We have tried a 120D this weekend. It is very ugly but you don't see that from the driver's seat. It is OK to drive but not the quantum leap that the hype would have you believe. That said, it is hugely better that an A3, especially the Sportback - but what isn't?
But it's not for us, the driving position is skewed (like the 3 series) and quite cramped. The clincher is that it is not built like a £22k car and that's about what it costs when you add it all up.
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It is very ugly but you don't see that from the driver's seat.
Reminds me of what a friend said when he took a Ford Scorpio as a company car. A few weeks later he then admitted that he'd stopped looking at the car's reflection in shop windows that he'd done previously throughout his driving life!
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>>That said, it is hugely better thatan A3, especially the Sportback - but what isn't?
What makes you say that? I quite fancy a Sportback, esp with DSG
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If you want to be a prestige brand, the car has to be good to drive, but it has also to look good and have an element of desirabilty. If it is ugly, and more common on the streets than a Ford Mondeo, it has to lose some cachet. BMW clearly did very well with the last generation of 3 and 5 series but I don't believe that the new 1, 3 or 5 series match the new Mercs and Audis either aesthetically, or for prestige. All subjective I know but when I was waiting behind a 1 series last week I thought it was the ugliest car I've seen since the hideous Fiat Multipla. Doesn't it look as if someone glued together the from and back halves of different cars?
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I have been looking at both of these this weekend as a possible replacement for the A2 - neither driven yet. In looks the A3 wins it for me. The DSG option is also swinging me towards the Audi. 6 speed manuals are OK, but even with block changes I seem to be endlessly changing gear (had a six speed TT for a day and ended up with an aching left leg!).
The lack of a spare coupled with the need for a specialist tyre also worries me. The last thing I need on one of my trips to the wilds of north west Scotland is a puncture followed by a search for a potentially hard to source tyre.
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I have had an FSI Sportback as a loan car for 2 weeks. I really don't like it at all. It is very noisy, cramped, has poor seats and the dash is, in my opinion, horrible - a huge lump of matt black plastic with some stick on silver circles. Like the Golf it is pretty uninspiring to drive, and, like the BMW, it is really ugly. The 6 speed box is a strange choice too, at 1000 km it can barely pull 5th on a moderate incline let alone 6th.
I think a 1.8T petrol A4 Avant is a far better proposition if you can find one of the last "pretty" ones before the uglification of Audi continues.
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Avant is no good for me as it won't fit on my drive! A3/1 series is the limit.
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