The Audi A3 -- A Luxury Family Vehicle

By Author: Ivan Cuxeva
Total Articles: 782
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This car manufactured by the German automaker Audi falls within the category of a luxury vehicle and can also be classified as a family car, because of its popularity several improvements were made to the first version which opened the doors to the creation of the second version of the Audi A3.

The two versions of the Audi A3 share common characteristics found in the Volkswagen A-class, this is due to the fact that both versions were based on the Volkswagen model. Other versions based on this generation of vehicle are the Audi TT, the Volkswagen golf, Touran, etc.

The first-generation A3:

The production of this car model started back in 1996, logically it was first introduced to the European market. In order to provide a more sporty image when compared to the golf model the first generation A3 featured a three door hatchback, it also had a 4 Wheel Drive and the engine was transversely mounted and it had a four cylinder configuration. In addition after the A4, the A3 model was also known for being the first vehicle in the Audi line to use five valves per cylinder.

Later on in 1999, major improvements ...
... were made to this version, a more powerful 1.8 Turbo which was based on the A3 was introduced however, Audi was pretty much forced to comply with the consumers demand which is why they came up with a five door hatchback but the company originally did not intend to produce. This version was in production until 2003.

The second-generation A3:

As a continuation of the first generation A3, a second-generation vehicle was created, this four-cylinder version was first featured at the Geneva motor show back in 2003, it was originally launched as a three door hatchback but later on it also became available as a two door convertible and also as a five door estate. The five door version, dubbed the Sportback was introduced in 2004, it featured improved rear cabin space as well as a new front grille.

In 2007 Audi introduced a new 1.4 L TFSI engine for the second-generation A3 as well as the new "e" model which is basically the equivalent of the Volkswagen's Blue Motion, this last version was also designed to be a more ecological vehicle by reducing the CO2 emissions.