# A3 Sedan Spyshots and news



## Travis Grundke (May 26, 1999)

Even more spy photos are finding their way to the web this week. It looks like we may be in the homestretch. 

According to UK's Autocar, the S3 sedan should launch in Shanghai, which makes me wonder if that means the A3 sedan will launch in Geneva... 

http://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/scoop/audis-a3-saloon-spied-testing


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## Rudy_H (Jul 6, 2012)

This is what I am thinking more and more... 

A3 -> Geneva 
A3 North American details -> NYC 
S3 -> Shanghai 

Started thinking that after I found out England was getting it, and parts of Europe.


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## t.oorboh! (Feb 11, 2012)

how much different is the chassis of the sedan from the sportback? why the need for extensive snow testing of the sedan? just a way of building buzz? what a bunch of **** teases


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## Crocodile (May 21, 2009)

After releasing the new A-Class sedan, the CLA, at Detroit, Mercedes-Benz said that they intend to produce a Shooting Brake version of the ClA too, i.e. a wagon / estate version. 

This makes me wonder whether Audi will produce an A3 Avant version of the A3 Sedan. With a larger rear overhang, it would a usefully increased loadspace in a very compact bodyshell. 

I guess wagons are of less interest to US buyers, but here in Europe we love 'em.


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## Rudy_H (Jul 6, 2012)

Crocodile said:


> After releasing the new A-Class sedan, the CLA, at Detroit, Mercedes-Benz said that they intend to produce a Shooting Brake version of the ClA too, i.e. a wagon / estate version.
> 
> This makes me wonder whether Audi will produce an A3 Avant version of the A3 Sedan. With a larger rear overhang, it would a usefully increased loadspace in a very compact bodyshell.
> 
> I guess wagons are of less interest to US buyers, but here in Europe we love 'em.


 http://www.motorauthority.com/news/1081917_audi-a3-allroad-in-the-works-report 

I didn't want to post this... 
Would rather get the Sportback IMO, but I can see this easily coming to the US instead of the Sportback...unfortunately...hopefully it's squashed because of the Q3, making room for the Sportback


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## Travis Grundke (May 26, 1999)

t.oorboh! said:


> how much different is the chassis of the sedan from the sportback? why the need for extensive snow testing of the sedan? just a way of building buzz? what a bunch of **** teases


 Going off of memory here, the cars are essentially the same from the nose to the A - pillar and then completely distinct from there. I also believe that the sedan is slightly wider and lower to the ground. 

Mechanically the cars will be virtually identical. The sheet metal and wheelbase differ. It's enough of a difference to essentially be different cars. 

Timing probably has more to do with production facility preparation (it will initially be built in Gyor, Hungary, currently undergoing expansion - ostensibly for the sedan and will start volume production in May), marketing preparation and dealer training.


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## brookside (Jan 11, 2012)

t.oorboh! said:


> how much different is the chassis of the sedan from the sportback? why the need for extensive snow testing of the sedan? just a way of building buzz? what a bunch of **** teases


 I suspect this is a U.S. or Chinese version of the A3 sedan, thus a whole new round 
of tests for regulatory compliance.


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## LWNY (Jul 30, 2008)

brookside said:


> I suspect this is a U.S. or Chinese version of the A3 sedan, thus a whole new round
> of tests for regulatory compliance.


 If they are going to have the A3 for china, it will have to be an A3L version...for the lower ranked party officials.


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## [email protected] (Apr 9, 2004)

I have the same set of shots that we just ran. Sorry. These came in while we were in Daytona last week so am just getting them up now.

More HERE: http://fourtitude.com/news/audi-rum...ed-audi-a3-sedan-test-mule-making-its-rounds/


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## Rudy_H (Jul 6, 2012)

Well at least we know its not coming out in Chicago...NYC!!!

Level 3 of the JAVITS CONVENTION CENTER tucked right beside Porsche


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## caliatenza (Dec 10, 2006)

any updates on the US release date?


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## kevlartoronto (Jun 10, 2012)

No updates. This is painful. I'm looking for a new car and all of the new sport sedans have failed for me thus far. Q50 has the same old gas guzzling v6 and no manual, lexus IS is incredibly ugly and no manual, bmw 328d is going to be auto only, mercedes cla auto and fwd only until next year, Mazda 6 is just too big, Audi please give us a manual a3 Quattro or diesel!


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## Travis Grundke (May 26, 1999)

kevlartoronto said:


> No updates. This is painful. I'm looking for a new car and all of the new sport sedans have failed for me thus far. Q50 has the same old gas guzzling v6 and no manual, lexus IS is incredibly ugly and no manual, bmw 328d is going to be auto only, mercedes cla auto and fwd only until next year, Mazda 6 is just too big, Audi please give us a manual a3 Quattro or diesel!


Keep in mind that A3 quattros are not that common even in Europe. In fact, I believe that right now the only quattro configuration that is widely available is the 1.8TFSI + S-Tronic. The 1.8TFSI+Quattro+6MT was recently pulled from the UK for some unknown reason, and I believe that while there is a TDI + 6MT + Quattro config it is a rare bird indeed.

If you're planning ahead, put your money on the only 6MT+Quattro configuration in North America being the S3. Audi knows that the enthusiast market wants it and they know we'll pay for it. Otherwise, were I a dealership looking to stock inventory you wouldn't be able to give me that powertrain configuration.


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## Eurofan4eva (Aug 21, 2002)

Is it just me or does anyone else ever wonder why AWD isn't standard on every Audi model? Audi needs to take a page from Subaru's playbook and make AWD standard. Would anyone here even consider buying an Audi thats not AWD? It shouldn't even be on the options list, drives me nuts!


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## VWNCC (Jan 12, 2010)

Eurofan4eva said:


> Is it just me or does anyone else ever wonder why AWD isn't standard on every Audi model? Audi needs to take a page from Subaru's playbook and make AWD standard. Would anyone here even consider buying an Audi thats not AWD? It shouldn't even be on the options list, drives me nuts!


It is all about capturing more of the "entry" luxury market. It is a no brainer for Audi to offer a FWD version and sell it for roughly 2-3k less to capture those who can't really tell the difference between FWD and AWD.


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## caliatenza (Dec 10, 2006)

kevlartoronto said:


> No updates. This is painful. I'm looking for a new car and all of the new sport sedans have failed for me thus far. Q50 has the same old gas guzzling v6 and no manual, lexus IS is incredibly ugly and no manual, bmw 328d is going to be auto only, mercedes cla auto and fwd only until next year, Mazda 6 is just too big, Audi please give us a manual a3 Quattro or diesel!


I am trying to decide between the Merc CLA and the Audi A3. The CLA looks hot, but the A3 seems like its gonna have more options and equipment available..ahh hard to choose!!


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## kevlartoronto (Jun 10, 2012)

my impression is the a3 sedan will be treated a little differently than the sportback version of this car. why? i think audi is looking at this car as an alternative to the a4, 3 series, c class and quattro will make this car feel more like a "grown up" or upscale vehicle. audi won't replace the fwd versions but if they want to reach up and steal sales from bmw, mercedes etc and become a true b4 replacement they need to offer quattro across the board. all of it's competition will have it including the cla. look at the launch of the 3 series last year. it struggled at first because 50% of it's sales come from xdrive sales now.


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## Travis Grundke (May 26, 1999)

Eurofan4eva said:


> Is it just me or does anyone else ever wonder why AWD isn't standard on every Audi model? Audi needs to take a page from Subaru's playbook and make AWD standard. Would anyone here even consider buying an Audi thats not AWD? It shouldn't even be on the options list, drives me nuts!


Two reasons: pricing and emissions/efficiency. The spread between a FWD and AWD Audi is between $2000-$3000. Tack an automatic transmission on there and now the spread is more like $3500-$4500 - not an insignificant amount of cash.


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## LWNY (Jul 30, 2008)

Travis Grundke said:


> Two reasons: pricing and emissions/efficiency. The spread between a FWD and AWD Audi is between $2000-$3000. Tack an automatic transmission on there and now the spread is more like $3500-$4500 - not an insignificant amount of cash.


i thought the awd option, when they were priced as an individual option, was around $1500. Usually, it is a level upgrade which contains other additions driving the price much higher.


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## Travis Grundke (May 26, 1999)

LWNY said:


> i thought the awd option, when they were priced as an individual option, was around $1500. Usually, it is a level upgrade which contains other additions driving the price much higher.


Yeah, I may be off a bit on my numbers, but even if you chop those down to $1500-$3000 total, that's still a big spread, especially when you consider that 95% of the units sold will be automatics.

I wonder if Audi will go the BMW route and charge the same price for the auto vs. 6MT?


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## kevlartoronto (Jun 10, 2012)

Travis Grundke said:


> Yeah, I may be off a bit on my numbers, but even if you chop those down to $1500-$3000 total, that's still a big spread, especially when you consider that 95% of the units sold will be automatics.
> 
> I wonder if Audi will go the BMW route and charge the same price for the auto vs. 6MT?


travis!!!! stopppppp!!!!! don't give them any bad ideas!! i'm just hoping they bring a manual either with the quattro or high output diesel. 

ok i'm going to say it. why am i getting the feeling that they won't be showing this car in geneva? :screwy::what:


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## Rudy_H (Jul 6, 2012)

kevlartoronto said:


> ok i'm going to say it. why am i getting the feeling that they won't be showing this car in geneva? :screwy::what:


Ya feeling the same...they just released info on the S3 Sportback to be officially debuted in Geneva, although maybe they displayed it a month ahead of time because there is a BIGGER announcement in the A3 line-up


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## Travis Grundke (May 26, 1999)

Rudy_H said:


> Ya feeling the same...they just released info on the S3 Sportback to be officially debuted in Geneva, although maybe they displayed it a month ahead of time because there is a BIGGER announcement in the A3 line-up


Word I'm hearing is that April in Shanghai is more likely than Geneva. That doesn't mean Geneva is out of the picture. The RS7 was a bit of a 'surprise' reveal at Detroit, thought not unexpected. 

Keep in mind that the world premiere of the D4 A8 was at a standalone event during Miami's fashion week back in 2009. 

On a somewhat related note I am also hearing that there are some supply chain issues with the new MQB product. Case in point is UK-spec vehicles are being delayed upwards of three months with the s-line or sport suspensions due to some component shortages. This may impact product announcement timing.


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## Eurofan4eva (Aug 21, 2002)

Anyone notice that the front bumper looks a lot like the front bumper on the RS cars...


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## kevlartoronto (Jun 10, 2012)

ok i guess we are scratching geneva off our list of potential dates for the intro of the sedan. ny and shanghai???


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## Rudy_H (Jul 6, 2012)

kevlartoronto said:


> ok i guess we are scratching geneva off our list of potential dates for the intro of the sedan. ny and shanghai???


I guess it's looking more like Shanghai now...which is retarded. 

Would have drove to NYC to check it out...not booking a flight to Shanghai. I guess in the end, the actual car won't likely be here till 2014 anyway...


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## kevlartoronto (Jun 10, 2012)

You don't think it will be here this September ? The NY show isn't until the end of march isn't it?


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## cyberpmg (Nov 27, 2001)

I think showing the A3 sedan may very likely debut in Shanghai. I believe Audi AG is targeting the sedan mainly for the China and US markets. If not there, then New York would make sense.


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## kevlartoronto (Jun 10, 2012)

http://www.carscoops.com/2013/02/audi-to-host-five-world-premieres-in.html five premiers? what's the fifth?


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## Rudy_H (Jul 6, 2012)

kevlartoronto said:


> http://www.carscoops.com/2013/02/audi-to-host-five-world-premieres-in.html five premiers? what's the fifth?


RS3 sportback and hatchback with our luck


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## Travis Grundke (May 26, 1999)

kevlartoronto said:


> http://www.carscoops.com/2013/02/audi-to-host-five-world-premieres-in.html five premiers? what's the fifth?


See George's post about the A3 g-tron natural gas powered Sportback. More than likely that is the 5th model they're introducing. It would make sense considering Audi is clearly making Geneva about alternative drivetrain technologies.


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