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Audi A3 review - better than a BMW 1-series? - Design

Audi’s posh Golf is a massive sales hit and it’s not difficult to see why, though rivals drive better

Evo rating
RRP
from £20,365
  • Beautifully designed, impeccably built and competitively priced premium hatch
  • All just a bit too grown up and sensible, needs a more playful side

The A3 may be a victim of its own success, its omnipresence meaning you’re unlikely notice it, especially if you’ve chosen one of the more sober greys, black or dark blue on offer on the colour charts. Audi offers a wide range of smart alloy wheel options if you want to be different - and spend money and time on the configurator.

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What the A3 does do very well is look premium, it may be sutble, but elements like the brightwork and lighting signatures make this very obviously an Audi. It may lack the crisp surfacing quality of the new A4, but the advantage of keeping the car subtle, is that it still looks fresh, despite being past the halfway mark of its life cycle. 

There’s plenty of headlight choices, including full LED lights, Audi also offering exterior trim choices like privacy glass, a panoramic roof, aluminium trims, black packs for added personalisation. S line models come with the most appealing combination of options, for the best looking A3 you can have without stretching to the S3 flagship. 

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