Gadgetory

so what is the Audi q3 well actually it's kind of nice compared to the mercedes-benz GLA for example it's extremely quiet you get a bit of engine noise coming through from the 2-liter but not a whole lot of Road and wind noise it's a very well insulated vehicle and the ride is very comfortable where the Mercedes is a bit stiffly sprung and bumpy over city streets the upright and vertical seating position takes a little bit of getting used to for me feels a bit weird almost like I'm sitting on top of an Audi a3 as opposed to inside of a q3 but at all seating position in a commanding view of the road are sort of the point of this class and so it's very easy to really get used to and appreciate like a better view of the road around you and ahead of you then of course we've got outie technology which is a bit of a mixed bag at this price point for Audi you've got a bunch of really nice things like they're very powerful I'm in my dashboard technology that's going to pack a whole lot of very crisp graphics and snappy performance into a very neat and well-organized package the a3 comes with a dashboard controller as opposed to the console controller that you'll find on some about 'higher in sedans things are a little bit more spread out and it's all just a bit clunky also it sort of seems like you have to rotate the knob the wrong direction to scroll through lists it's just very counterintuitive the way they've got things set up there and then of course in the center console we've got the proprietary outing in my connection which is a pain in the ass because how to keep sending it to us with the 30-pin dock connector as opposed to a lightning or USB connector that's a minor annoyance for a reviewer like me but in a household that has multiple phones that use different connections I think a lot of drivers are going to prefer just a straight-up USB port what it's not is will the most powerful car in this class under the hood we've got a 2-liter turbocharged four-cylinder engine it's basically the same engine that you'll find in the Volkswagen Golf GTI but slightly retuned here we've got 200 horsepower 207 pound-feet of torque but this is a significantly heavier vehicle than the Volkswagen Golf GTI at around 3,700 pounds it's about 700 pounds heavier than the small hatchback so of course it feels a little less than a little more hesitant and even with our support package this is feel particularly nimble we've got a nice drive select button here that lets off toggle between sport comfort and automatic programs but generally they all feel more or less the same and that is a bit sluggish we've also got paddle shifters in a sport program on the automatic transmission which again don't really feel like they do much for the overall zest of driving if you're expecting driving dynamics from the q3 well you're probably better off spending you're around thirty five thousand dollars on a fully loaded Volkswagen Golf R you're gonna have a lot more fun with that vehicle and there's really no denying the map that more weight equals a whole lot less fun of course if you're looking for a comfortable small crossover to drive around the city that's got some nice creature comforts and a nice tall seating position well in my opinion the Audi q3 is a better buyer than for example the mercedes-benz GLA at least until the BMW x1 gets here later this year to challenge it the 2016 audi q3 is going to start at around thirty three thousand seven hundred for the front wheel drive Premium Plus model but this fully loaded prestige all-wheel drive with its mythos black metallic paint and Sport Package is going to roll off a lot at around forty one thousand eight hundred twenty five bucks