Audi A3 Sedan : India bound and looking good!

The A3 has long held promise for the Indian enthusiast market but Audi India has held back wanting for something just a little bit more before storming the Indian market. Say hello to the Audi A3 in its sedan form. The slapped on boot might just be that something more that could set the cash registers ringing at Audi India. The Audi A3 sedan was unveiled at the New York Motor Show with powertrain options including the 2.0 L TDI, 1.4 TFSI, 1.8 TFSI while the performance oriented S3 sedan, to be launched in a few months will be powered by the 2.0 TFSI making 300 hp!

Short overhangs and a sharp shoulder line set the A3 Sedan apart. Audi calls the shoulder line “tornado line”! The toranado line rises more sharply on the sedan than on the hatch and the sportback. Air intakes,the singleframe grille, the hood and the bumpers have all been slightly tweaked. There’s also a lip spoiler on the boot of the A3 Sedan. LED lights are optional.

The use of aluminium for the engine hood and ‘hot-shaped’ steel parts in the passenger compartment enable the A3 sedan to shed any unwanted pounds.

The engine options available are

1. The 2.0 TDI making 150 hp with a peak torque of 320 Nm
2. The 1.4 TFSI makes 140 hp and develops peak torque of 250 Nm. COD (cylinder on demand) system deactivates two cylinders when load is less for improved fuel efficiency.
3. The 1.8 TFSI makes 180 hp with peak torque of 250 Nm. Dual injection into the combustion chambers and the induction manifold enable sporty performance with Audi reporting figures of 0-100kph time of 7.3 seconds and top speed of 235 kph.

Handling on the Audi should be exceptional considering the engineering gone into it. Audi has taken effort to ensure balance weight distribution. All engines are tilted 12° to the rear and the front wheel suspensions are placed far ahead to result in a 60:40 weight distribution.

The Audi A3 Sedan has 16- to 18-inch-wheels; quattro GmbH can also deliver wheels up to 19 inches in diameter.

Audi’s new modular infotainment system (MIB) takes its place inside. The top end variants are equipped with MMI Navigation plus with an SSD hard drive offering 64 GB of storage, a DVD drive and whole-word voice control. A high-resolution 7-inch-screen shows the map image in detailed 3D graphics. The MMI Navigation plus system can interface with phones via bluetooth. The touchwheel is the input medium and its top surface is a touch-sensitive pad for inputting letters, symbols and numbers.

Audi S3 Sedan

A 2 litre engine employing Audi’s most advanced engine technology like dual fuel injection, exhaust manifold integrated in the cylinder head, the Audi valvelift system and a rotary valve module for thermal management makes 300 hp and 380 Nm!

0-100 km/h times shoot to 4.9 seconds compared when paired with the S tronic transmission and top speed is electronically limited to 250 km/h.

The suspension lowers the body 25 mm. Braking duties are taken care of by the 340mm front discs hidden behind 18 inch wheels. The electrically assisted progressive steering varies the steering gear ratio depending on the driving situation. At the middle it is less sensitive while towards the ends the sensitivity increases. The Audi drive select vehicle dynamics system is standard, and the Audi magnetic ride damper control system is available as an option.

The S3 sedan has slight changes to the bumpers, the singleframe grille, air intakes, exterior mirror housings, side sills and rear spoiler. The other distinguishing feature would be the four oval tailpipes of the exhaust system. The S3 Sedan offers sport seats, instruments with gray dials and trim strips in black 3D look.

The Audi A3 Sedan goes on sale in the European markets this summer with the S3 sedan to follow a couple of months later. India is expected to get the A3 sedan in 2014, but the US markets will be able to lay their hands on one only in 2015.

The base price for the A3 Sedan with the 1.4 TFSI engine is around 25,000 Euros.