ChinaBob
Well-known member
I’ve had my A3 TDI for a little over a month, and a little over 5,000 miles now, and thought it might be useful to share some of my observations. It’s a white Premium Plus with black interior (I wanted brown), and Navigation Plus with Connectivity, Driver Assistance Package, and Convenience Package.
First off, I like it. I’ve always been a big fan of small, well-appointed sedans, almost an oxymoron until now, and this Audi is probably about as close to my ideal as I am likely to get. Sure, it’s smaller than a Corolla, as one poster has pointed out, but that’s fine with me because it’s just me: I don’t have a wife, 2.4 kids and a dog. And the trunk is plenty big enough for my purposes: a couple of suitcases, a computer bag and some miscellaneous stuff. I am currently on a cross-country trip and can drive much longer each day than in my lately traded Passat or Jetta without feeling beaten to death. On the highway, the car hits its stride at about 80 mph, ideal for cruising the wide open spaces of the West. It’s a great car below 80, too, but it’s even better at or over.
The only problem with cruising at 80+ is that’s about where the fuel economy goes over a cliff. I’d been getting in the low to mid-40s (hand calculated) around home in eastern Massachusetts, but the higher speeds have driven the MPGs into the mid to high 30s, and even lower, on occasion. Perhaps a change to winter blend fuel can account for part of that. The discrepancies between the car’s computer and my own calculations continue to mystify, and there’s no consistency. For example, on two back-to-back fill ups the car’s FE 2 computer said 43.5 MPG, both times. My hand calculation for the first was around 37.5 and the second was 41.5. Go figure. The smallish tank limits the effective range to around 425-450 miles vs 500+ in the Passat and Jetta.
UPDATE: I just filled up at Ft. Huachuca, AZ. FE 2 read 45.9 while my hand calculation came out to 45.5. That's on a tankful that was almost all 80 MPH from east of El Paso. Hm. I fill it the same way, to the brim, every time. I am beginning to wonder if air is getting trapped in the tank sometimes but not others. I can't think of anything else that would account for such a lack of consistency between the car's computer and the hand calculations.
Only one problem so far, and it’s a true first world problem: the online audio streaming packs up arbitrarily and for long periods of time. It didn’t work when I first got the car. Took it to the dealer who said it worked fine, and sure enough, it worked fine … for a few weeks. Then it quit again in Missouri only to come back to life a week or so later in Texas. Everything else with the WiFi connection works great: I can surf the web, stream audio from my smartphone via the Bluetooth, etc., only the Audi streaming doesn’t work, until it does again.
Took it to the Audi dealer in El Paso for its 5000 mile service and mentioned the WiFi problem. Not only couldn’t they fix the WiFi, this was the first A3 TDI they’d seen and they didn’t even have an oil filter for it, so no 5000 mile service either. I’ll try Tucson this week.
Not so petty peeves:
Unlike any other car I have ever owned, or heard of, the sun visor can’t be extended when you want to block the sun from the driver’s or passenger’s side windows. Really annoying. Solution 1: buy a Jetta. Solution 2: get one of those floppy hats birdwatchers wear. Might look funny, but it works great and I needed one anyway.
Visibility out the back: both on the road and backing up. Large blind spots and lots of neck craning backing out of parking spaces. Solution: get the Driver Assistance Package. $1400 is a lot of money for a back-up camera, but the DAP also includes a blind spot monitor for both right and left, and four electronic curb feelers fore and aft with an MMI diagram to let you know where you are too close to something. Just having the blind spot monitor makes the $1400 seems a lot more reasonable.
Would I buy an A3 TDI again? Definitely, but this time I’d go for a Prestige, white with brown interior and all the bells and whistles. The options I got are impressive so I'd like to find out how good the rest are.
First off, I like it. I’ve always been a big fan of small, well-appointed sedans, almost an oxymoron until now, and this Audi is probably about as close to my ideal as I am likely to get. Sure, it’s smaller than a Corolla, as one poster has pointed out, but that’s fine with me because it’s just me: I don’t have a wife, 2.4 kids and a dog. And the trunk is plenty big enough for my purposes: a couple of suitcases, a computer bag and some miscellaneous stuff. I am currently on a cross-country trip and can drive much longer each day than in my lately traded Passat or Jetta without feeling beaten to death. On the highway, the car hits its stride at about 80 mph, ideal for cruising the wide open spaces of the West. It’s a great car below 80, too, but it’s even better at or over.
The only problem with cruising at 80+ is that’s about where the fuel economy goes over a cliff. I’d been getting in the low to mid-40s (hand calculated) around home in eastern Massachusetts, but the higher speeds have driven the MPGs into the mid to high 30s, and even lower, on occasion. Perhaps a change to winter blend fuel can account for part of that. The discrepancies between the car’s computer and my own calculations continue to mystify, and there’s no consistency. For example, on two back-to-back fill ups the car’s FE 2 computer said 43.5 MPG, both times. My hand calculation for the first was around 37.5 and the second was 41.5. Go figure. The smallish tank limits the effective range to around 425-450 miles vs 500+ in the Passat and Jetta.
UPDATE: I just filled up at Ft. Huachuca, AZ. FE 2 read 45.9 while my hand calculation came out to 45.5. That's on a tankful that was almost all 80 MPH from east of El Paso. Hm. I fill it the same way, to the brim, every time. I am beginning to wonder if air is getting trapped in the tank sometimes but not others. I can't think of anything else that would account for such a lack of consistency between the car's computer and the hand calculations.
Only one problem so far, and it’s a true first world problem: the online audio streaming packs up arbitrarily and for long periods of time. It didn’t work when I first got the car. Took it to the dealer who said it worked fine, and sure enough, it worked fine … for a few weeks. Then it quit again in Missouri only to come back to life a week or so later in Texas. Everything else with the WiFi connection works great: I can surf the web, stream audio from my smartphone via the Bluetooth, etc., only the Audi streaming doesn’t work, until it does again.
Took it to the Audi dealer in El Paso for its 5000 mile service and mentioned the WiFi problem. Not only couldn’t they fix the WiFi, this was the first A3 TDI they’d seen and they didn’t even have an oil filter for it, so no 5000 mile service either. I’ll try Tucson this week.
Not so petty peeves:
Unlike any other car I have ever owned, or heard of, the sun visor can’t be extended when you want to block the sun from the driver’s or passenger’s side windows. Really annoying. Solution 1: buy a Jetta. Solution 2: get one of those floppy hats birdwatchers wear. Might look funny, but it works great and I needed one anyway.
Visibility out the back: both on the road and backing up. Large blind spots and lots of neck craning backing out of parking spaces. Solution: get the Driver Assistance Package. $1400 is a lot of money for a back-up camera, but the DAP also includes a blind spot monitor for both right and left, and four electronic curb feelers fore and aft with an MMI diagram to let you know where you are too close to something. Just having the blind spot monitor makes the $1400 seems a lot more reasonable.
Would I buy an A3 TDI again? Definitely, but this time I’d go for a Prestige, white with brown interior and all the bells and whistles. The options I got are impressive so I'd like to find out how good the rest are.
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