Audi A3 In-Depth Review 2019 | Your next vehicle choice?

The Sportback. It's Audi-speak for 'five doors', the configuration in which most versions of Audi's third generation A3 family hatch were sold. This MK3 'Type 8V' model was first launched in 2013 but substantially updated in 2016 with greater efficiency and technology. It's the updated post-2016 MK3 A3 Sportback variant we look at here as a used buy. Sure, for the same money, you could consider buying a bigger car from a lesser brand, but after trying this one, Audi hopes that you won't want to.

History
Brand Loyalty. It's hard to put a price on it. Hard at least, if you're a consumer. Audi though, has no such qualms and has always confidently pitched this car, the A3 Sportback, as the priciest but also the most desirable of all the compact family hatches that the Volkswagen Group sells.

There's a reason for this, just as there's a reason why Audi brand loyalty saw a huge proportion of buyers for this car being customers who were satisfied with its predecessor. Explain to these people that the same technology could be theirs for several thousand less in a Skoda Octavia and you'll be met with looks of puzzlement wondering why such a fact could be relevant.

Though there was a five-door version of the original first generation Audi A3, a body style introduced to the range in 1996, this part of the line-up only gained the 'Sportback' tag in second generation form in 2004 when five-door A3 motoring was repositioned for a slightly more mature, slightly more up-market audience. This third generation 'Type 8V'-series A3 range continued that trend from its launch in 2012, Audi's argument that this Sportback version was more than just a three-door A3 with a couple of extra doors supported by this five-door model's use of a longer wheelbase.

Of more importance though, is the question of whether this is more of a desirable premium compact hatch than five-door versions of its two arch-rivals in this segment, BMW's 1 Series and the Mercedes A-Class. By 2015, with far-reaching recent changes having enhanced the appeal of both these rivals, Audi knew it was imperative to keep the appeal of this A3 fresh and up to the minute. Hence a package of revisions announced in the Summer of 2016 that created the much improved third generation A3 Sportback model we're going to look at here as a potential used buy.

The volume 1.4 TFSI petrol engine was replaced by a 1.5 TFSI unit in 2017, the same year that Audi launched an updated version of the top RS 3 hot hatch variant, with power uprated to 400PS. This A3 range in this updated MK3 form sold until the end of 2019, when it was replaced by an all-new fourth generation design.

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