Given that the Audi A3 Sportback has five doors to the ‘standard’ A3’s three and its length has been extended by 33mm to improve room in both the rear seats and the boot, it is tempting to think of it as a long-wheelbase A3 and therefore the exception to the norm. It is nothing of the sort. Especially, when the A3 Saloon is a better depiction of that previous statement.
For a start and in purely technical terms, the Sportback is not just longer but fractionally higher and wider too. Moreover, in the showroom Audi expects it to outsell its littler sister two to one, so while the three-door launched first, if anything is to be regarded as the niche product, it certainly shouldn’t be the Sportback.
Most compelling of all, however, is that while the Sportback may indeed be larger than a three-door Audi A3, that does not make it a large car, even by class standards. A BMW 1 Series is longer both overall and in wheelbase, while the Mercedes-Benz A-Class is taller and also puts more air between its wheels.
What we have, therefore, is the most mainstream of mainstream Audis, the car designed to tempt young families into the fold of the four rings and provide enough talent and envious stares from the neighbours to make them never want to leave.
