Audi A3 Sportback review

Few facelifts are so literal: the obvious giveaway here is the slightly higher-mounted, slimmer-looking four-ringed badge on the front. But there's also a wider grille and a new mock rear diffuser on sportier-looking S Line and Black Edition models; loads of new colour and trim options; and trick new headlights that let you choose from one of four customisable LED running light 'signatures'. As a feature, it's farily technically impressive, though it's unlikely to cut much mustard when you're justifying what you like most about it.

Perhaps it's no great surprise that Audi has chosen to avoid a more drastic restyle for one of its stalwart models, particularly when it wasn't in dire need of updating visually in the first place.

I'm pleased to see Audi sticking with a diesel engine in a car like this, which gives people choice on what kind of economical option best suits them. The list of manufacturers who've dropped them from their hatchback ranges – BMW, Honda, Citroën, Cupra, Hyundai, Kia and Vauxhall – gets longer and longer.

Matt Saunders

Road test editor

This remains a conventionally handsome and convincingly premium take on the hatchback formula. The revised A3 has more than enough of an opulent aura to mark it out as a cut above its Skoda and Volkswagen cousins – and that remains true even of smaller-wheeled, lower-specification models. It's very much a mid-sized car within its class, so it offers enough cabin space for growing kids and smaller adults but won't pack in people and luggage as the likes of a Skoda Octavia or Honda Civic can. And then, of course, there are C-segment crossover SUVs like the Nissan Qashqai, Kia Sportage and new Mini Countryman for those with a desire for greater space and convenience to consider – and plenty clearly are.

Of particular kerb appeal among the A3 line-up is the rugged new A3 Allstreet, which has no real off-road credentials but has the necessary cladding, raised suspension and softer damping to suit the UK’s knackered, hedge-lined B-roads nicely. Shame it’s not coming here, then.

The updated A3 comes with either 1.5-litre petrol or 2.0-litre diesel engines, all mildly hybridised and carried over from the pre-facelift car. There's a sub-£30k, 1.5-litre, 114bhp 30 TFSI entry-level model, with a manual gearbox, for those keen on value; and then the two 148bhp, 35 TFSI and 35 TDI models. Later in 2024, Audi's revised 45 TFSIe plug-in hybrid will arrive as well, likely with a significantly improved electric-only range.  

Meanwhile, the 35 TDI still stands up as a commendably long-legged proposition, with an obvious economy edge: 58.9mpg on the WLTP cycle plays the 35 TFSI petrol’s 54.3mpg, and that contrast will be starker still if you spend a lot of time at 70mph.