads. I guess he’ll find out in about six months’ time when his car is ready, which seems a long time to wait for a fairly prosaic mid-size hatchback.

Elsewhere, fuel economy is ticking up and I’m nudging a 40mpg average, which is impressive given the mainly urban driving I do.

I’ve also had time to adapt to the gearbox, which I initially didn’t like as it seemed so sluggish to respond to inputs. This DSG unit really works best with much lighter throttle inputs, such as when trying to get out of a junction quickly – floor it and you sit there with wheelspin and the faint whiff of being a tragic middle-aged boy racer; more gently yields quicker results without the tyre-smoking embarrassment.

Report 2:

A month or so living with our A3 leads me to believe it is the sweetspot in the range thanks to its combination of style, performance and affordability.

For a start, its ‘S3-lite’ looks really appeal in Black Edition trim – the black styling accents and the graphite grey wheels make it look like the full house S3, but at a more affordable level.

And while its 148hp 1.5-litre engine can’t compete with the all-singing S3’s turbocharged 328hp 2.0-litre, it has enough get up and go for everyday use. (And it’s nearly £10,000 cheaper at the front end).

Of course, the plug-in hybrid A3 is probably the best route to go down for a cost-conscious driver, but for a user-chooser who wants looks and performance at an affordable level, our Black Edition A3 is a decent compromise.

Talking of compromises, potential buyers need to be aware that the great looking 19-inch alloy wheels and low profile tyres do generate plenty of road noise, so this model probably isn’t the best choice if your driving involves a lot of motorway work.

Other quibbles? A piece of plastic trim surrounding the gear selector has worked loose (very un-Audi like) and there is a sporadic engine warning light relating to an emission control function. I’m not sure if it really is a fault in the emissions system, or simply a problem in the dashboard because it will show up for a journey and then disappear for weeks. However, I’ll be getting it booked in at my local dealer for a check.

Report 1:

Away from the headline-grabbing hype generated by the e-tron electric model range, Audi’s stalwart A3 family has recently received a thorough refresh. A perennial favourite company car of middle management, the revised A3 brings fresh styling outside and an uprated cabin featuring a new infotainment system as well as the addition of new driver assistance features.

Available in Sportback and saloon guises, the A3 range soldiers on with a choice of TFSI petrol and TDI diesels; a plug-in hybrid will join the line up later this year.

Our test car is a range-topping Sportback Black Edition which, as the name suggests, features black front grille, window surrounds, air inlets and door mirrors. Under the bonnet is a 1.5-litre TFSI petrol delivering 150bhp through a seven-speed S Tronic automatic gearbox. Initial impressions are good – the engine is peppy and eager to rev while the gearbox shifts cleanly and quickly. Out on the road, the diminutive 1.5-litre engine never feels wanting and cruises well on the motorway; the only downside is the tyre roar from the low-profile tyres on chunky 19-inch alloys.

On paper, the A3 also delivers – claimed fuel economy is nearly 50mpg (it’s too early to provide a figure from my driving yet) while CO2 emissions of 130g/km spell a monthly Benefit-in-Kind tax bill of £185 for a base rate taxpayer.

Options on our car are limited – the fetching Navarra blue metallic paint is £595 and the Technology Pack (£1,495) brings a reversing camera, a head-up display, adaptive cruise assist and a Sonos premium audio system. Strangely, there’s no keyless entry fitted as standard or as part of this pack.

After a few hundred miles, the A3 already feels like a car I’m going to enjoy living with – practical, good looking, quick and easy on the wallet.