With the Black Optic Sport package, the Audi Q3 has got a slick & sleek, unmistakably Audi/Euro presence. And it’s refreshing to see some clean black trim on a bold-color crossover in the 2020s. It kinda gets your blood flowing. Especially when most cars & crossovers these days are a muted/neutral color with gaudy chrome trim everywhere. So I commend Audi for doing what they do best, and standing out in the small crossover segment.
My wife thought the Audi Q3 was a ‘cute scoot-about’…
She liked it a lot; fair enough. But to me, The Q3 doesn’t drive necessarily that great. I didn’t hate it, but I didn’t looove it either. Mostly because the throttle response is sensitive & overly-electronic feeling. Now when you put the Q3 into Dynamic Mode & drive it like a sports car, it’s actually very good. But in the real world, no one does that in a crossover. So sadly, the great parts are lost in the Q3, and the ‘ok’ parts become the normal driving routine. I feel like Audi should flip that around as a whole… the car should always be ‘Dynamic’. I mean – is it an Audi, or isn’t it? Heck maybe there’s an option to do that, and I just didn’t get deep enough into the backend of the infotainment because I’m not nerd enough. And if you’re serious about this car, I’m sure tuning the Q3 in the aftermarket with someone like APR would totally change the nature of the beast.
There are two 2-liter engine options for the Audi Q3… The 40 TFSI and the 45 TFSI.
The 45 TFSI engine choice gives you 44 more horsepower & 30 more ft/lbs of torque. That gets the Q3 from 0-60 in 7sec flat… a second & half faster than the base 40 TFSI engine configuration. And again, that’s before any tuning… should you wish to do so.
40 TFSI – 2.0 liter engine with 184hp & 221tq. 0-60 in 8.6 seconds.
45 TFSI – 2.0 liter engine with 228hp & 251tq. 0-60 in 7.0 seconds.
The interior of the Q3 has some really nice Audi-esque architectural touches.
The S Line seats are impressive & exceed expectations. But I gotta say, the Q3 also retains some oddly cheap/outdated touches as well – referencing the hard plastic console/cup-holders that seem out of place in a car at this price-range… and more at home in something like an early 2000s Jetta/Beetle/A4. The start/ignition button & volume knob is also awkwardly misplaced (enlarge thumbnail pics to see).
The Audi Q3 has its place in the world.
If you’re looking for a more compact, more maneuverable crossover that can be both sophisticated, sporty, & utilitarian – here ya go! But on another level, Audi is pushing/marketing the ‘EV future’ real hard. They’re all-in on it. So it gets to a point where in 2022, it’s hard to get fired-up about purchasing an internal combustion vehicle from a company who only talks about EVs & the future being electrified. Makes you wonder how much innovation & heart is really going into their current line of internal combustion vehicles.
