Audi A3 Sportback 2004 test drive - 2008 hatchback

All photos Audi A3 Sportback 2004 - 2008

Saga about the PQ35 platform

Audi A3 Sportback
In 2003, the second generation A3 debuted; A year later, a 5-door Sportback.mers appeared: gasoline 1,63,2 l (102250 250 hp), turbodiesels 1.9 and 2.0 liters (105 and 140 hp).
Gearboxes: mechanical 5- and
6-speed, automatic 6-speed. Front or complete drive.
Complete: Attrabition, Ambition, Ambiente. Price: $ 29,00061,000.

Skoda Octavia
The first generation appeared in 1996. The debut of the second 2004, first with the body of the hatchback, then the station wagon.
Engines: gasoline 1.42.0 liters (75140 hp), turbodiesels 1.9 and 2.0 liters (105 and 140 hp).
Gearboxes: mechanical 5- and 6-speed or 4- and 6-speed automatic. Front or complete (for station wagon).
Complete: Classic, Ambiente, Elegance.
Price: $ 20 76334 271.

Volkswagen Touran
In 2003, Turan of a Mini-Wen compact class on the platform of the future golf v.
Engines: for Europe, eight options for gasoline and diesel and diesel 1.62.0 l (102150 hp).
Gearboxes: 5- and 6-speed mechanical or DSG. Front drive.
Complete: Basis, Trendline, Highline.
Price: $ 24 16736 760.

Thirty years ago, even in popular classes, there were quite enough couples of sedan and station wagon. Then the fashion for hatchback came. Cabriolets and coupe, who for the time being lived on their own, were also unexpectedly in demand. And now there are mini- and microvoen! And if at first the different bodies of one model were unified as possible, now individuality prevailed.
Therefore, it is no longer customary to talk about the model about the family built on one platform (see ZR, 1999, No. 5). With all the external differences in the machines, power elements of the body, pendants, transmission, motors and much more, hidden from the eyes are similar.

In recent years, most brands have united under the flags of several large concerns, and now the advantages of the platform are trying to implement in the corporate framework. For example, Mazda 3, Volvo S40/V50 and a new focus along with S-MAX were built on the Ford Platform C1.

The Volkswagen concern achieved the maximum degree of integration, widely using the golf base of the fourth, and now the fifth generation. Generally speaking, the PQ35 platform should be called Turanovskaya with this mini-van, she debuted in early 2003. In the same spring, she was tried on Audi A3 and only in the fall of 2003 the golf V appeared. Today, cars of four marks and five models, except these, still Skoda-Octavia and Seat-Toledo, are building on this platform. This row is ready to replenish Volkswagen Golf Plus/›Volkswagen Golf Plus, sedan and universal Volkswagen Bora, and later convertibles will probably appear ...
How similar are one -platform relatives similar? We are courageous to compare the incomparable: dynamic and bright Audi A3 Sports, a practical hatchback of Skoda Octavia and a seven-seater car Volkswagen-Turan.

The dissimilarity of the characters
The icy training ground is sprinkled with snow. Here we can walk slippery on foot, but you can ride anyway and sideways, and back and a wolf! Of course, the stabilization systems (they are on all three cars) try thanks for the care of the care, but so far they will have to be disconnected.

Audi conquers stability and stability on the trajectory for nearly two -thirds of the mass falls on the front axle. Even if the car is specially sent to the deepest, degrees 130, skid (in fact, backwards), it independently ceases to rotate and turns its nose forward! The car conquers a dense suspension, quick whole reactions, an excellent sense of the road.

A different thing is Skoda with a small gasoline engine for one and a half hundred kilograms is easier than A3 and is not so exquisite in management. Massive food willingly falls into a skid, from which the machine can be pulled out only by traction of the motor or ... a stabilization system. The advantages of Octavia are high comfort, a soft suspension, easily swallowing even large potholes. However, these are the nuances; In general, a reasonable compromise was found between comfort and controllability. A considerable and road clearance: 160 mm of the best on our roads and it is difficult to wish.
The tall, massive Turan is the most powerful and solid. Soft, roomy, it is unequivocal in slightly slow reactions and conquers the thoughtfulness of ergonomics and an excellent review. By the way, all three cars are adapted for Russia and have a very low noise level.

Plus-minus millimeter
Eh, it was necessary to take an umbrella! For the neck, large drops of thawing cars are falling on the observation ditch, from which we consider related platforms. It looks like the game find five differences in the structure almost repeat each other. The emblems of the Volkswagen, Audi, Skoda and Ceata located on many large elements located and indicate their full interchangeability.

For platform relatives, the distance between the axes often coincides with Audi and Skoda of 2578 mm. However, in the latter, the rear seats are deeper than millimeters for forty, hence a quite spacious landing in the second row. And the width of the cabin is 25 mm more. That's right, Octavia is more likely a family car, while Audi is a car for a driver. Note that the body of a five -door sportsback is something between the hatchback and the station wagon. Nevertheless, the Czech car exceeds it in length by about 300 mm. Almost the entire increase went to the trunk of a record volume of 560 liters against 370 liters of Audi.

You can make the car more spacious differently for modifications with an increased body volume, the base is slightly stretched (for exactly 100 mm in the tournist). So it was possible to arrange a couple more seats (option), where adult passengers are quite spacious. In the middle row, all three chairs have longitudinal adjustment and can be moved forward 165 mm. In general, Turan is a typical mini-wen with many boxes for small things and interior planning options.
Another parameter indicates kinship, although not so clearly close values \u200b\u200bof the track (the difference is due to the size of the wheel discs). The narrowest track in the most compact A3, the widest in a massive tour.
The coincidence of geometric parameters is not by chance, the pendants are identical to the smallest detail: in front of the rack mac-farson on a cast aluminum subframe, at the back of a multi-link design on a steel tubular. There are some differences between Octavia, for example, sickle front levers welded, two other cars are forged, although both are similar in terms of connecting sizes.
Other differences are determined by weight and dynamic indicators of machines and are found even in modifications of the same model slightly vary in the thickness of the spring and stabilizers of the transverse stability, the characteristics of the shock absorbers.

The issue of the image

Technically, nothing prevents the installation of exactly the same gamut of engines and gearboxes for all cars, but who will then believe that Audi A3 belongs to the premium segment, and will lay up to 60 thousand dollars for it?

A number of Skoda engines open a 1.4-liter unit, and the capacity range is relatively small 75140 liters. with. On our no longer a new gasoline eight -clad 1.6 l with a capacity of 102 liters. with. With ordinary five -speed mechanics, a reasonable minimum for pragmatics.
Another thing is Audi A3: the motors here are powerful and the most modern, and the gearboxes are as many as four. On a test car there is a two-liter 16-valve diesel with a capacity of 140 liters. with. With a monstrous moment of 320 N.Ms already at 1750 rpm! Together with a new three -speed DSG automatic machine with two clutches and formulating petals on the steering wheel, the diesel gives excellent dynamics in response to the pressing of the accelerator Audi simply shoots forward!
For a tourist, a set of power units is average: a weak motor is simply not enough for a heavy wagon, but very powerful. Stoster turbodiesel and six -speed mechanics are moderate dynamics, quite sufficient elasticity and excellent economy for the city: 5.9 l/100 km in a mixed cycle.

Cardan, reserve and other

Our pair of cars has all -wheel drive versions. Here one of the disadvantages of a single platform is manifested. The share of modifications of 4x4 is small, but a huge empty tunnel shares the salons of all three cars, including harmless Turan. But the configuration of the stern is different: if Skoda under the label of the trunk has a full -fledged spare wheel, then in the small niche Audi A3 is only a narrow docture. Turan does not have the fifth wheel at all, only a small reptile. In Russia, it is risky to go further than the Moscow Ring Road with this.

What else is the steering? Well, it is simple with it: the electric power not requires installation of the pump and a complex hydraulic system. And thirteen (recently there were only eight) pre -installations allow you to change the degree of amplification and reactive action, achieving optimal characteristics.
With brakes, too, no problems are a wide range of brake mechanisms and disks requires only wheels with different landing diameter. And the elements of electronic filling of cars are mostly coincided, and sometimes it is not easier for available versions, only part of the functions are disabled. It is cheaper than creating new, although not so smart equipment.

Panacea platform?

Today, it seems, yes. This is not a whim of a designer, but a requirement of an economist. He will tell you at what volume and duration of production, the range of models, the remoteness of factories, the cost in each of the regions of transport, raw materials, energy and labor is beneficial for a particular design solution, a large or less degree of unification. Recent trends are such that the share of intellectual costs in the cost of new products is increasing. And if so, it is more profitable to spend money once on the development of a universal platform and collect a dozen models in different parts of the world on it.
And what about tomorrow? Perhaps the platforms will cease to be limited to one class and will cover several at once, having received the opportunity to stretch in length and width. That is, they will turn into a set of standard elements, which allows you to build various combinations like a children's designer.

SUMMARY
Audi A3 Sportback 2.0 TDI HOME Dynamic Car, Otrada of the Sunned Driver.
+ Excellent dynamics, excellent sound insulation, accurate reactions, high efficiency, clear work of the gearbox, thorough interior decoration.
- High price for moderate configuration, small doorways.

SUMMARY
Skoda Octavia 1.6 MPI is a calm in nature and a practical car, well adapted to Russian conditions.

+ A spacious neat salon, a huge trunk, a large road clearance, a soft comfortable suspension, excellent sound insulation, a full -sized spare wheel.
- moderate dynamics, considerable price.

SUMMARY
Volkswagen Touran 1.9 TDI, like every mini-van, is more inside than outside. Very roomy, with all class virtues.
+ A spacious salon with many transformation options, a huge trunk, an excellent review, good sound insulation, an economical engine.
- High price, small road clearance, lack of a spare wheel.