Out & About Autumn 2019

Out&About lifestyle

MOTORS

MAURICE AND ANNETTE HARDY take a trip through history with the Audi Q3

A t the back end of 2008 we headed to the Heritage Motor Centre at Gaydon, in Warwickshire, in an Audi A3 economy diesel three- door hatch, before a family lunch in the village pub. We’ve been back and quite a bit has changed. For a start, the centre is now the British Motor Museum and has been reorganised, improved and expanded. It’s also the venue for many outstanding events and there was a huge display of Austin, Morris and other makes from the days of British Leyland, which eventually died in 2005 under the Rover name. The museum’s collection clearly shows how cars have changed, especially as they became more accessible while the 50s morphed into the 60s, when both our parents bought their first cars, despite being quite advanced in years. If it was a choice of fettling an elderly car or cycling 15 to 20 miles to work, then getting the spanners out on a Sunday to fix the car, which we all did back then, was worth it. Anyone interested in the history of British cars should take a trip to Gaydon (other car museums are available) where you’ll also see some pretty tasty Jaguar, Land Rover and Aston Martin disguised prototypes on the local roads. Less appealing is the lack of ready access for disabled people when an event is taking place. Avoid. We got to the museum in an Audi Q3 and it is quite a different beast from the A3 of 2008.

Car: Audi Q3 TFSI quattro 230PS S line S tronic Does it fit your ego: 0-62mph: 6.3secs Top speed: 144mph PS: 230 @ 5,000-6,700rpm Torque: 350Nm @ 1,500-4,400rpm

For a start, instead of being a compact frugal hatch, the Q3 is an SUV of fair proportions and no hint of austerity about it. The list price of around £38,000 is the similar to the larger Seat Tarraco we parted with as the Audi arrived. The smaller Q3 felt far better value for money, even if it was loaded with extras that pushed its on-the-road price by almost £10,000. After 40 years-plus in this job, we can see past the frivolities or through them in the case of the £1,150 panoramic glass roof and we could well do without the £575 turbo blue paint, a solid colour that these days draws the same sort of costs as metallic used to (although Seat, sister brand to Audi, doesn’t charge for such finishes proving there’s no real reason to do so). The Audi felt much better planted on the road than the Seat – some would say that was thanks to the £750 adaptive suspension, but we left it in the standard setting, so it probably felt much as the car would have done without it. With its higher stance, the Q3 is much easier to use in heavy traffic. The superior visibility is the reason so many buyers opt for cars such as this and why you see almost as many SUV style cars as you do smaller hatches, many of which can now also be ordered with Best bits: pleasing, comfortable, accomplished

and your wallet... Price: £39,240

Combined: 31-32.1mpg CO2 emissions: 173g/km

raised suspension. The test car was officially called the Audi Q3 45 TFSI quattro 230PS S line S tronic and while we can understand the 230 PS because that’s the engine’s power output, we are totally confused about the 45. It bears no relation to the torque output or cylinder capacity, which is two litres. There was a press release about the naming system once, but we couldn’t understand it then so it’s pointless trying to find it to see if we can unravel it now. Better to concentrate on the car itself, a very pleasing, comfortable and accomplished family car that just about anyone would be happy to own unless they have a polarised preference for BMW or Mercedes. The only disappointment is the 33mpg average – roughly half of what that old A3 achieved. Those who seek the demise of diesel should be careful what they wish for.

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O&A AUTUMN 2019