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• Fuel economy and CO2 figures are very competitive
• Expect improvements over the old car
• Hybrid models help keep running costs low

What are the running costs?

As is the norm for a lot of models, the plug-in hybrid version is the standout star on paper. Officially it’ll cover up to 282.5mpg, although this varies greatly depending on how it’s used. CO2 emissions are rated at 31g/km. If you regularly charge the A3 and drive it mostly short distances, expect to achieve north of 100mpg. However, everyday use and lack of charging will see it drop to a much more ‘normal’ figure. On an hour journey with half a charge we managed close to 50mpg.

The best non-hybrid performer is the manual 30 TDI, with 111g/km of CO2 and 65.7mpg on offer if you pick Technik trim, while these figures drop a bit with the larger wheeled S Line model. It should be noted that in a week’s real-world testing of the 35 TDI in S Line trim, we averaged 63.5mpg in day-to-day driving, based mostly on A-roads and motorway, with little in-town running.

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Petrol performance isn’t quite as good, with 124g/km of CO2 and 52.3mpg from 1.0-litre – again in Technik trim. We’ve yet to sample the petrol model over a significant distance, but when we do, we’ll report back our findings. There’s also the addition of mild-hybrid technology to the petrol range on the 150hp 1.5-litre petrol model, claiming 50.4mpg and 128g/km.

As for the hot S3, Audi claims 35.3mpg and 183g/km, making it the thirstiest and most emitting model of A3.

Reliability

• Shares a platform with VW Golf
• Largely a update of the existing car
• Tech used across the VW Group

Given that this is, in all reality, a heavy update of the outgoing car you shouldn’t have too much to worry about in terms of the fundamental structure or tech in this A3.

The engines are improved versions of what came before too, and used across the VW Group, although the mild-hybrid tech isn’t as well tested (by customers at least) as the rest of the range.

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