Audi’s A3 Sportback is clever, spacious, great to look at — and aimed at parents that still have sex

I KNEW this day would come. For the first time in years, I’ve caught Audi out.

I found a trick all their best brains have missed.

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At the Q3 Sportback media launch, Audi was keen to tell us that this car is so connected it is integrated with Amazon Alexa.

You can say things like: “Alexa, I’m coming home — turn on the lights.” Or: “Alexa, switch on the house alarm.”

And it will probably work. Most of the time.

So when I saw this glossy, half-hexagonal panel next to the  central touchscreen, I couldn’t wait to see what it did. It turns out . . .  nothing.

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It’s just a glossy, half-hexagonal panel. How difficult would it be, in this era of personalisation, to make that a dedicated caller ID screen?

So when the other half rings, a small picture of their beautiful face flashes up without interrupting anything else.

OK, maybe not such a good idea for Peter Beardsley’s missus — but fine for the rest of us. It would be the ultimate personalisation.

A quick glance round the rest of the interior reveals nothing but the usual Audi excellence.

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Great design. Quality fit and finish. Lots of high-end toys. Google 3D satnav. Superb visibility. And a smooth, quiet ride. You could do 300 miles and arrive as relaxed as when you set off. Unusually for a coupe SUV, however, there is no compromise on space.

The boot matches the standard Q3 at 530 litres with all five seats in place and there is more than enough hair clearance for gangly teens in the back.

A sliding rear bench and powered tailgate are standard too. I like the first one, hate the second one.

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Now, perhaps I should explain the difference between a Q3 and a Q3 Sportback.

It’s all to do with design and being able to charge £3k more for the same car.

That said, the Q3 Sportback looks great. It’s aimed at parents that still have sex.

The sloping roofline is obvious but look more closely and you’ll notice the lower shoulder line, deep undercuts on the doors and the blistered rear arches.

The designers used Dakar rally cars as “motivational boards”, apparently. They wanted to make the rear end look more powerful. And it does.

Can you imagine this shape with even wider arches, fat wheels and a five-cylinder turbo engine? Me too. Stand by for a rocket-ship RS Q3 Sportback in the not-too-distant future.

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The Q3 Sportback will come with the usual menu: Petrol or diesel; front-wheel drive or Quattro all-wheel drive; manual or seven-speed auto. Prices range from £32,000 for the Sport to £49,000 for the fully loaded Vorsprung model.

The new mild hybrid is likely to cream most sales. That  combines VW Group’s tried-and-tested 150hp, 1.5-litre turbo petrol with cylinder on demand, S tronic transmission and a 48V onboard electrical system.

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Put simply, the hybrid should add up to 5mpg as well as infill torque under acceleration.

Win. Win.

All in all, the Q3 Sportback is another very, very good Audi. Just as you’d expect.

But two things still baffle me. Why is it not called Q4, given the coupe Q7 is a Q8? And why didn’t they make use of that glossy, half-hexagonal panel?

BRAKING NEWS

• THE Frankfurt Motor Show starts on Tuesday and we’ve been bombarded with early reveals. First up is the retro-cool Honda E – hardly anything has changed design-wise from the prototype. It will offer two power outputs, 134bhp and 152bhp and will cost around £27,500 after the £3,500 plug-in grant.
• ON that topic, Mercedes-owned Smart has become the first mass-market manufacturer to go electric-only with the new EQ Fortwo and Forfour. The 100-mile range seems poor but Smart says it is “several times” the average daily distance driven in Germany.
• LAMBORGHINI has pulled the covers off the most powerful and fastest-accelerating car it has ever produced –  also the firm’s first hybrid. Another Frankfurt star, the limited-run 808bhp Sian, previews Lambo’s V12 plans with models such as the next-gen Aventador.
• NOT stopping with the Taycan, Porsche is now considering – shock horror –  making its sports cars electric. Boss Lutz Meschke told Autocar the 718 Cayman and 718 Boxster are “the right cars to start electrification in sports cars”.
• HERE is the perfect antidote to all this electrification chat: Vauxhall is planning to revive its performance sub-brand VXR, while a hot Corsa is the next model in the pipeline. The rival 200bhp-plus Ford Fiesta ST is tipped for 2021.
• Rachel Burgess is deputy editor at Autocar magazine

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