A week during which I recently spent conducting an Audi Q3 clarified once and for all that, against all pointing to the contrary, there is not a pro-Audi bias bone in my lanky frame
my father did not claimed that his grip Audi 5000 Turbo Quattro -. including a couple examples beige - and his red Audi Coupé were the absolute best car driver, but he never wanted to lead what everyone was driving. No BMW, not Benzes, no Lincolns.
All five of us kids loved the Audis. One of my older brothers and I claim that fixing unbuckled center seat belt was a microphone that we called home race between Bobby Rahal in the next Chevrolet Celebrity, Emerson Fittipaldi in the Ford Taurus up front and our father in the Audi. And what a race it was. Mr. Cain did not take it slow until the four-cylinder Subaru bug bit 15 years later.
With all my childhood experience in five hard-driven Audis, you can forgive the natural eventuality that my career as an automatic full-time writer, I would not be able to escape a pro-Audi bias. Im only human, right?
Or maybe Im superhuman, because try as I have sometimes perhaps for the bene fit of my father, I am not blind to the defects of Audi.
The pro-bias Audi father thought he was calcifying roots in me simply transformed into a desire to drive fast cars with manual transmissions. Certainly, as Audi jumped into the mainstream of luxury in North America with more reliable cars and a wide range, I had the opportunity to enjoy thoroughly weeks in S4, SQ5, S3, and A6 TDI. But they are not perfect.
supercharged V6 from the S4 is powerful, but its architecture B8 A4 was long in the tooth there two years . The SQ5 is a small crossover surprisingly effective, but its exterior dimensions suggest the interior should be larger than it is, and I immediately followed by a week in the SQ5 with a test Porsche Macan. Porsche showed the true meaning of "shockingly effective." The Audi S3 has been one of the best cars I drove last year, but its hard for me to imagine making the jump to the Golf R . And the Volkswagen TDI A6? Bliss, but you can not even b uy one of those now.
Ill be honest, I can not say if the Audi Q3 is terrible but the Canadian-spec 2016 Audi Q3 2.0T Quattro Technik, we tested for a week in early March -. that specific car - was a whole nuther matter from his. DAC base price of $ 36.395 (US pricing starts at $ 34.625), our test specimen added $ 13.450 i n options, an increase of 37 percent compared to the base price for all-wheel drive, navigation, joysticks change, sport seats, $ 800 20-inch alloys on 255 / 35R20 tires.
Yes, the wheels that are appropriately sized for a GMC Yukon on a small crossover that is seven inches shorter, bumper bumper -chocs, a Hyundai Elantra. Yes, the right tires at the rear end of a Mustang minded performance over a high-riding sedan.
Driving comfort is nonexistent. Never before have our two years of observations on the quality of driving a test vehicle, but in Q3, he accused all roads to be a rough road.
There are small blessings. The Q3 is not mounted on 95.4-inch wheelbase of a Wrangler, but a wheelbase of 102.5 inches, which ensures at least the front and rear axles are not struck by the same frost heave at the same time. But the low profile 20s, Q3 suffers both a busy round on all but the smoothest roads and a body that is disrupted by particularly disfigured portions of the roadway.
There are vehicles which are either; vehicles constantly and annoyingly you say the suspension works to reduce pitching and rolling and diving, but do not suffer with intrusion-joint expansion force and other vehicles which are largely made up significant failures result from a serious conflict between the wheel and potholes.
The Q3 fails miserably on both accounts.
Should we be surprised? Probably not. This is a vehicle which was launched only in North America in late 2014, but the Q3 is based on the platform of the Mk5 Volkswagen Golf whose production began 13 years ago. We do not suggest that the PQ35 platform has not evolved at a time when Volkswagen introduced a sixth and seventh generation Golf, but the lack of driving comfort of the Q3 20-inch shod is not the single line that looks like an old time.
There are no central console mounting for Audi MMI. It is mounted in place above the climate controls low. The turbocharged 2.0-liter unit is 220 horsepower from the current Golf GTI. It is a 0-horsepower engine that requires premium fuel and travels just 20 miles per gallon in the city.
Moreover, the Q3 is affected by the same disea se that oppresses subcompact cars like the Chevrolet Sonic, Ford Fiesta and Kia Rio. Pay a little more money and youll have much more vehicle. For Audi, the Q5 offers 20 percent more space for passengers, 74 percent more cargo capacity, 20 horsepower more, two additional gears in its transmission, and - as all- wheel drive - costs only 14 percent more (USD) as Q3.
therefore the rotten ride quality of this Q3 is matched by a rotten deal. Skip 20s will not change this fact. (In fact, Audi United States does not seem to offer the upgrade to 20 inches, wisely leaving the 19-inch alloys as the only update.)
The idea of ​​premium brands not to step down market sounds good - at first. Consumers believe they will get all the features that make a true E-Class Mercedes-Benz wrapped in a smaller body CLA Class, all the swagger of a X5M in a smaller X1, all Vorsprung durch Technik an S8 in Q3. Thousands of consumers accept the concept, but several thousand other s do not.
Too often, car examiners believe consumers are simply wrong. They buy too Altimas, we say with exasperation, not enough Mazda6. Why do they not give the Ford Fiesta ST at a glance, we cry irrationally, instead of hoarding Honda HR-V?
But with smaller utilities premium brand, it seems that consumers are generally get right. Seeking a greater sense of luxury, Americans are acquired Mercedes-Benz GLC 60 percent more often than GLA, bless their hearts. BMW USA sells 1.6 X3s for each Mini-linked X1. And in the case of Audi, the Q5 attracts nearly four times as many US buyers as Q3.
Pro-Audi? Nah, Im really, really, really not. But when it comes to Q3, I certainly become terribly pro-Q5.
Timothy Cain is the founder of GoodCarBadCar.net , which obsesses on free and frequent publication of US and Canadian sales figures of automobiles. Follow us on Twitter @goodcarbadcar and Facebook .