Audi to Create Sedan Variant of A3 Exclusively for U.S. Market - report

The current A3 is not a re-badged VW and Im sure you have never driven one and certainly never owned one so you have no idea what a great car it is. The DSG is the best transmission I have ever experienced... ever. I wish my BMW had the DSG.

There is nothing in Audi. Almost ugliest in market they just attract people with herd mentality where depersonalization is a required form of existence in order to "be like us". Extremely bland look justified by technical issues and naivety of very car-like interior helps to sell it.

@ Jeremiah as an Audi fan, it annoys me when people who clearly have no idea what they're talking about come out with drivel about how they're just badge engineered VWs. i've said this many times before on WCF, but i'll say it again because clearly not everyone has read it. which Audis have been badge engineered? the current gen A3 was released before the Mk5 Golf (and the Mk6 Golf is only really a Mk5 facelift) so the Golf is a dressed down Audi, not the other way around. the Q7 shares a chassis with the Touareg, granted. But so does the Porsche Cayenne. now don't get me wrong, i hate all 3. but any car good enough to share a drivetrain with a Porsche is more than good enough for an Audi, especially when you consider that the Cayenne is Porsche's best selling model and doubled it's sales figures in a ridiculously short period of time. name me another car that Audi currently produces that shares underpinnigs with any VW models? at a push you could say the TT with the Golf, but for reasons i've alluded to above that argument doesn't hold water and it's been so heavily modified that i don't think it should really count but feel free to disagree. the only other car in recent memory that has shared underpinnings with a VW was the B5 A4 and the B5 VW Passat. in that instance, you're talking 1 generation old (Passat) or 3 generations old (A4). ergo i would argue that if you don't know what you're talking about i suggest you keep your mouth shut. @ McNamara to start with, i'd like to qualify my opinion by saying that i currently own both a Mercedes and an Audi, and have owned a BMW in the past. i've test driven a Lexus (and a friend of mine owns one which i've been in on a regular basis) however i have no experience with Jags. you've mentioned interiors, and that's a crucial starting point. you spend the vast majority of time with your car on the inside, not staring at it. and here, Audi rules supreme. my Audi's getting on a bit now (i've had it, from new, for 5 years) and its interior still looks as fresh as when i bought it. the ergonomics are 2nd to none and everything still works without a hint of anything even thinking about going wrong on it. the BMW was nowhere near as hard wearing, and some Merc interiors can be a little bit overly flashy. you mention quattro. granted, RWD is better than FWD, but having driven several cars from both groups i can say that unless you're on a track and unless you know what you're doing the real life difference is fairly marginal. read any test report and they'll tell you that the Audi handles nearly as well as the 3-Series, and that the A5 in many ways is as good as, if not better than, any equivalent offering from BMW or Merc. quattro only adds to this. trust me, once you've had that surefootedness (especially when the weather's been as bad as it has been in the UK lately) then you'll struggle to go back. the exterior is a matter of choice, but i think current Audis look fantastic, and with the exceptions of the Mercedes S-Class over the new A8, C-Class over the A4 and the E-Class saloon over the facelifted A6 i would say they are the best looking cars in their class. the final thing i would like to mention is that Audi has some of the best engines in the world at its disposal, such as the 3.0 TDI, and being partners with VW gives it access to a host of other award winning engines such as the GTI's 2.0 TFSI. i would most certainly prefer that than knowing my engine is shared with a Peugeot like in the case of BMW's MINI. car choice really is personal preference, but there's a lot to be said about an Audi.

@sub39h AMEN!!

@sub39h I agree with you 100%! And just so you know, I drive a BMW but I think Audis are beautiful, fun and yes reliable cars and I have owned several. @alessandro You have no idea what you are talking about. And you're a douche.

@ McNamara68 , i own an older A4 quattro TDI wagon which i use mostly for gravel roads and snow and i love the car. personal needs and taste vary, looks are subjective. you can find pros and cons at every car. to each his own. buying a car only for a badge is stupid , buying a car to satisfy one's needs is logical. i have noticed my educated friends (doctors, engineers, managers, lawyers) own Audis. maybe because of the roads we have in Eastern Europe and because Audis are cheaper to buy and maintain. i think outside of the US Audis are still considered to be below Mercedes and BMW and Audi drivers don't have the snobbish image usually associated with MB and BMW drivers.

thanks for the great response sub39h, its great to hear your perspective

Do you feel like yelling the same thing to Cayenne owners? How do you feel about the inevitable technology-sharing that will occur now that Porsche is a wholly-OWNED by the VW Auto Group? As someone who has been in love with Audis since 1983, I can say that the attraction came from a history of pretty nice cars that were more subdued than BMWs and less ostentatious than M-B. Marketing has been behind the rise of BMW and Audi, plain and simple. As someone living in an area where there is snow, all I can say is I was laughing last weekend when I saw two BMWs spinning their rear wheels in the snow as I drove with my A4 which benefits from 30 years of refining quattro technology.

Congratulations panamera you take the cake for the dumbest comment of the day. "i always have the urge to tell the driver 'you are just driving a budget car".....you need help, This coming from someone who can afford a benz and a beamer, and trust me when i drive my audi I dont wish I am driving an MB.

@panamera789 "as an mb and porsche owner, when i see any audi on the road, i always have the urge to tell the driver 'you are just driving a budget car, stop pretending u are the same as me please." You flatter yourself.

@ panamera789, you mean when you play with other kids and they have Audi toy cars ?

u audi fans are so protective... but its not like i care what u think anyway... i am just here to share what i think about audi... it just upsets me when they try to fill every market segment with BASICALLY the same car.. and snap on so much overdone LED and grill to make the cars look sporty.. it looks like a nerd wearing tom ford sunglasses... but i do agree that A4 is a great all around car and i did consider it seriously and test drove it but ended up with my panamera coz i didn't want to waste my garage space afterall...

btw, i don't own cayenne and i do know it's basically toureg but personally i do think cayenne looks really good... i don't think anyone could be so stupid to believe they are the same car although i am sure some vw owners like to believe so.. but audi and vw really do look very similar.. never tested vw and never will if i can afford to so can't tell if they drive the same as audi.. but the point is their looks both put me to sleep..

@panamera789: Actually, I think the point is that you do not know how to be OBJECTIVE and support your position with FACTS.

how is it possible to be objective on a car's look? for me, the fact is audi looks ugly.. period..

Absolutely my thoughts about "modern day" Audis.

this makes sense to me, thanks for sharing. didn't mean to set off a bunch of anti-audi trolling with my post. it seems like audi's are about german engineering in a low-key, understated package combined with sure-footed awd and comfortable interiors. i guess it just needed to be put out there.

With one big difference.. Toyota created Lexus. Audi was bought by VW back in 69, but it seems to me like you have never driven either an Audi or a VW. They do not drive the same at all... Except the A3, all other Audis have their own chassis. Even the Q7 has a modified chassis compared to the T-Reg and Cayenne. Even the electronics on Audis are different than VW.

Funny because I have owned several Audis and loved them. Bought a rear wheel drive Lexus and it put me to sleep. Big mistake! Nothing Japan makes compares to Audis or any other German car (in my opinion).

nederina, you make a big mistake, that's like saying VW created Lamborghini/Bentley/Bugatti and all those cars drive like VWs.

I've driven them and made a comparison side by side, they performed very similar as they all shared the same powertrain and components but VWs and Audis are tuned differently. Audis were special but I am afraid they're losing their DNAs on what makes them an Audi at the first place. To be honest German cars starting to bore me these days because they're playing very safe. But they are impeccably build and high on technology, without that- they're just boring. Audi take note.

Niche models exist because there is a market for them. If they weren't going to make them profit, they wouldn't have them. They're different from MB and BMW in this respect because Audi have the engineering of most of the Volkswagen group to leverage against. I don't see a problem with that. I like choice. I agree though that they need to be a bit more adventurous with their design language. Or at least have larger incremental changes on models as they get rolled out. They really need to put their team to work on more concept vehicles where they can undo their top button and loosen their ties a bit so we can see some new ideas from them.

?what the hell is the point of this?? , are you serious ? and you call yourself a designer ?

i agree with asifmax, i love audis when they were designed by walter de silva during the late 90s. they looked like sculptures with huge german bauhaus theme. the result is the beautiful A6, original TT and the A8. But now all they do is made the grille bigger and shinier, fancy LEDs, familiar evolution of the old design. Audis of today are aggressive and no longer pure or elegant as an Audi should.

You've proven your naivete by stating M-B = BMW = Audi = Jaguar = Volvo.

...read it again please. Its the size of the B5 A4 (94-97) which is smaller than the current A4. Ugh.

the car is only for the American market. the badge is very important for Americans. let's say some random guy wants an A4, but he can't afford the A4, yet he still wants to drive a premium badge, he will not buy a Jetta, he will probably buy some Lexus and Audi loses a client. by offering a cheaper alternative, the guy is happy he can still drive a premium brand and Audi are happy they got a new client.

As someone who used to own a VW Jetta and was about to buy a CC because I thought I couldn't afford an A4 (which I was thankfully able to do), a sedan version of the A3 would be great, IMHO. There are plenty of people in America who would love to buy a ~$30K Audi sedan, and VAG realizes that hatches don't do well in the US. In fact look at me, I would have bought a VW CC over an A3. This is the reason why an A3 sedan makes sense in the U.S.

Oh come on, they already platform share on the existing A3 so how is sharing the coupe/sedan future any different? It's no worse than what is already happening. If anything the Jetta will be a watered down A3 coupe/sedan. The NCC is straight out of the Audi design manual. The bonnet and shoulders are pure A4 and the rear half of the car is pure A6 (in profile, maybe not the same rear view). It's a good looking Audi. They just panicked a week before, ripped off the four rings and stuck on VW badges. It's not like Audi are doing a Ford and attaching a Jaguar face onto a Mondeo with wheat paste.