new a3 sportback vs a4

[TerryF82]

Hi All - brand new member here and would like to get your advice on my dilemma.....

Ive currently got an a5 coupe 2.0tdi sline special edition in ibis white (19" wheels, park assist, B&O speakers etc) from 2 1/2 years ago as a company lease car. (Paying £450 per month)

The bit i need help with is what to get as my next car as im putting my order in now to arrive in march 2013 and ive narrowed it down to 3 models.

What Im trying to achieve is saving a bit of money but get something big enough for golf clubs, sports bags and pushchair etc as we hope to start a family soon (i know i know....)

1) a4 s line 2.0tdi in daytona grey £355 per month
2) a4 sline 2.0tdi black edition in daytona grey £375 / mth. (19" wheels, parking sensors front and rear, DAB radio, black trim etc)
3) a3 5 door new 2.0tdi sportback sline in daytona grey £260 per month

The only bit of the exterior styling of the a3 sportback i dont like seem to be the roof rails from the brochure (Im not sure if you can get it without these as an option?). Also I have read some negative comments about the interior of the a3.



I would really appreciate any thoughts you might have. Specifically if you think the a3 is big enough in the boot etc for what i need compared to the a4, and if the a4 is worth £100+ / month more?

Hope this is the right part of the forum for this
Thanks

 

[PjDali]

From what I've been told by the dealer in Edinburgh when I ordered the new A3 Sportback the roof rails are not standard.........seemed to be a suggestion from guys at Paris motor show that all new 2013 Sportback would have roof rails as standard but it would seem not to be the case.

I considered going for an A4 purely for the luggage capacity as my wife and I are looking ahead and prospects of starting a family but my wife felt it was just too big for her to drive

The A3 is reasonable for boot space I reckon as it has taken 4 of us plus loads of luggage for a weeks holiday across to Ireland but the A4 seems to have a cavernous boot in comparison. My dad has owned an A4 now has a Q5 and managed to get clubs and suitcases and all sorts of crap into that car and still had space for more.

If luggage capacity is one of your considerations I suspect the A4 beats the A3 fairly easily.....when you start adding golf clubs, buggy etc

 

[Vertigo1]

Don't know what you've heard specifically about the interior of the A3 but I love it myself. From what you've said about boot space though, I would definitely check this out on the A3 as it's not huge and could be a problem for you.

My A3 is costing circa £400 a month on a two year lease!

 

[gunja99]

I've found the bootspace of my New A3, smaller than the old one (New 2012/2009), it's just not that deep, and a little annoyed TBH!

If you wanted clubs + push chair + sports bag might be pushing it a little. I have managed just the push chair + sports bags in the old one. New one just feels smaller....

 

[TreborA4]

I've found the bootspace of my New A3, smaller than the old one (New 2012/2009), it's just not that deep, and a little annoyed .........

I wonder if you have the boot floor at its highest level rather than lower?

 

[gunja99]

They adjust? Will check that later. I thought just rested on the spare TBH, will check thanks

If it is like that, must thank you, as this'd be something I'm only find out when I return the car and be a little annoyed I'd lived with it for 2 years, heh!

 

[gunja99]

Thanks... I have now just made my boot around 10cm deeper all over... Why they got that?! Hiding more underneath.... pffft... thanks!

So actually, it's not as bad as I once thought.

 

[Vertigo1]

Yeah I thought the same at first - "omg the boot is small!", then I read about the moveable floor.

The idea is that, if you don't need the additional depth, leave the floor higher as it's easier to get stuff out plus it means the boot is level with the rear seats when you fold them flat.

Alas I've got the reversible boot mat and it doesn't fit properly with the boot floor lowered - bit of a design/thought fail on that one Audi!

 

[h5djr]

Thanks... I have now just made my boot around 10cm deeper all over... Why they got that?! Hiding more underneath.... pffft... thanks!

So actually, it's not as bad as I once thought.

I think the reason it is like that is so that, if you want to, you can put a full size spare wheel under the floor. On my existing A3 Sportback I have some Audi foam units to raise the boot floor and allow me to carry a full size spare. I often go on holiday to Germany and don't fancy a long journey through France on a Sunday morning (when everything is closed) on a space-saver or foam filled tyre and limited to 50mph if I did get a puncture.

It been standard on a Skoda Octavia for some time and Audi are just catching up!!!

 

[Vertigo1]

I think the reason it is like that is so that, if you want to, you can put a full size spare wheel under the floor.

I don't have that option as the sub fits in the spare wheel

 

[gunja99]

Makes sense really for a number of those reasons! Wonder what else I'll find out about the car! Heh! Think I've pretty much hi-jacked this thread though! Wonder what Terry is going to choose

 

[Vertigo1]

Discovered a few nifty things so far. When I ran low on fuel, the nav automatically asked if I wanted to navigate to the nearest petrol station. "That's nifty I thought", then I realised it was going to do that every time I got in the car. Turned that off quick!

 

[PaulAr]

When does the 8V Sportback come, or the S3 8V SB for that matter?

cheers

 

[MiT]

When does the 8V Sportback come,...

cheers

the lease company my company uses has this on the system to order, there is a date of Feb 2013 before the price goes up on the technology pack, so i am assuming this might a rough date for launch since they want to get all the pre-orders in before then.
Dont quote me on this, just my guess

 

[PjDali]

I've ordered a new SB and have been told it may be late Feb / March. Even it arrived in Jan I'd wait to get the new plate.

The SD based satnav is a no-cost option for SB orders until 28 Feb which I assume would have an effect on technology pack cost. New A3 brochure has info on this I recall.

 

[MiT]

I've ordered a new SB and have been told it may be late Feb / March. Even it arrived in Jan I'd wait to get the new plate.

The SD based satnav is a no-cost option for SB orders until 28 Feb which I assume would have an effect on technology pack cost. New A3 brochure has info on this I recall.

thanks for that, didn't know that

 

[Vertigo1]

I read somewhere (don't take it as read) that the required equipment for the basic SD-card navigation was included in all models as standard and all that was required to activate it was the SD card containing the maps and so forth, so this could actually be purchased separately at a later date to enable the navigation. Quite neat and might be useful info for some

 

[MiT]

I just got back from the local dealer.

New Sportback will be released at end of March (March 31st)

Also if you order before 31st Dec you get the Sat nav for free.

 

[Vertigo1]

A good offer on the nav but frankly I'd leap at the full Tech Pack for £1k until the end of Feb.

 

[PjDali]

I just got back from the local dealer.

New Sportback will be released at end of March (March 31st)

Also if you order before 31st Dec you get the Sat nav for free.

I knew I'd seen reference to the SD Satnav offer in the A3 & A3 SB Brochure somehwhere..........it's available until 28 Feb on SB pre-orders.

Page 53

SD card based is available free of charge only on new A3 Sportback pre-orders until 28th February 2013.

http://www.audi.co.uk/content/dam/audi/production/PDF/PriceAndSpecGuides/a3-new.pdf

 

[Nproctor]

A good offer on the nav but frankly I'd leap at the full Tech Pack for £1k until the end of Feb.

Have you used the standard SD based nav software? I'm trying really hard to justify the tech pack in a new A3 as played with it at my local dealer a bit, but just not sure I can. Am I right in saying the benefits are the screen is bigger, you get a 40 gig hard drive or music and the nav software has 3D mapping instead of standard 2D? Are there any other benefits? Thanks!

 

[Vertigo1]

Well as much as I love the full nav system, I couldn't really comment on how it compares to the SD card system as I've not seen that.

The screen is bigger (7" vs 5.8") but critically is much higher resolution so it looks a fair bit nicer. The 3D mapping is gimmicky in my view - it only works in major cities from what I know and I've yet to even be anywhere I can test it out. Frankly I don't even run my nav in standard 3D view as I prefer the top-down 2D mode as if I'm looking at a road atlas map. You get a hard drive as this is what they use to store the map data on, but only 10GB of it is available for storing music.

Maybe I should pop into the dealer sometime and have a play with the SD card system to see how it compares.

 

[MiT]

Have you used the standard SD based nav software? I'm trying really hard to justify the tech pack in a new A3 as played with it at my local dealer a bit, but just not sure I can. Am I right in saying the benefits are the screen is bigger, you get a 40 gig hard drive or music and the nav software has 3D mapping instead of standard 2D? Are there any other benefits? Thanks!

I had the exact same convo today with the Audi sales guy, he asked me "why do you want the tech pack?", i said "for the MMI controls", he said "you get that with the car anyway". I said "so whats the difference?" He said "bigger screen, better images, graphics, HDD to rip cd's too," he then showed me the screen in the A6 and said the normal screen on the new A3 (5.8") would be similar to this. You still can do all the same things as with the tech pack. Also the tech pack has the touch interface in the MMI control, i.e write out the letters on the big dial, which you only get with tech pack

so the question is, does it bring extra benefits to you? or could you spend the money else where?
defo got me thinking, maybe now i can spend it on colour or wheels.

Technology package. Includes HDD-based MMI Satellite Navigation Plus and MMI Touch with navigation data
(flash memory), electrically extending, high-resolution 7-inch colour display, high-quality representation of
the navigation map as 3D ground model with topographical map colouring, display of many sights and city
models in 3D, choice of 3 alternative routes provided, split-screen mode for route information (manoeuvring
points, points of interest on motorways, TMCpro on route), detailed junction map and lane recommendations,
dynamic route guidance (where available), voice control system (whole-word entry of address in one
sentence), additional arrow display in the Driver’s Information System; including radio with triple tuner and
phase diversity, flash memory for music (10 GB), MP3, WMA, AAC and MPEG4-capable DVD player which can
also be used for music and video DVDs, 2 SDXC card readers (for up to 2 TB). MMI touch: a touch-sensitive
panel on the rotary/push-button control for intuitive operation of the MMI without taking your eyes off the
road; context-related entry of letters and numbers for navigation destination via handwriting recognition with
acoustic acknowledgement, selection from address book, entry of telephone numbers or search for media
files; simple movement of navigation map and selection of points of interest. Only in combination with Colour
Driver’s Information System (9S6) on SE models