Review: Audi Q3 Sportback 35 TFSI Black Edition

Audi started small. Not in terms of ambition, but vehicle size.

When Audi established itself as a standalone brand from VW, it had compact sedans and hatchbacks – not the limousines and huge SUVs we know today.

Considered design, clever packaging and cabin architectures that blend technology and intuitive ergonomics have always been Audi’s trade. And it does those elements better in compact vehicles than nearly anyone else.

Compact luxury is something of an Audi speciality. Especially BMW and Mercedes-Benz, who developed their compact car models, with teams more familiar with larger luxury platforms.

What Q3 Sportback means – in 2024

Despite A8, R8, and Q8, Audi’s best value has always been compact cars. The nameplate, which has built much Audi brand equity in the local market, is Q3 Sportback.

A logical evolution of the A3 hatchback customer’s ambition, Q3 might not be #peakAudi like an RS4 or RS6, but it is #nearperfectAudi for most buyers.

Clever marketing people introduce ‘edition’ versions as a model line matures. Some trim, styling, and cabin upgrades. It’s all about generating interest and continuing leads-momentum for dealers, and often, these ‘edition’ versions are silly. In the case of Audi’s Q3 Sportback 35 TFSI Black Edition, the name might be a bit much, but the driving experience and configuration are much cleverer than you’d assume.

It’s all about the platform

Priced at R892 550, it’s a costly car for its size, but that is the retail reality for all German brands in the compact crossover market. It’s worth remembering that this Q3 Sportback is built on VW’s MQB platform.

The structural design and industrial engineering that developed MQB might date back to 2012. However, it can still claim to be perhaps the best compact vehicle platform ever created – for internal combustion cars.

Audi and VW lavishly funded MQB to create a platform that would set new standards for high-speed stability, noise suppression, vibration damping, and comfort. Not to mention safety. Big car feel, in a compact package…

Set the standard for compacts

When VW’s Golf7 debuted the MQB platform in 2012, it was embarrassingly superior to A-Class. Add Audi body design, and you have the MQB-platform Q3…

Platform matters. You can add all the styling garnish, lurid colours, ornate wheels and in-cab infotainment you like, but when you’re at cruising speeds and collision avoidance needs to happen, it’s all about stability, structural integrity and lateral rigidity – those are the elements that balance and transfer your emergency braking and steering inputs.

And with a car like Audi’s Q3, the platform engineering is truly otherworldly. That awful automotive cliché ‘it drives like a bigger car’ is what a Q3 feels like at cruising speeds: something much larger and stable than a compact crossover.

Q3 Sportback cabin

The Black Edition combines both the Sport and Comfort cabin packages. You get four-way adjustable front seats, which are heated (invaluable during a harsh South African winter), and some clever storage.

Infotainment is what you’d expect from Audi, with stylized fonts and reasonably logical sub-menu navigation. And device storage slots that flank the rear bench seat are wonderfully useful.

The only possible issue shorter drivers might have with the quality and inviting Q3 Black Edition cabin, are its rear three-quarter blinds spots, courtesy of those reinforced roof pillars (a requirement for rollover crash safety). That said, when navigating a crowded and narrow parking environment, you get a reversing camera and sensors, so there’s no real excuse for being anxious or hesitant.

Mild performance

For a R900k vehicle, 110kW isn’t a lot of power. However, the Q3 Black Edition is more about refinement.

Audi’s engineers paired the 1.4-litre turbopetrol with a seven-speed dual-clutch transmission, managed by some cleverly selected control electronics. The result? It often feels quicker than its power-to-weight ratio suggests because of the transmission’s rapid shifting.

The official 0-100km/h time of 9.3 seconds isn’t quick, but throttle response is good when hunting for gaps in the morning highway traffic.

This Audi’s engine might be small and not spectacularly powerful, but the Q3 isn’t that light, which means it can edge towards 10l/100km, when driven enthusiastically.

Audi’s product specifications for the Q3 Black Edition errs (just) on the sensible edge of wheel size and tyre proportion. The gorgeous 19-inch wheels roll 235/50 tyres, with just enough air volume to enhance ride comfort and roll through potholes without a shuddering impact reverberation through the cabin.

The case for Q3 Sportback

Audi’s compact cars are expensive. But they are built on a structure that is a pinnacle of mechanical excellence in the history of automotive engineering. You don’t experience it through the clever UX, stylized fonts, or exterior design. In a way, it transcends the Audi brand cachet, too.

Like other MQB platform cars, this Audi drives with the stability and composure of a car that is one category larger.

The Q3 Sportback is a very mature car. Sometimes, the best time to buy is towards the end of a model’s lifecycle. When all the supply chain and build systems operate flawlessly,

If a generously equipped Audi crossover with mild engine performance is your kind of compact luxury… With the Black Edition, you buy into the MQB vehicle platform architecture with a better value proposition than if you individually select all the trim bits.