2025 Audi A3

Luxury German Engineering attired within compact dimensions and a tempting price point; that’s the promise of the Audi’s comforting A3 sedan. 

Yes, a sedan. Too many automakers have tossed aside the functional, family friendly four-door sedan to grab extra production room for trendy five-door crossovers. We here at Drive Chicago support all body styles, and shapes, but an extra wide smile from this scribe greets the livery delivery crew when a four-door, easy-entry sedan pulls into the driveway for evaluation.  

Many of the identical driving dynamics at home within the compact A3 adorn larger-framed and pricier Audi sedans including A5, A6 and A8. Audi A3, the luxury automaker’s lowest-priced offering, arrived Stateside in the 2006 model year and our 2025 model year tester bases upon a third-generation effort debuting in the 2022 model year. 

Expect plenty of thorough mid-cycle updates in 2025 with a sharpened exterior design, additional standard equipment and updated interior materials. For 2025, A3 comes standard with all-wheel drive, marketed as ‘Quattro all-wheel drive.’ Once optional safety tweaks including blind spot warning and rear cross traffic alert (very welcome when backing out of a crowed parking lot, unable to view vehicles whizzing past) are now part of the overall package.  

The purchasing process breezes by as A3 offers one decently equipped trim level (instead of five or six) starting at $38,200. In addition to a large number of sedans, Audi offers extensive five-door crossovers identified with a Q prefix. No pickup trucks or body-on-fame vehicles dot Audi dealership lots.  

The sole powertrain, a 2.0-liter turbocharged inline four engine delivers a pleasant 201 horsepower. Fuel economy checks in at 24 miles per gallon city and 34 highway, decent and respected within its class. Regular grade, 87-octane fuel fills the 14.5-gallon tank.  

A seven-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission (which Audi markets as ‘S Tronic’) combines with the engine. The performance-inspired dual-clutch design, popular within the luxury community, blends together the worlds of manual and automatic transmissions providing lightning quick gear switches with no interruptions in propulsion power. This parallel gearbox design requires no foot clutch found within the manual transmission world while eliminating the heavy torque converter found within conventional automatics. Clutch one handles odd gears (1,3,5,7) while the second clutch tackles even ones (2,4,6) plus reverse. From a layman’s point of view, little to no audible interruption to the power flow is detectible, resulting in smooth acceleration especially from a stand still. It’s an upgrade from a traditional automatic transmission and a performance improvement from sometimes sluggish continuously variable transmissions (CVTs).  

Returning from the past several decades, the S3, a similar-sized Audi compact sedan (think of the S prefix as the sports version of A3). With such upgrades as sport suspension and adaptive dampers and wheel-sensitive torque control resulting in peppy turn-in and cornering behavior. The four cylinder engine ups horsepower to 328 and raises the starting price $10,500. All A models sold in America offer an S derivative.  

Narrow front A-pillars closely mimic the width of rear C-pillars compliments of a very wide rear window and short deck lid. A bold side character line extends straight across front and rear side doors above body-colored, strap-like door openers extending into front and rear fenders. Pop open the trunk and 8.9-cubic feet of cargo room awaits, average-to-tight for this segment. Goose-neck-like hinges attach to the lid but house inside a protected sleaves as not to scrunch precious cargo. Under the floor, a temporary spare tire; a welcome addition but one quietly vanishing from vehicles of all sizes.  

The updated front fascia includes a sizeable, frameless, hexagonal, grille flanked by narrow headlight housing containing both programable, multi-selectable daytime running light patterns atop larger primary bulbs. Rear LED tail lighting also updates in 2025.  

Ride and handling check in well balanced and stout when turning into curves. It’s a smooth luxury experience with a light steering feel. The dual-clutch transmission can seem a bit hesitant when first starting out, but acceleration improves nicely at driving speeds. Those seeking a sportier tuning touch need to slide on over to the S3 kissing cousin.  

Our Arrow Gray Pearl ($595 extra for this trendy, creamy-textured premium outside paint) tester boasted all available option packages including the $1,600 Technology Package ( in-dash navigation, traffic sign recognition, large-sized 12.1-inch center screen upgrading the 10.1-inch size); $1,750 Black Optic Package (anthracite Audi logo rings, 18-inch double spoke bicolor finished wheels, sport suspension, black exterior trim) and Premium Plus Package (radar-enhanced adaptive cruise control with lane guidance, auto dimming, power folding side mirrors, premium 3D SONSO sound system and a dimming rearview mirror with a welcome digital compass direction (N, S,E,W) built into the upper corner). After slapping on the $1,295 destination charge, the bottom line reached $46,040, representing the most decked-out version available in 2025. 

Choose from nine exterior colors with seven requiring extra premium pricing ($595). The only two hues sans the extra hit: brilliant black and Arkona white. Black leather seating surfaces with rock gray stitching comes standard inside along with volcano gray ash natural wood inlays.  

Slip inside and electronic controlled wizardry creates a clean, uncluttered ambiance. Front buckets add more support than recently tested rivals, something a 60-something backside appreciates. The electronic transmission shifter between front buckets does away with a traditional grab knob/handle, opting instead for a sliding/toggle bar controlled primarily by the driver’s forefinger. An illuminating red light (R,N,D) highlights the current gear selection. Selecting Park involves pushing a clearly marked ‘P’ button fore of the long, rectangular sliding tab. For those employing a majority of their muscle memory mechanically shifting a lever or knob, this new slide/push button design catches on relatively easily. Just to the left, a circular, electronic start/stop push-button which in future updates needs an illuminating light/reminder better signifying when the engine is engaged. 

The manually adjusting, tilt-and-telescoping steering wheel includes secondary audio volume and station select push buttons and interaction with the digital instrument panel (differing view, windows and layouts). The wheel’s 9 ‘O clock position/spoke includes a minimal number of buttons working in harmony with the digital window commands. Activation of radar-enhanced cruise control tackles form a third steering column stalk found on the lower left. One can also experiment with the dual-clutch transmission with the steering-wheel paddle shifters, allowing a bit more manual interplay of the forward planetary gears sans a foot clutch. 

Lightweight doors include pull-type levers high atop to lock and unlock while large arrowhead shaped, and stylish grab bars connect up with the arm rest at the bottom of the arrowhead. With a vertical transmission hump traversing the center and dividing the second row nicely into two equal-sized pods, two adults fit with maximum comfort. Three may ignite a squabble.  

The 10.3-inch digital instrument panel includes a half-moon-shaped dome above to minimize sun glare flanked by horizontal air vents at each end directed towards driver comfort.  

The mid-sized in-dash screen skews slightly towards the driver along with many functions within the center console. It’s the same design found in higher-level Audi products. Volume levels monitor via a steering wheel scroll positioned on the 3 o’clock spoke or from a pressure-sensitive inlayed button to the right of the transmission shifter. Push down the button and the system turns on/off. Touch lightly atop with the pointer finger in a curved fashion to adjust the volume. Must confess, the traditional volume twist dial is sorely missed. 

Interacting with the touch-sensitive, multi-function screen, however, provides few headaches as the easily digestible layout and nesting design provides a smooth ride too. Changing to one of a half-dozen interior pen lighting colors on the dash and doors required little effort through the ‘settings’ sub menu. Drive mode selections (comfort, auto, dynamic, individual) select via the swipe-able touchscreen or via a secondary push button below. Also selectable, three unique daytime running light signature designs creating three different personalities.  

All HVAC controls set separate from the touch screen completely with a dedicated section of up/down push tabs and electronic icon window displaying fan speed, direction and temperature settings.  

At the very bottom of the central dash and fore of the transmission shifter, one finds a cove serving as a resting place for Smartphones and built in Qi charging along with a pair of Type C USB portable electronic plug ports. Wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto Smartphone interface arrives standard welcoming all phone downloads to work in tandem within the multi-function screen.  

Audi U.S. sales in the 2024 calendar year reached 196,576 units; of those 9,528 were represented by A3. Audi’s logo with its four connected circular rings represents four different automotive brands (Audi, Horch, Wanderer, DKW) that merged together in 1932 creating, at that time, the Auto Union. When financial troubles arose following World War II, Auto Union was bought and sold to multiple suiters, eventually acquired by Germany’s Volkswagen in 1964 which updated and truncated the company name simply to Audi. In 2025, the Volkswagen Group not only includes Audi, but other European name plates including Bentley, Porche, Lamborghini, Skoda and Seat.  

At a Glance: 2025 Audi A3 Sedan 

Price as tested: $46,040 

Engine: 2.0-liter, inline four cylinder 

Horsepower: 201 

Wheelbase: 103.5 inches 

Overall Length: 176.9 inches  

Overall Height: 56.2 inches 

Overall Width: 71.5 inches  

Fuel Economy: 24 mpg city/34 mpg highway 

Curb weight: 3,461 pounds 

New Vehicle Limited Warranty: Four years/50,000 miles  

Assembly: Ingolstadt, Germany