Buyers of the front-wheel-drive A3 no longer need to envy the Quattro model’s 2.0-liter engine for 2017. That’s because front-wheel-drive A3s now come with their own, brand-new version of Audi’s latest 2.0-liter turbocharged four. The 1.8T model, and the shame that it brought, is gone.
Versus the outgoing 1.8-liter turbo four, output increases to 186 horsepower (up 16) and 221 lb-ft (up 21). With the Volkswagen Group’s seven-speed dual-clutch automatic (replacing the six-speed), the 2017 A3 knocks a claimed 0.6 second from the zero-to-60-mph time, to 6.6 seconds (although we recorded 6.5 in a 2015 1.8T sedan). The powertrain also improves the EPA estimates, to 26 mpg city and 35 mpg highway compared with the 2016 1.8T’s 23/33 rating. The new model year also brings a wider grille, reshaped headlights that cut below the high-beams (as on the new A4), and an upgraded MMI infotainment system and Virtual Cockpit instrument panel. The A3 stays the course with its sedan, convertible, and plug-in-hybrid hatchback variants. The Quattro models, which continue to come with a higher-output version of the same 2.0-liter engine (220 horsepower and 258 lb-ft), keep the older six-speed dual-clutch automatic. Audi tells us it eventually will swap out the six in the upper A3 trims but that it was easier to roll into 2017 without certifying a second new powertrain. Perhaps Volkswagen’s budget cutbacks are already beginning to show.

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