A3 2.0TDi S-Line saloon

So…another w/end away and another spin of the Avis wheel of fortune. This time at Munich airport where we were, in theory, due three days' use of a nav-equipped Golf for my princely £50. And the needle settled on another smart black Audi A3 saloon (fellow forummers may recall I experienced one of these previously in Milan in 2015).

The difference was that the Italian one had been a 1.6 TDi in "Ambition" spec, whereas this was a posh 2.0 TDi S-Line.

First things first, this really is a very wheel-sensitive design. Given that it had been snowing during the week before my arrival, it was still running on what looked like at best 16" winter alloys. Shirt-buttons in other words. And that made it look somewhat like a black slug compared to the rather elegant look these A3 saloons usually have on bigger rims. Plus, I'm not convinced that the new headlight design is an improvement on the old one – for my money the earlier design was prettier.

Secondly, this one was specced up to the nines with full sat-nav, xenons, a panoramic roof, B&O sound system (sounded great), full TFT dash, heated electric black leather and alcantara seats, radar cruise control, Apple Carplay, parking sensors, folding mirrors and probably much else besides I did not notice. A lot of car for £17/day.

Inside, notwithstanding the application of most of the options list, I still think it looks too spartan design-wise – this is a dash design I will never like. And it's all too unremittingly black and silver. But the fit and finish is impeccable, and it all feels high quality to the touch – the knurled metal knobs are light years ahead of their equivalents in my BMW. So you do find yourself warming to it and the new TFT screen is in particular really excellent (this is perhaps the only feature I regret my GC doesn't have versus the new LCI version). There's a little too much information on there perhaps but it's equally possible that there's a menu option I didn't find that simplifies the TFT display.

Generally speaking the driving position is good but it did take a while fiddling with the electric seat controls before I found a comfortable seating position. And as my wife noted, the bun-warmers are ferocious, roasting your arse uncomfortably within seconds of being switched on. The MMI system has improved a lot since last I met it. On balance I think it is still not quite as intuitive as the latest BMW iDrive system but it's pretty good all the same. And while I continue to like the fact that the screen can be retracted into the dash when not in use, it does mean the screen isn't all that large. The pano roof is great – lightens up the interior nicely but I have two observations: (i) it looks silly open with the slab of glass lying over the top of the roof and (ii) it's not actually all that meaningfully bigger than the non-pano version on my GC.

There's more than adequate space inside and a capacious boot (getting on for double the size of the one we encountered in a hybrid Golf TGI over Easter) – only the comparatively small opening (due to the shortish rear deck) is slightly awkward. Split folding rear seats as well I noticed, which is always useful.

Engine-wise, as noted it was a 2.0TDi with around 9,000kms on the clock, so well run-in. This was dieselly without being unpleasantly tractor-ish and it covered 350kms or so (including a high-speed blat to Regensburg and back on about a third of a tank of fuel, so economy is also good. Performance was good without being remarkable - it's a typical turbo-diesel in that there's plenty of mid-range punch for overtaking without it actually ever feeling particularly quick in normal driving. The only part that stood out was the sixth gear flexibility where it would smoothly sweep you from 120kph to 180kph in impressively short order. It also cruised at 200kph without the engine feeling remotely strained. That said, the engine-note did sound peculiarly off-beat (sort of thrumming) at higher speeds (not unpleasantly so, but just a bit odd). Also typical TDi in the sense that it's quite easy to stall when coming from a petrol engine. The manual gear-change was typically VAG-slick and made it easy to surf the torque.

Handling-wise, it's all generally tidy. You could definitely hustle it down the road with a good degree of fluidity although I was a bit circumspect as regards the tyres given the temps had risen up as much as 16 degrees. However, and this might have been something to do with the steering or something to do with the teeny winter tyres, but it wasn't a particularly pleasant car to drive at high speed. The steering is genuinely horrible. No feel whatsoever and it had some sort of alarming lane control system that adds resistance to the steering and tries to tugs you back into line if you try to change lane without indicating. You also feel it kicking in on sharper motorway sweepers which is most disconcerting. And it's nervous at speed – not a car where you can sit at 180kph in a rock-solid oasis of calm like my GC (even on winter tyres). Instead it really requires you to grip the steering wheel and concentrate – constant corrections which is unnerving at autobahn speeds. It would be instructive to try the same car on normal wheels because the last A3 saloon I tried had neither the funny steering nor the winter wheels, and I don't recall it being problematic at high speeds (although admittedly I didn't hoof through Lombardy at quite the same rate as we did on the derestricted sections of autobahn).

All in all a good car but, like most 2.0TDI VAG products, more of a well-designed tool than anything else more inspirational.