TrueDelta Reviews the Seat Room and Comfort of the 2014 Audi A3
2014 Audi A3 Seat Room and Comfort: Cons
Year
Comment
There aren't many clear reasons not to buy an Audi A3. In fact, there might only be one: the front seats. These are firm, flat, and unless you're quite wide they provide absolutely no lateral support. In hard turns I relied on a knee and the steering wheel to keep from sliding off the seat. In the base A3's passenger seat there's little lumbar support and no adjuster to address this. To get a power passenger seat complete with four-way lumbar adjustment it's necessary to spend another $2,900 for the Premium Plus Package.
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What Our Members Are Saying about the Seat Room and Comfort of the 2014 Audi A3
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TrueDelta Reviews the Powertrain of the 2014 Audi A3
2014 Audi A3 Powertrain: Pros
Year
Comment
2015
Audi offers the new A3 with two transversely mounted powertrains in the United States, a 170-horsepower turbocharged 1.8-liter four-cylinder engine driving through the front wheels and a 220-horsepower turbocharged 2.0-liter driving through all four. Both engines are members of the new EA288 family, and both can only be paired with a dual-clutch automated manual transmission, DSG in VW/Audi parlance. The 1.8 is quick, the 2.0 is quicker. Audi claims zero-to-sixty times of 7.2 and 5.8 seconds, respectively. Hard launches with the 1.8 induce wheelspin and a bit of torque steer until the electronic traction control kicks in. All-wheel-drive transfers power to the road with less drama, especially in turns.
Gear spacing could be a little better. At 40-50 mph, a good speed for moderately tight curves, second gear would shoot the engine up around 5,000 rpm, while third would drop it to around 3,000 rpm. Somewhere in between would be ideal. This isn't much of an issue, though, as the 2.0-liter engine readily rockets the car out of corners even when starting at 3,000 rpm. The torque peak of 258 lb-ft stretches from 1,600 through 4,400 rpm. So along the curviest roads I typically just left the transmission in third. As in other recent applications--VW has had years to refine this transmission--the DSG snaps off shifts quickly, smoothly, and decisively.
The 208-horsepower CLA250's acceleration roughly splits the difference between the two A3 variants. Front-wheel-drive struggles to handle the engine's torque, also 258 lb-ft, yet Mercedes has been slow to actually deliver all-wheel-drive cars. The Mercedes-Benz's seven-speed dual-clutch automated manual transmission, a much more recent development than the Audi's DSG, isn't as smooth or as responsive, and can seem unsure of what it wants to do.
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What Our Members Are Saying about the Powertrain of the 2014 Audi A3
Love the engine hate the transmission. TDI feels much stronger than the 140hp indicates. The transmission is ok while accelerating. However, while slowing it insists on massive engine braking. This results in a very jerky ride in traffic. On occasion, it will buck as well. I've had the "values" reset several times. Car will be nice and smooth for maybe a week then back to it's jerky ways.
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What Our Members Are Saying about the Tires of the 2014 Audi A3
None of our members have yet commented on the tires of the 2014 Audi A3.