Premium family car gets a higher-grade interior and on-demand features as part of facelift On sale Summer Price from £32,035
Darren Moss darren.moss@haymarket.com
AS RIVALRIES GO, the one in which the Audi A3 finds itself embroiled is even bigger than the film industry’s Barbenheimer.
You see, if you’re in the market for a family car with a premium badge, your main choices are the A3, BMW 1 Series and Mercedes-Benz A-Class. It’s a triumvirate with more awards between them than a bona fide movie star; the A3, for example, was named best plug-in hybrid for value in 40 TFSIe form at the 2024 What Car? Awards, while the 1 Series is our top choice in the class for interior quality and the A-Class is a previous Safety Award winner.
In an effort to edge ahead and claim top family car honours (from the cheaper Toyota Corolla), though, the A3 has been treated to a mid-life nip and tuck.
As with the best Hollywood facelifts, you’ll have to look closely to identify the visual upgrades.They include a flatter front grille, a reprofiled front bumper that’s designed to make the car look lower to the ground, and a new rear spoiler at the top of the tailgate. As well as customising their cars with paint colours and alloy wheel designs, owners can now choose between four pre-set styles for their daytime running lights, via the infotainment system.
Inside, the updated A3 gets redesigned air vents, a new centre console and new fabric inlays on the lower dashboard.These are designed to improve perceived quality – one of the few areas that needed improvement in the outgoing model – as well as making the interior appear wider.
There’s also a new, flatter gear selector design for the automatic gearbox that’s intended to blend into the centre console better, plus additional ambient lighting in a choice of 30 colours.
The roster of standard equipment on the A3 includes a 10.1in infotainment touchscreen, a digital instrument panel, wireless phone charging and four USB-C ports for charging other devices.
After buying their car, owners can order extras for it via the infotainment system, with features such as Android Auto and Apple CarPlay phone mirroring, adaptive cruise control and automatic high beam available to add. Users can either unlock those features permanently or have them available for between one month and three years, after which they will be relocked.
Audi says the short-term option might be useful if, for example, you’re going on
