Audi A3 Sportback review

The relatively compact A3 Sportback range starts off at £27,870 for the 30 TFSI Sport, £29,480 for the 35 TFSI Sport, and tops out at £36,865 for the 35 TDI Black Edition with the auto ‘box. There are just the three trims to choose from: Sport, S Line and Black Edition.

What do you get with the trims? 

The entry-level Sport comes reasonably well equipped, with 17in alloys as standard, plus tri-zone climate control, heated front seats, LED headlights, 10.1in touchscreen infotainment, wireless phone charging, digital dashboard, front and rear parking sensors and cruise control.

S Line adds 18in alloys, sports suspension, privacy glass, some interior trim upgrades and fancy ambient lighting inside. The Black Edition car brings 19in wheels and a black exterior styling pack. That’s the one you buy if you want everyone to know that you’re flying under the radar. Ahem.

Which one should I go for?

We’d be tempted to keep it simple and go for the punchier of the two petrols in Sport trim, saving a bit of cash in the budget for some careful upgrades from the extras list. The £1,495 Technology Pack, which comes with reversing camera, head-up display, Sonos sound system and adaptive cruise control is well worth a look, for instance.

Specced thusly, if you stick 10 per cent of the car’s value down as a deposit you’ll be looking at monthlies of around £330 over four years. Obviously you might be able to shop around for a better deal, though.

Anything else I should know?

One thing to look out for is Audi’s new ‘functions on demand’ approach, which it insists that customers are clamouring for. Essentially, you pay to ‘rent’ features like self-parking or LED matrix headlight tech for a limited amount of time. This isn’t quite as bad as BMW making you ‘subscribe’ to its heated seats, but still.