2010 Audi A3 TDI

What’s in the driveway? Fuel-efficient fun in a pricey package. For fuel-efficient, we cite a 30/42-mpg city/highway rating. By fun, we mean exhilarating sports-sedan handling. By pricey we pause over a $36,875 sticker for this Volkswagen-Golf-sized hatchback. The A3 premium compact car is the only Audi to share its basic substructure with a less-expensive model from parent-company VW. That would in fact be the Golf four-door hatchback. Both are solid, polished driving instruments. Think of the Golf, however, as the State-U grad and the A3 as the Ivy League alum. The Audi oozes sophisticated styling, higher-quality cabin décor, and premium exclusives such as a huge dual-panel sunroof. And while the Golf is front-wheel drive, the A3 offers the alternative of Audi’s quattro all-wheel-drive. The cars have in common a couple of swell 2.0-liter four-cylinder engines, a lively turbocharged 200-horsepower gasoline unit and a fascinating 140-horsepower diesel. The latter motivates the Golf TDI and the car in the driveway this week, the A3 TDI. The letters stand for Turbo Direct Injection and denote the engines turbocharger and its system of injecting fuel directly into the cylinders with high-pressure precision. A turbodiesel’s raison d’etat is torque. Torque is the force that gets you moving; it’s the secret to responsive acceleration (consider horsepower the energy that sustains momentum). Torque is measured in pound-feet, and this little turbodiesel four generates a substantial 236 pound-feet. That’s the same as the A3 engine it effectively replaces for model-year 2010, a 3.2-liter V-6 that was rated at 18/25 mpg. And the TDI starts unwinding most of its torque at just 1750 rpm, barely off idle. All A3 TDI models are front-wheel drive and while the Golf TDI is available with a six-speed manual transmission and the company’s dual clutch gearbox, the A3 TDI comes only with the latter. Audi dubs it “S-Tronic” and it’s really a six-speed manual transmission with no clutch pedal. You can set the floor lever in D and S-Tronic acts like an automatic transmission. Or you can toggle the floor lever or press steering-wheel paddles to engage in manual-style gear selection. “Dual clutch” describes the transmission’s clever inner workings in which the next gear change – up or down – is automatically pre-selected. This furnishes shifts as quick as 0.2 seconds, far faster than any human or conventional automatic could manage. The A3 TDI in the driveway is black – Brilliant Black, notes Audi – with a sinister, aero-ducted nose, haute couture LED running lights, gorgeous graphite-finished aluminum wheels, and a black leather interior. Yes, it’s smokin’.

How much does it cost? The window sticker describes this as the “2010 Audi A3 2.0 TDI FWD S-Tronic” and lists a base price of $30,775. That includes Audi’s $825 destination fee. The TDI is the second-most expensive car in an A3 lineup that begins with the $28,095 front-drive manual-transmission gas model and tops out with the $31,675 quattro S-Tronic gas model. Audi says 40 percent of A3 buyers in the U.S. choose the TDI. The take rate is far greater in Europe, where gasoline is much more expensive than in America, but the advantages of torque and mileage translate freely. Standard equipment on the 2010 A3 TDI includes leather upholstery, a 60/40 split/folding rear seatback, rear spoiler, alloy wheels, and other exterior spiffs previously included in Audi’s optional S line package. Options on the test car include the Titanium Sport Package, reasonably priced at $2,000 considering it adds a sport suspension, 225/40R18 performance-tread tires on those “titanium-optic” wheels, and a black-out grille festooned with air intakes. Inside, the package adds piano-black cabin inlays and sport front bucket seats with suede-like alcantara inserts. Our test car also is equipped with the Premium Plus kit, another tempting deal at $2,000. It includes high- and low-beam xenon headlamps complimented by those menacing LED eyebrows, plus Bluetooth hands-free cell-phone linking, a lovingly stitched, thick-rimmed three-spoke steering wheel, and a power driver’s seat. True to its name, the $1,100 Open Sky sunroof option replaces most of the steel roof with a tilt and slide moonroof and a fixed glass panel. Finally, the $1,000 Convenience Package includes an automatic-dimming mirror with a compass, rain-sensing windshield wipers, and a Bose premium audio system with 10 speakers and a six-channel amplifier. With options and destination, total price of the 2010 Audi A3 TDI in the driveway is $36,875.

Is it worth it? Yes, mainly because nothing else nails its blend of eccentricity and gear-head cool. Face it, diesels remain outside America’s automotive mainstream, even though today’s versions don’t smell, smoke, or clack (well, OK, they do clatter for a minute after a cold start-up). Yes, you’ll occasionally refuel at a scary Interstate truck stop, but my goodness, this car travels nearly 600 miles between fill-ups, so if you can’t find a diesel-stocked suburban service station don’t blame Audi. True, diesel was averaging $2.89 per gallon nationally in summer 2010 compared to $2.72 for gasoline. And the TDI costs about $2,000 more than its gas-A3 counterpart. Frankly, if calculator logic is your No. 1 priority, a Golf TDI at around $24,000 is the better bet. But if you tingle for the cool alternative, the Indie-film equivalent of automotive performance, the A3 TDI is among the few cars that will scratch that hard-to-reach itch.    

What’s to like? Slam a door, shut the hatch, lift the cargo floor, close the glovebox -- this Audi’s bank-vault soundness augurs rattle-free motoring 20 years from now. It’ll be a fun couple of decades, too. The Sport Package A3 TDI reacts right-now and with utter composure to steering that’s joyously natural and linear. The ride is taut, though the car never loses its line in a bumpy corner, and it’s locomotive-stable on high-speed straights. The little turbodiesel takes a car length to awaken off the line, but once in its 1750-3200-rpm sweet spot, the A3 TDI is a humming rush of hair-into-the headrest acceleration. After a week exploiting this narrow but succulent power band, our ‘do was flat in the back and we had averaged a guilt-free 38.6 mpg. The all-black cabin is all-business, with richly finished, form-hugging seats and a steering wheel contoured to caress your hands into the classic 3- and 9-o’clock positions. Instruments and controls are simply arrayed and lit in crisp relief. The big dual-pane sunroof lightens things up – literally – and while its mesh screen won’t fully filter out the blazing sun, it’s perforated to promote a cool combination of shade and sunroof-titled ventilation.               

What does it need? A wider power band. Of course that would be contrary to the diesel-engine laws of nature. Still, a performance car that runs out of breath at 4300 rpm is a car that requires you to realign notions of performance. The S-Tronic’s behavior further confuses matters. Audi could demonstrate more trust in the engine-preserving instincts of A3 drivers if it reprogrammed this gearbox to avoid upshifting well short of the 4500-rpm redline -- even in “full-manual” mode. With so few revs to really play with, you quickly learn that manually manipulating S-Tronic best serves to induce engine braking and that the transmission is most alert in the set-and-forget “Sport” mode. Audi has done all it can to make back-seaters comfortable in the A3. It furnishes a contoured bench and an inexpensively hinged elbow-high center armrest. There’s just not enough wheelbase or roofline height to provide much room back there if you’re taller than 5-foot-8 or so. Similarly, Audi’s done remarkable work muffling wind rush and mechanical noise, but copious thrum over coarse surfaces seems the unavoidable trade-off for the grip delivered by the low-profile Bridgestone Potenza RE50A tires. We’ve mentioned the gravelly cold-idle quality that’s a fact of diesel life. But what’s preventing Audi from simplifying an automatic climate-control system that demands endless fiddling before you can manually customize it to your preference – and then cashes your settings and defaults to full-automatic with each engine restart? And a rethinking of that premium Bose sound system to produce less-pinched audio quality would be welcome.        

What’s Audi say? “The 20010 A3 2.0 TDI is rewriting the book on efficiency…as the only luxury compact with clean diesel (levels of emissions) as well as the only luxury car to achieve 42 mpg highway.”

What do you say? Those 40 percent of A3 buyers who choose the TDI are correct: it’s easily the most compelling A3, especially if you can afford the Titanium Sport Package. Otherwise, a VW Golf GTI with the 200-horsepower gas turbo and a six-speed manual transmission is the more rewarding iteration of this basic package. 

What’s next? The 2010 A3 line exchanged its 250-horsepower V-6 for this turbodiesel four-cylinder, partly motivated by the fact that Audi finally has a modern small diesel low enough in exhaust emissions to qualify for sale nationwide, even in super-stringent California and the Northeastern states that follow its regulatory lead. The TDI breathes some new life into an aging A3 design that dates to model-year 2006. No additional changes of significance are likely until the next-generation A3 bows, probably for model-year 2012. Reports suggest Audi will eventually expand the hatchback A3 family to include other body styles, possibly a convertible and a four-door sedan and may also use it as the basis for a compact-crossover SUV.  
Vital statistics
2010 Audi A3 TDI

• Base price: $29,950           Price of test car including options and destination fee: $36,875
• Size: 169.0 inches long, 101.5-inch wheelbase, 3,350-pound (est.) base curb weight
• Engine: 140-horsepower 2.0-liter turbocharged diesel four-cylinder; six-speed dual-clutch transmission, front-wheel drive
• Fuel economy: 30 mpg city/ 42 highway (EPA ratings)
• Warranty: 4 years/50,000 miles bumper-to-bumper, 4/50,000 powertrain
• Government safety ratings: Not rated under federal five-star system of occupant protection in frontal and side collisions.  

Automotive journalist Chuck Giametta has covered the auto industry for more than 20 years as a newspaper reporter, Executive Auto Editor of Consumer Guide books and magazines, and as Managing Editor of Iguida.com. This test vehicle was provided by the manufacturer.