Ride and handling
The Audi A3 has a front wheel drive layout, which traditionally hasn’t been known to bode well for exciting, sure footed handling and dynamics. The A3, however, hasn’t bagged the World Car of the Year Award for nothing – and we were amazed with the grip levels and precise steering offered by the A3 during our 250km long drive.
Our drive route comprised of some hi-speed stretches peppered with inviting long sweeping corners. Typically, a car with not so well sorted dynamics will put you in two minds about taking such bends while being on the throttle – for the A3, it was a piece of cake. Not just did the car offer great grip and body control, the electromechanical steering too was a delight to operate with its precision. It doesn’t have the communication, feedback and feel of a hardcore driver’s car, but with its weight and precision, it equips you with loads of confidence to attack hi-speed bends without lifting off.
Some viciously subtle undulations, which don’t matter at slow to medium speeds, but can put the car’s suspension under tremendous load at high speeds, were handled with aplomb. Even mid-corner undulations were disposed with utter ease, with no hints of the car getting imbalanced.
The ride feel of the Audi A3 is at its best once you have gathered pace. It takes in its stride expansion joints, wavy undulations and sporadic rough patches with utmost assurance. It’s sprung on the stiffer side, which adds greatly to its dynamic character and the ability to gather pace without any hint of nervousness.
The car features a McPherson strut front set-up with lower wishbones, aluminum subframe and tubular anti-roll bar. At the rear, you have a four-link system featuring separate spring/shock absorber arrangement with subframe and tubular anti-roll bar. Tuned immaculately, the suspension system offers a ride and handling feel which is something for Audi to be proud about.
The relative firmness of the suspension setup is evident in the way the car behaves at slower speeds though. Stiff damping means that bigger cracks in the road, ridges, crinkles and small potholes can be felt inside the cabin at crawling speeds. The ride quality improves commendably as you gather pace, becoming very compliant once you cross 50 kays.
We took the car off the road to a location which required us to ascend a terrain which was a mix of mud and slippery Mica rocks. The A3 fared incredibly well in clearing the obstacles, and in the process gave us sufficient evidence of its good ground clearance. Audi India have not released any data on the car’s clearance, but the experience had us convinced that clearing even the most vicious speed-breakers shouldn’t be a problem with this one, even with full load.
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