Test drive Audi Q3
Is the C-class premium crossover a car for women or for men? Autonews.ru editors have been arguing for a long time about the gender labels of the Audi Q3. It all ended with a non-standard test drive
For some reason, the Audi Q3 in Russia was nicknamed a women's car right after its debut. At the same time, gender prejudices do not prevent Q3 from occupying a leading position in the class - an attractive price tag and dealer discounts, which sometimes reach several hundred thousand rubles, help.
The labels that were attached to the Audi Q3 haunted the Autonews.ru editorial staff. To put everything in its place once and for all, we took for a long test a crossover in the maximum configuration with a 220-horsepower engine. The one that always leaves the first at the traffic light.
This particular car I know better than mine - last winter I took an Audi Q3 from a press park with a range of 70 kilometers. I ran it in very carefully - as if I had bought it myself. Six months and 15 thousand kilometers later, we met again. During this time, she received a couple of scuffs in the C-pillar area and several chips on the hood, and I was confident that this was not a woman's car.
First, the Audi Q3 is a very fast car. At least by class standards, the numbers look impressive. The top variant in question exchanges a “hundred” in 6,4 seconds - an indicator in the spirit of the best hot hatches. Of course, such versions are rarely bought, but even basic modifications take 9 seconds. For example, the most common version (1,4 TFSI, 150 hp, front-wheel drive) accelerates from 100 to 8,9 km / h in 2,0 seconds. There is also a 180-liter version with 7,6 horsepower (2,0 seconds) and a 184-liter TDI with 7,9 horsepower. (XNUMX seconds).
Secondly, the German crossover looks too daring. If you choose Q3, do not regret a surcharge of 130 thousand rubles for the S line package - with it the crossover is significantly transformed. In addition to the aerodynamic body kit and 19-inch wheels, it includes leather and Alcantara upholstery, as well as decorative aluminum inserts.
And the Audi Q3 is no less practical than any of its classmates. It has a 460-liter trunk with optimal loading height, ample rear row space and plenty of niches and compartments for small items. So forget about labels. The Audi Q3 is a cool and not expensive car at all by today's standards.
The Audi Q3 debuted on the global market in 2011 and underwent a facelift in 2014. The crossover is built on the PQ-Mix platform - this is the PQ46 architecture on which the VW Touareg is based, but with elements from the PQ35 (VW Golf and Polo). At the heart of the Q3 is a MacPherson strut front suspension and a multi-link rear.
The German crossover is offered with a drive select system, which allows you to choose the settings for the transmission, engine, change the stiffness of the shock absorbers and adjust the settings for the electric booster. The all-wheel drive system is based on the fifth generation Haldex clutch.
The Q3 is offered with four turbocharged engines to choose from. The basic front-wheel drive versions are a 1,4-liter TFSI with 150 hp. and 250 Nm of torque. This engine can be paired with both a six-speed "mechanics" and a six-speed "robot" S tronic.
The remaining versions of the Q3 are exclusively all-wheel drive. The two-liter gasoline engine is offered in two boost options: 180 and 220 horsepower. This motor can only work with a seven-speed "robot". Russian dealers also offer a diesel Q3 with a 2,0 TDI engine with an output of 184 hp. and a seven-speed S tronic.
Fiat 500, Mini Cooper, Audi Q3 - until recently, this is a list of the main, in my opinion, cars for women. No sexism and objectivity - only taste and subjectivity. With the first two, everything is clear, but the third ...
I wanted to joke about a colleague who had to drive Q3 for a long time. Exactly until he gave me the car for a few days. The compact crossover surprised in all respects - there was no time for jokes at the wheel.
And all because the element of this small SUV is acceleration with the gas pedal pressed to the floor. The 220-horsepower engine pushes the car forward with such force that all other road users are left behind. Plus, the Q3 does an excellent job with all road defects and, importantly, is functional: I actually stuffed three large suitcases in there. But the box is sometimes frustrating, sometimes twitching in traffic jams.
In general, I changed my mind. This car is perfect for a man without complexes - for someone for whom the size of the car does not matter. He will not be able to charm a girl, for at least three reasons. The first is not a very modern salon. The second is the difficulty with a smooth ride. Third - (I can hardly resist not capturing this) there is no USB port. The weirdness of Volkswagen cars, which with new generations of models comes to naught. So already in 2018, the Q3 could be the perfect unisex city car.
In the basic configuration, the Audi Q3 with a 1,4-liter engine and "mechanics" will cost from $ 24. Such a crossover will have xenon headlights, rain and light sensors, full power accessories, heated seats and a multimedia system with support for all digital formats. The same car, but with a "robot", the importer estimates at $ 700.
Prices for versions with a 2,0 liter engine (180 hp), four-wheel drive and "robot" start at $ 28. The same crossover, but with a turbodiesel, will cost at least $ 400. Finally, the 31hp Sport test car starts at $ 000, but factory tinting, keyless entry and the S line package brought the final price tag to nearly $ 220.
However, the real prices for cars of the “Big German Three” may differ significantly from the official price lists set by the importer. So, the experience of communicating with official dealers showed that the all-wheel drive Q3 (180 hp) in the middle configuration can be bought for $ 25, and the 800-liter and "robot" versions start at $ 1,4 - $ 20.
Colleagues unanimously insisted that the Audi Q3 is not a woman's car at all. Here you have an aggressive exterior design and a powerful 2,0-liter engine that provides the compact crossover with unexpectedly intense acceleration. Like, it turned out to be a brutal crossover, what kind of women are there.
I admit, the overclocking was really impressive. Only a few units will buy such a car with a top-end engine. But even if we take all this power-to-weight ratio on board for granted, I still cannot call the Q3 a male car. And it seems to me that the overwhelming majority of Russian motorists would agree with me.
Instead of looking for arguments in the lists of options or technical characteristics of the model, I decided to personally observe the owners of the Audi Q3 and find out which of our compatriots voted in favor of the car with a ruble. During the time that I was driving a compact crossover on Moscow roads, I met a man in the Q3 driver's seat only once. And he, it seems, temporarily replaced his wife, deftly handling her twins on the back sofa.
If you still have not decided on the gender of the junior Audi crossover, then just ask yourself a simple question. Are there many chances that in the next Q3, which you will meet along the way, there will be a man behind the wheel? The answer seems clear enough. The Russian mentality, multiplied by the compact size of the car and ease of use at any time of the year, made the Q3 a win-win choice for the female half of buyers. For the same reason, most men will look towards the larger crossovers - the Q5 and Q7.
The main competitor of the Audi Q3 in Russia is the BMW X1, which changed its generation in 2016. The basic version of the Bavarian crossover costs $ 1. As with the Q880, the entry-level X000 is offered with front-wheel drive. Under the hood is a 3-horsepower three-cylinder 1-liter engine. Prices for all-wheel drive versions start at $ 136.
In addition, the Audi Q3 also competes with the Mercedes GLA. Prices for a front-wheel drive car start at $ 28, while the four-wheel drive versions ask for a minimum of $ 000. Soplatform with GLA "Japanese" Infiniti QX31 is estimated at $ 800. However, for this money, the buyer will receive an all-wheel drive car with a 30-horsepower engine.
Q3 is as compact and at the same time as outwardly serious as a schoolboy who has slightly outgrown his peers and is trying to seem even more mature. He's also trendy. If you do not take into account the younger Q2 with its toy appearance, then it was Q3 who was the first to try on a new style and played in a completely different way. It was possible to apply the phrase “all Audi to the same face” to the 2011 model, but the current one at once dropped the visual roundness, slimmed down and acquired the shine of LED eyes. Who are you now - boy or girl?
My wife got behind the wheel after an imposing business sedan and immediately rejected the latter. Q3 seemed too fast to her - she had not yet figured out exactly what the model was called, and what was interesting about it, but wondered if it would be possible to ride it again. And I myself want it, because the 220-horsepower motor drives the compact merrily and fervently. The notorious "robot" twitches a little, but this is due to his youth, from lack of experience. Tolerable.
By the way, the compact is not so compact - almost 4,4 m, and the Q3 weighs more than 1600 kilograms. But the "robot" with a turbo engine, as always, is being driven superbly, with youthful enthusiasm, and I know in advance that with a less powerful engine, the Q3 will go well too. In terms of driving properties, this is completely my car, and in this sense, fortunately, there is not a bit of girly in it.
And yet, in the cabin, the feeling of some detachment from the world of large cars does not leave. There is not such a kindergarten as in the younger Audi A1 and Q2, but everything is so compact and simple, as if not quite from Audi. Even the climate control knobs seem to mimic the manual adjustments of early 2000s cars, and the toothless console seems to require a more serious media system with a color screen. For the sake of completeness, it remains only to close the existing screen above the ventilation deflectors - and, by the way, you will have to do it manually.
But here's the thing: even after grumbling about the non-premium crossover, you don't want to return to the business sedan. He flaunts the masculine, and I do not need to prove to society that I am me. Therefore, I can easily ride on a blue compact, and let the proofs be rumbled in child seats on the back sofa.
