Published:
2 September 2024The 2.0-litre TDI motor was by far the best engine available for the Audi A3. The petrol engines were smooth and sweet, but they didn't add up when you factored in the price paid in fuel consumption, CO2 emissions, range and limited low-down torque, although the 1.5 TFSI Evo engine helped assuage some of those shortfalls.
Between the 1.6- and 2.0-litre diesels, the fact that the latter was 40bhp more powerful yet apparently would go just 5.4 fewer miles on every tank of diesel revealed all you needed to know. While the 1.6 needed 10.7sec to reach 62mph, the 2.0 could do it in a claimed 8.6sec. Our testing resulted in an 8.9sec run, but that was still a night and day difference.
The 2.0-litre engine arrived with the 2016 facelift and had an excellent spread of refined torque. It was only noisy right at the top end, around 5000rpm, but for almost all occupants almost all of the time, it was more than sufficiently refined.
The 1.0-litre TFSI, 1.5-litre TFSI and 2.0 TFSI petrol engines were all very strong performers, offering plenty of flexibility, excellent throttle response and consistent power delivery.
If buying a used example, we'd recommend the six-speed manual gearbox too, which was a typically slick mechanism that made smooth driving second nature.
