Audi Australia has just launched its newest addition to the A3 range—the all-new A3 Cabriolet—and they’re pretty chuffed, by the looks.
Audi Australia’s managing director, Joerg Hofmann, says “The A3 Cabriolet clearly reflects Audi’s brand values of sporty, progressive and sophisticated—with two dynamic turbocharged direct injection engines, Audi achieves the seemingly opposite goals of excellent performance combined with fuel efficiency, matched with an elegant design which is equally attractive in roof-up or roof-down modes. We expect the A3 Cabriolet to be extremely successful in Australia because it offers a multitude of flexible features—from the fun of driving with the roof down, to space for four people, excellent safety features, plenty of luggage space and genuine good looks.”
Well, he has to say all those nice things doesn’t he. I do agree, however, that the A3 Cabrio looks great—it is a stunning car—although I’m not sure how well it will sell down under. Though, I expect Audi Australia has realistic expectations on that front.
At launch, the A3 Cabriolet is available with two turbocharged 4-cylinder engines. Pricing starts at $49,900 for the 118kW 1.8 TFSI Attraction, fitted with Audi’s 6-speed double clutch S tronic transmission. The Ambition models, featuring the 147kW 2.0 TFSI, start at $54,900 for the 6-speed manual and $57,500 for the S tronic. The first sign of cost saving with the A3 Cabriolet is evident with the roof being soft top only. The second, and most likely the last, is that the standard roof is semi-automatic only, although it does open in an impressive 9 seconds. However, for an extra $1300 a fully automatic soft top is available, and your extra cash also gets you a bit more sound proofing.
Of course, being a soft top only does have some benefits and Audi say the roof’s Z-fold design allows boot space to remain unchanged, regardless of whether it is open or closed. The rear seats can be folded in a usual 50:50 split which increases luggage space to 674 litres, up from 260 litres. In order to keep the structural rigidity and roll cage in tact, access through the rear seats is gained via a “passthrough” cubby hole. A soft top is also lighter than a metal folding roof, of course, and this ensures the already impressive fuel consumption figures of Audi’s TFSI engines remain class leading.
The 1.8 TFSI has a combined consumption figure of 7.6l/100km and when pushed can reach 100km/h in 8.0 seconds. The impressive 2.0 TFSI yields the same 7.6l/100km fuel figure and the S tronic will reach 100km/h in 7.3 seconds, while the manual shifter takes 7.4 seconds. Steering wheel mounted shift paddles for the S tronic are available on both models. In keeping with this sports oriented theme, Audi’s sports suspension is standard across the A3 Cabriolet range.
As expected all Audi’s usual safety gadgets are thrown in, including an electronic stability program. This A3 Cabrio will no doubt prove to be a safe bet as an ownership proposition too, despite Audi’s premium pricing, which can get up there once you tick a few options.
Audi has calculated all pricing at 25% Luxury Car Tax (LCT). As an added bonus to help you sign on the dotted line, should the proposed legislation to increase LCT from 25% to 33% pass unaltered following the Senate Economics Committee inquiry, Audi will cover the extra 8% LCT on behalf of its customers for the period 1 July to 26 August 2008.
PDF Downloads
A3 Cabriolet pricing and options (480kb)
1.8 TFSI technical data (28kb)
2.0 TFSI technical data (28kb)
(All information correct at time of publication)
