We’re at a very strange, tenuous moment for cars and carmaking. See, as evidence, Honda axing its EV program even as the price of gasoline skyrockets. That latter pressure—thanks to a war nobody thinks will turn out great for the globe, not to mention the Iranian people—only adds to the nearly impossible challenge of making products that are cost-competitive.
And from the perspective of the car industry, that war further highlights that electrification is inevitable, because the last thing anyone wants is a product that, overnight, becomes 30 or 50 or 100 percent more costly to operate. Yes, that’s what owning a gas car could be like.
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Even if that’s not the world we face soon, the one right now is still super tough for carmakers like Audi, formerly a can-do-nothing-wrong luxury label.
But they stumbled back in 2015 when the first Q3 debuted. It was meant to be a ladder up to the zing and bling Audi represented at the time. Fan-kids who wanted, oh, that era’s R cars but couldn’t afford them could instead get a Q3. However, that Q3 felt under-awesome in all the Audi ways of producing that just-right combo of “EDC” machined-aluminum-analog joy, combined with Tron-like hyper-futuristic digital. Nope. The Q3 felt like what it was—a bucket-filler that the German bosses knew they had to have but didn’t sweat much over.
A Reset for Audi’s Smallest SUV
Jump to now, and the third-gen Q3, and Audi’s sure as hell reversed course. You can tell that every millimeter of this car (well, almost) seems special in all the right Audi ways. It’s way more than just a label. Especially with tech. Audi’s pushed that hard for ages, but now it’s finally coming at the entry end. And also: For less money than BMW and Mercedes.
Oh, and it’s worth mentioning that the finishes and interiors are finally sharp enough to cross-shop against the upscale vibe of Volvo, too.
“A lot of what Audi used to charge extra for, such as acoustic glass that makes this cabin a lot quieter, driver’s seat memory settings, keyless entry, wood trim, rear side airbags, and three years of standard maintenance all come gratis.”
Best of all, that tech and excellent standard safety such as adaptive cruise control, around-view cameras and parking sensors, as well as rear cross-traffic alert, all come baked into a small crossover that’s almost cheap by today’s standards, at $43,700. Which, by the way, undercuts the price of the top-spec VW Tiguan. (See more on that below.)
I recently had two good days behind the wheel of the Q3, and here are the highlights—and some beefs—about how and why it’s mostly a vastly better car.
Muscle And Poise
- Engine: 2.0-liter turbocharged inline-four
- Output: 255 horsepower / 273 lb-ft of torque
- Transmission: 7-speed dual-clutch automatic (new for this generation)
- Drivetrain: Quattro all-wheel drive (standard)
- 0–60 mph: ~5.5 seconds (Audi estimate)
One chief win for Audi is that its 255-horsepower, 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine delivers a very fast, 5.5-second 0-60 MPH time. But a perhaps bigger deal is that it operates on regular-grade gas—and that seriously matters at this particular moment.
What you can feel, beyond brisk acceleration, is the Q3’s newfound poise. This chassis is larger, and yet the car feels both more quick-witted and less darty. It’s capable, but if anything a lot more like Audi’s main rival in the BMW X1. Like that rig, the new Q3 drives about two ticks more engagingly than peers like the Lexus UX or Volvo XC40.
No Base Anything
The prior Q3 could be ordered in a few different trims, including with either a tepid, 184-horsepower engine, or a 228-horsepower version. Hardly any buyers went for the base powertrain, so going forward, Audi’s simplified their menu. Every Q3 now gets the same, more potent engine and the car’s just called the Q3 S Line, with options only around wheel packages (you can step up to 19s or 20s) and a few other bits of tech.
Not that you want for much: A lot of what Audi used to charge extra for, such as acoustic glass that makes this cabin a lot quieter, driver’s seat memory settings, keyless entry, wood trim, rear side airbags, and three years of standard maintenance all come gratis. Plus, Audi’s higher-zoot tech has trickled down to the Q3, meaning you’re getting exceptionally sharp-witted software such as Google Maps within the instrument cluster and ultra-snappy phone pairing, all in a system that’s far less fiddly to use than either Lexus or Volvo offer.
Personally, I would throw an extra thousand bucks to get the excellent, 12-speaker Sonos sound system and more powerful USBs (four of them in total, with the rear ones delivering 100 watts each).
The Transmission, Not The Engine
To be honest, 255 horsepower vs. 225 horses is barely 12 percent. But Audi ditched its eight-speed slushbox and went back to a dual-clutch arrangement with seven speeds. That’s why the new Q3 is 1.6 seconds quicker to 60 MPH, but more importantly, it’s simply quicker to jump forward for passing or merging, with a more eager gearbox that flies through upshifts and doesn’t reject downshifts near redline. In Sport Mode it also holds downshifts through corners, and steering wheel paddles enable a lot more cornering control.
Maybe the average Q3 buyer won’t even notice the paddles, nor engage Sport Mode, but they will feel the drivetrains eagerness. And what’s a little more subtle is that with its longer wheelbase, and greater width and stance, the Q3 rides more placidly around town and on the highway. It’s not as substantial as a Q5, but it’s now a more comfortable ride, which should matter to parents who might buy one, too.
A More Versatile Cockpit
This isn’t a big car inside. But it is wisely put together. Rear seats split 40/20/40 (the default in this segment is 60/40), which means with the Audi you can stuff through longer objects, like skis or fishing poles, and still carry two second-row passengers. Those chairs also tilt and slide fore and aft. That allows either more rear legroom (which is exactly on par with the BMW X1) or more luggage capacity. Slide that rear bench forward and the Q3 nips ahead of the BMW’s maximum luggage capacity. Still, at 29 cubic feet that carting load trails cars like the Volvo XC40, which is roomier overall and its maximum 57 cubic feet beats the Audi’s 50 cubes.
In real-world terms, a Subaru Crosstrek, which may look like a much smaller car, offers a little more maximum cargo room, in part because it’s a car-based vehicle with a lower floor. That doesn’t make the Q3 impractical. It’s decently sized, and 29 cubic feet smokes what you’d find in any sedan, which is why buyers flock to crossovers, and why vehicles like Toyota’s RAV4 have become the “default” format for every car on North American roads.
Smart Tech That Could Be More Upscale
Audi is following many other carmakers by revising the shifting mechanism in its cars. That’s mostly so that drivers can get a bigger center console, with storage for cupholders and phone chargers. Now, Audi’s moved the shifter to what they call a Command Interface.
That’s a hifalutin name for what amounts to a curved plastic component that sweeps around between the steering wheel and the instrument cluster. Sure, actuation of gears or, using the left appendage as a turn signal all functions just fine. And I’ll tell you that as rethinks go, this switchgear is both elegant and highly pragmatic. If you’ve ridden a modern motorcycle the hard-ish springing and feedback of everything stuffed into this system offers the precision and haptic precision that a lot of carmakers seem to try to murder with every upgrade.
However, from a bling perspective, Audi missed a trick. Audi officials neither confirmed nor denied that the Command Interface will come to future products, but my guess is it will—and when that happens it will be celebrated rather than veiled.
Takeaway: Should I Get a Tiguan Instead?
The $44,560 Tiguan Turbo SEL R-Line makes 268 horsepower and 258 ft lb of torque vs. 255 horsepower and 273 ft lb from this Audi. Meaning, yeah, Volkswagen’s version of the same EA888 2.0-liter engine is cranked that much further. However, VW doesn’t get the Q3’s nifty gearbox, soldiering on with the prior eight-speed, which probably explains why it’s still a full second slower to 60 MPH.
Also, it’s just plain bigger, with a longer wheelbase and length, so even with its slightly punchier powertrain, the Tiguan drives like the larger rig that it is, not just against the Q3 but also vs. its BMW, Volvo, and Mercedes GLA alternatives.
And, truly, to put a finer point on it, if you’re actually shopping in the Audi boutique, you’re expecting complimentary Champagne, not a swig of the Red Bull VW has poured into the hot version of the Tiguan. Yep, that sucker is fine and fun. But the Q3 isn’t just about an engine and gearbox that’s faster. At long last, it’s about being the complete package compact luxury crossover.
