Audi A3 Sportback test drive since 2008 hatchback
Plus two doors and not only. Audi A3 Sportback test
The quickly appearance of a five -door after the premiere of the three -door Audi A3 was inevitable. But what is there to study the opening of the rear doors and a place for the legs in the second row? Yes, but not only. At the same time, the rear gates in Audi expanded the motor gamut and taught their Audi Connect system to a different level of interaction with the outside world. In addition, the organizers of the presentation very correctly chose a place to live on the five -door body: the azure coast in France.
It is symbolic that it was here a year and a half ago that they allowed to try the loaded RS 3 Sportback of the last generation. Nice, Cannes and Monaco are famous not only for the pathos of the local public and bohemian festivals, but also with chic mountain roads in the district. Thus, on which a good chassis will blossom like a beauty out of the Cannes boutique, and the bad will be blown away from the very first kilometers. Boldly? Yes, but the three -door A3 has already withstood the test of the twisted roads of the hilly Mallorca. Let's check if there were any new notes of character with a pair of rear doors.
As in the case of a single, the five -door looks more folding than a three -door hatch
For fidelity, we’ll go not somewhere, but on the famous alpine pass, Kohl de Turini, it was there Vadim Gagarin a year and a half ago boiled the brakes of the Superheatch RS 3 Sportback. Will a simple three, albeit completely new? Ahead of several tens of kilometers of the most beautiful mountain roads, offering us to a height of 1607 meters above sea level. Not just serpentines are real special stages of the Monte Carlo rally, which require a lot from the union of the driver and the car. The palms are cold and sweat is hail when you alternate the hairpin behind the hairpin, and behind the stone blocks, hundreds of meters knee -high -end cliff. The twisted languages \u200b\u200bare replaced by turns with a stroke well over a hundred, the foot of dry rough asphalt, and there is already ice in the upper sections. Do not fail, Sportback!
The first (after passengers), of course, the brakes will be pierced. Will you go up or down? The partner asked. Of course, up is not so scary that at one point the left pedal (our car with a well-known 6-speed robot S-Tronic) treacherously limp. But I still had a descent, and then A3 Sportback gave a surprise: over and over again, the brakes obediently besieged the hatchback flying down the narrow road. After that, it is difficult for me to imagine what needs to be done with the brake mechanisms of a sportsback in ordinary life in order to experience a lack of slowdown.
Sportback is easier than its five -door predecessor: the win was 90 kg (1,205 kg with a 1.4 TFSI engine), which is 10 kg more than the savings of A3 with three doors
Kilometers of rally dopes are an ideal litmus piece of paper for assessing handling. Here Sportback is completely indistinguishable from a more selfish version of the three. Just cling to the Audi Drive selector, select the necessary settings and go! I will quote myself: the chassis is described by three concepts: tenacious, understandable, safe. And there is nothing to add in a multi -door case. It is only a pity that most Russian owners will never know how great this machine actually is, how hard the brakes are and what responsive chassis are our typical concrete and Leningrades are not very suitable for this.
But they are quite suitable in order to hold the adjustable suspension more often in the Comfort position: in all other options, shock absorbers have a pleasant stiffness on good coating. But the soundproofing did not like. There are too many of it! When driving along the alpine paths, Shumka turns into an insulator of emotions of such a gambling machine, there is not enough moles of the engine and gurgling exhaust. But in Russia everything will be the other way around: in the Sportback salon you will not hear the melody of the Kamazovsky diesel and do not teach the exhaust of the elderly Ikarus.
The steering wheel with a flat bottom, as well as on the previous generation, is more suitable for connoisseurs of style than drives to twist and intercept the usual three -spacecraft is much more convenient
To the premiere of Sportback, the line of power units was replenished with two engines: the weakest and most powerful. The role of the first is assigned to the Volkswagen concern, which is well acquainted with other models of the 1.2 TSI with a capacity of 105 forces, and the second diesel. And not just a diesel engine, but a two -liter unit with a return on 184 horsepower and 380 Nm! For three, this motor, it turns out, is the top on it and focus. Surprisingly, in the case of this 2.0 TDI, the boundaries between gasoline and diesel are almost erased, except that the first longer spins, and the second is lucky. Otherwise, an amazing similarity of sensations: even, but assertive acceleration, order with vibrations and ... you will not always distinguish the sound! A cool diesel with a truly sports character, and only in the nuances a gasoline Sportback with 1.8 TFSI is controlled better: a little less than insufficient rotation, slightly more quickly than the reaction to the steering wheel.
But what about the internal space, for which many will buy Sportback? There are so many places behind that, sitting behind yourself, you can easily throw your foot on your foot. Yes, and the trunk, in comparison with a simple A3, increased slightly: 380 liters versus 365. The back of the rear sofa folds, sharing in a ratio of 40 by 60, but if you remove it entirely, then the volume of useful space will increase to 1220 liters. By the way, convenient LEDs of an elegant solution are built into the latches of the cargo compartment on the side walls on the side walls!
At the summer premiere of the three -door A3, the developers did not hide pride for the next revision of the MMI on -board system and promised to make it even more smart and sociable in the near future. Not deceived! Firstly, the navigation that uses the pictures of the Google Earth service made friends with another Google Street View product. Now, when traveling the intermediate points of the route, you can verify what is happening outside the window with a control image on the navigation screen of a kind of area of \u200b\u200bthe terrain. And at dinner, I had the opportunity to try an engineer responsible for navigation: he admitted that the next step would be a single line of entry of an object like a search engine window on the Internet, so finding a destination will become much easier.
The functionality of the Audi Connect system (more about it in the article of iron and gadgets of the new Audi A3) finally brought to a really decent level: now the driver can read the news (including from social networks), watch traffic jams, schedule of aircraft and trains, and also find out About the presence and cost of fuel, and the system itself is aware of what burning is required. In this form, MMI is already encroaching on the territory where smartphones are being ruleed. And this is probably not bad, because it is more convenient and safer if you use it wisely. For the rest of the Internet functional, there is an on-board access point that successfully distributes the Internet to passengers. When looking at the list of available entertainment on board, the question asked by itself: will there be games? Audi engineers responded categorical to this.
In the first generation, the five -door car did not have a sportback prefix this name began to be used only starting with the second generation
Having traveled to A3 Sportback after the new golf, which I tested after the three -door A3 again, I finally got confused. Is A3 Sportback much better than golf? And is it better at all? Tie my eyes and let me behind the wheel of any of the cars, I hardly guess the brand. The MQB platform is very good, which body is not dressed on it, and the units are configured at the nuances level. And all the more interesting it will be soon guaranteed the third SEAT Leon nozzle. Sportback did not present surprises, and this is in this case a plus. It’s just that now the A3 has a more solid form factor, more convenience for rear passengers, a couple of extreme engines and is capable of using time on the Internet. Five doors are waiting for RS 3!
Text: Dmitry Laskov
Photos of Audi
Kohl de Turini
At any fan of the rally, at the mention of Monte Carlo, the picture immediately pops up in the memory of how combat vehicles cut the darkness of the light of the light of additional headlights and effectively shoot with exhaust, sliding along narrow serpentines between the rocks and the abyss. And the most cult section is the famous mountain pass Kol de Turini, which is rightfully among the most interesting and dangerous roads in the world. Needless to say, any driver who accidentally or specially turned out to be nearby should visit there?
To be at the start, you need to drive only a few tens of kilometers north of Monaco to the town of Sospel. It is better to start acquaintance with a rally legend from here the site to Kohl de Turini rises uphill, so the risk of overheating of the brakes is less. Although the organizers of the Monte Carlo rally from time to time change the direction of movement. And immediately plant passengers with a weak vestibular apparatus for the sake of pleasure, you can be an egoist and overcome kilometers of dizzying hairpins, ascents, exciting turns, where only brickwork of the chipper separates from the abyss.
Fleaning Kol de Turini, who is located at an altitude of 1607 meters, you meet the painful picture to pain painfully. Unless life here, in anticipation of the next rally holiday, small pretty private hotels are empty, and there are no spectators in roadside snowdrifts. By the way, about the weather sometimes Monte Carlo can do without terrible snowfalls or insidious ice closer to the top, although it always takes place in January. But be careful even at the end of March in the shade may remain snow, which is slowly melting. You fly into a closed hairpin, and there is water!
After Kohl de Turini, the winding gray tape goes towards La Bollen, where the special strap finishes. By the way, the best ralists performing in the WRC pass this 31 more kilometer in 21-22 minutes. That is, the average speed is about 87 km/h! Of course, if under the wheels for the most part asphalt. It is curious that it is this special-stalk that is one of the most high-speed in the distance of the Monte Carlo rally and one of the pilots favorite. Here we need not only accuracy and skill, here you need a real courage. It is a pity that in the 2012 race, the distance was reduced to 23 kilometers, pushing the start of the town of Muline.
But be careful, being here on the road car. Yes, there are few cars on the pass, but sometimes you can find some charged hatchback that cuts off the turn on the oncoming lane. And, of course, you need to make sure that the brakes will not fail if you decide to go down from Kohl de Turini to the college. In addition, the few local residents are already not enthusiastic about the motley caravan of rally cars during the race, and even when visiting lovers try to imitate them, they can call the police.
Source: Auto.mail.ru