AudiBahn

Hi there,

I'm not yet an owner but I'm interested in both the A3 Quattro and the A3 2.0. The tie breaker for me anyway is the fuel economy. How is the Turbo in real world use compared to the 6 cylinder? What kind of numbers are you guys getting? EPA numbers look good but thats in a lab. Also, being that this is Canada, whats the 2.0 like when it comes to winter driving? Assuming of course it's outfitted with the proper tires. If there is anything else I should be concerned with, i.e what to look for as red flags in the used market please do not hesitate to share your thoughts.

Thanks for your help

everfresh

Depends on where you drive? Are you in the city? In traffic? Are you mostly highway? 3.2 tends to use more fuel. You could probably expect to consume about 15L/100km. I've managed to get to Toronto from Montreal on a tank of gas in my 2.0T, of course I was using CC. In the city, I'd say around 12/13L per 100km. I really go wot in the city when I'm gonna fill the tank in the next 24.

A-teck

I bought 2012 A3 Quattro 2.0 TFSI 2 months ago. It does deliver fuel economy on highway as advertised (7.5/100). I did 1000km trip to Ottawa and got 7.35l/100km average with 2 people in the car, cruising at about 110km/h. I can not get city's posted rate of 9.5l/100. So far it is a bit more than that (10.5-11). Car now has 3000km and should be broken in. I hope fuel economy improves.
I did not have any experience with winter driving yet. There was no real snow in my area yet. I look forward to trying this car in the snow (I did get a winter tire set).
So far, I am quite happy with this car - you push the pedal and it delivers Definitely fun to drive even without any mods.

AudiBahn

Can you speak to the overall reliability of the car? Right now I'm dealing with a Japanese car that has been nothing but trouble. 143,000 kms and its a disaster. Any work that needs to be done usually means cutting things off due to unimaginable amounts of corrosion. Car is an 03. I'm on the 5th set of brakes. I don't want to get into this with an Audi. I know things can go wrong, but when I lean on the car I don't expect it should cave in. Shutting a door on a seat belt should at worst break the belt houseing, not dent the door frame. Removing the rear control arm with a torch in order to replace one of 3 failedwheel bearings on the car is just not normal. A1.8 litre engine that burns at 12 L/100 kms is a joke. 360 Kms on 45 litres. Time to change cars I think

A-teck

As I am fairly new to the Audi world, I can not comment much on reliability. Based on what I read before the purchase, Audi's quality and reliability have improved in the last years but they may still have issues with various components.
In terms of rust, I have high hopes that a fully galvanized body will stand up to our climate and salty roads. Car washes through the winter are still essential in keeping the car free of rust.
BTW, I have a 03 Korean van and this piece of crap has given me nothing but problems: rust all over, parts and components failures that were very expensive to replace, etc.

JSC

We had a V6 for 3 years, and have now had a 2.0T quattro for 2.5 years. We had no trouble at all with either one. The 4-cylinder gets significantly better gas mileage, but both engines take a long time to break-in, at least 10000 km before I noticed the gas mileage getting much better.

As for winter driving, with winter tires the cars are great. Very controllable, and lots of grip. Of course, if the snow gets very deep, clearance becomes and issue, but we have driven them in terrible conditions and never had any trouble.