Parting thoughts

Well it's history - my beloved 2012 A3 Sportback TDI was bought back on Tuesday. So after 4 & 1/2 years of daily driving, these are the car's strengths and weaknesses IMHO:
-The Drivetrain - The TDI and DSG worked seamlessly together
-The styling - classic sportback with sloped roof never goes out of style
-The build quality - The car had zero defects or unexpected repairs, and being manufactured in Inglestodt was reason enough to choose the A3 over a VW made in another country.
Climate control system - superb
Lighting system - excellent
Now for the dark side:
The seats - they sucked for a luxury brand - VW GTI seats are better. Couldn't order "sport seats" outside of the Titanium package. No electric adjustment for passenger?
The suspension - more progressive resistance is needed- I bottomed out the springs on demanding roads (bumpy and curvy) more than once.
The noise - road noise, engine noise and wind noise - not a quiet car
The hatchback design - the plastic "shelving" on the outside of the cargo cover eats into storage space and is designed for looks only
Uncontrolled regens - hated pulling into the driveway after a 2-hr highway cruise only to have the car begin a regen cycle.
Emission Controls - the car's achille's heel. My old 2003 Jetta with 90 hp had a more responsive throttle and got 50 mpg. The A3 rarely achieved 40. I believe lots of power (and fuel) is lost to the engine's attempts to clean itself as it goes. Too bad I couldn't do a DPF delete and tune in NY - it must make a tremendous difference.
It has been a great ride and I wish all my TDI brethren well!

i'm with you on the regens... would it have been so hard to allow for manual regens when convenient for the driver? or at least have a minimum speed threshold so it doesn't start as you just pull off of the interstate, or into your driveway like you mention.

seats aren't bad, imo, but you're right about sport seats being better.

haven't noticed it being noisy, but maybe in comparison to higher end luxury cars?

definitely going delete/tune if we end up keeping for the long haul.

enjoy your Honda!

I have owned many cars and the Jetta is right in the middle of the norm with the exception of the fuel mileage and power. Road noise is similar to many Hondas I have owned, a little noisy but tolerable. Nowhere near the wife's Lexus. Seats are fine with me but that is subjective to each individual, again compared to past Honda cars, superb in my opinion. I sold my Acura because I couldn't stand to sit in for long.

The fuel mileage and torque make the car rise above others. My wife's Lexus gets a measly 24 mpg, which I used to consider good. Powerwise the Jetta pulls better than the 3.3 V6 in the Lexus. Overall build quality is very good, a shade under other luxury marks but miles above most common cars.

I am keeping my car as I can't find one I like better for the price I would get out of mine, especially when you consider sales tax, licensing and personalization you have to do to a new car.

I am also gambling that the value will come back up once the scandal clears, or someone else like GM or Toyota will offend the masses with a new scandal of their own and erase this one. I figure both of them are overdo for such a thing, judging from the past.