By Staff Reporter

Audi South Africa has taken the covers off its new Audi Q3 SUV. The second generation version looks sportier than its predecessors and features a digital cockpit and a large MMI screen with touch response. The Q3 has also grown in size with more space on offer for occupants.

Outside

The new Q3 distinguishes itself from the previous iteration with a new grille and a new headlight, and bumper design. The new front and back LED lights have been made such that they are portions of them are also visible from the sides. Audi supplies these lights with new LED technology including dynamic turn signals as standard. Customers are also able to upgrade to Matrix LED headlights (available as an optional extra) which intelligently illuminates the road through its adaptive high beam technology.

Still on the exterior look, Audi offers colour-contrasting wheel arch trims (in the Standard and Advanced trim lines) as well as body coloured versions (in the S Line trim line). Customers wishing for more individualization of their cars, can opt for contrasting paint finish for the lower body section, and choose one of the 11 colours on offer.

Over and above the Standard trim, buyers have the Advanced and S line trim lines to choose from. The bumpers, sill trims and diffuser are said to look particularly sporty with the S line exterior package.

Inside

Audi steps things up by bringing the dashboard to the top of the segment from a design and quality perspective. The digital instrument cluster with a 10.25 inch screen is standard equipment. Customers can also upgrade the instrument cluster to the Audi virtual with a 12.3 inch screen.

The standard MMI radio plus which also includes an MMI touch display with an 8.8 inch screen in the centre of the instrument panel and thereby eliminates a lot of buttons. With the top-of-the-line equipment, MMI navigation plus, this touchscreen measures 10.1 inches.

Audi has also developed a new concept for the colours and materials. Q3 customers can choose between two variants over and above the standard version – the sports package and the S line sports interior package. Both packages include the sport seats, which are trimmed optionally with a combination of leather/artificial leather and Alcantara. The Alcantara surfaces on the instrument panel and on the door armrests are an entirely new option. They are available in two colours, including steel grey or a bold orange.

Bigger cabin; more luggage space

The growth in size of the Q3 means more cabin space. The back seats can be moved forwards/backwards by 150 millimetres. This frees up more luggage space at the back. In fact, Depending on the position of the rear seats and backrests, the luggage compartment capacity totals 530 or 675 litres. With the backrests folded down the figure rises to 1,525 litres.

New rationalised packages

Appreciating the daunting nature of many options on offer on modern cars, Audi has sought to rationalize their packages available to customers. The new packages include Comfort, Technology, Sport, Parking, S line interior and Black styling. Within each package structure is a few options suited to the particular option. For example, the Comfort package includes storage and luggage; parking aid plus; electric tailgate; electric seats; seat heating and 4 way lumbar support.

Engine

Audi South Africa is offering one engine version – a 1.4 turbo-petrol engine with 110 kW of power and 250 Nm of torque. Power is sent to the front wheels via a six-speed S tronic transmission. This makes the Q# capable of dashing from 0-100 km in 8,9 seconds and reach a top speed of 204 km/h. The 1.4 engine is said to be quite frugal sipping only 5,9l/ 100 km. Should you venture off-road, an optional hill descent control function is available.

Pricing

The Audi Q3 range is priced as follows:

• Audi Q3 35 TFSI S tronic                   R 565,000
• Audi Q3 35 TFSI S tronic Advanced R 585,000
• Audi Q3 35 TFSI S tronic S line         R 599,000

Prices include the standard Audi (Maintenance Plan) Freeway plan (5 year/100,000 km).