Audi A3 review

All the lightweight engineering that goes into the new Audi A3 pays dividends for fuel economy, too. The 2.0 diesel emits just 108g/km CO2, ensuring tax bills for the most popular model will be low.

Then there's the e-tron: we managed a four-hour trip with 69 per cent of that run on electricity, the other 31 per cent on fuel. That’s some 51 miles on battery. Which is good.

Even base SE cars are well stocked, despite equipment-adjusted prices broadly in line with the old car. The Sport is probably the most well-rounded but many buyers prefer the S-line for its quasi-S3 looks. We can’t blame them, even if bigger wheels firm up the ride quality a bit.

It should be brilliantly simple and satisfying to live with, too. Despite being made from broadly the same box of bits as a VW Golf, Audi manages to piece them together in a tauter, more pleasing way.

There's lots of tech to make everyday life easier, too, with adaptive cruise control, active lane assist, rear cross-traffic assist and park assist helping to stop you from crashing, whether in traffic or while putting the car in a space. These are all the stepping stones of self driving that suggest the next-gen A3, due in a couple of years, will be even further on the way to being an autonomous car. Eek.