Audi’s A3 gets a mid-life facelift and a 1-litre engine

A pair of new petrol-powered engines will ring in the changes to Audi's big-selling A3 range when it goes on sale in Europe next month.

Its key interior upgade will be the optional adoption of the fully digital Virtual Cockpit in place of the traditional instrument cluster, while its entry-level three-cylinder petrol engine makes it an A3 in more than name.

The visual changes are carefully measured to make the sedan, the five-door hatch and the two-door convertible all look a fraction crisper and up-to-date without costing too much money or alienating anybody.

There is a slightly wider single-framed grille at the front, narrower headlights (with optional Matrix LED power) and a wider, flatter-looking rear end.

It will also break with tradition by largely ditching Quattro all-wheel drive in favour of standard front-wheel drive, except for the most powerful of the 2.0-litre, four-cylinder motors and the sportier S3.

The most radical idea, though, is probably the delivery of the 1.0-litre, three-cylinder, turbocharged direct-injection engine at the bottom of the range.

The engine, which helps pull the A3's base weight down to just 1,150kg, also gives the front-drive A3 its starting price point in Germany, at €23,300.

The tiddler of an engine, drawn from parent Volkswagen Group and refined for Audi’s target market, delivers 85kW of power and 200Nm of torque, which arrives at 2,000rpm.

At the other end of the standard range is an all-new, 1,998cc four-cylinder turbocharged petrol motor, with both direct and indirect fuel injection. This engine will be the flagship, delivered with optional all-wheel drive and gaining an extra gear over its predecessor to jump to a seven-speed dual-clutch transmission. It will have 140kW of power and 320Nm of torque available from only 1500rpm,

There is a middle level of petrol power, too, with a cylinder-on-demand 1.4-litre, turbocharged four, with 110kW of power and 250Nm of torque, which shuts down the middle two cylinders to save fuel when the power demands are light.

The diesel range now begins with a 1.6-litre four-cylinder TDI, with 81kW of power, while that rises up to a 110kW/340Nm version of the 2.0-litre TDI. There’s a stronger, 135kW/380Nm version of this engine waiting in the wings, which will arrive about six months after the facelift hits.

The top end of A3 town hasn’t been forgotten, either, with the S3’s power output climbing 7kW and 20Nm to deliver 228kW of power and 400Nm of torque in its all-wheel drive package.

The basic package of the A3 e-tron plug-in hybrid carries over, too, with the 1.4-litre, turbocharged, cylinder-on-demand four-cylinder engine mating up to a 75kW/330Nm electric motor and an 8.8kWh lithium-ion battery, which Audi claims delivers 50km of pure-electric driving.

The company has yet to make any economy claims for any of the new variants, though.

The safety packages, pulled from larger vehicles (and some smaller ones) from within the Volkswagen Group, improve both pedestrian and occupant protection, particularly in active safety.

The A3’s lane-assist and pre-safe braking systems have been improved, with the addition of predictive pedestrian protection (autonomous braking) and cross-traffic warnings from the parking sensors in the rear, for reversing out of blind carparks.

It also delivers an optional Emergency Assist package, which brakes the car to a stop if the driver doesn’t react with the steering or brakes in a crisis, and the adaptive cruise control has been upgraded to work faster and more accurately than before.

The Virtual Cockpit option with its 12.3-inch TFT screen has been slightly upgraded, too, while its standard 7-inch retractable multimedia screen has the option of either navigation or navigation plus, which connects it to Google Earth and Google Streetview, as well as a swag of other information options. These need not come with painful phone-bill shocks, either, because Audi will deliver the systems with a flat-rate data plan, which will work across most European countries.