CabrioA3

New to forum.

Had a 1994 autumn red (Orange), A4 stick, stripped to the bare, which I loved, to replace an Acura legend which left me stranded many times on my uphill driveway, which the Audi handed with aplomb.

Fast forward now, need to replace and downsize a Subaru 2010 Legend coming off extended warranty.

Thought about another cabrio, i.e. BMW 228, A3, 2016 miata, but, my wife and common sense is steering me to a small 4 door sedan.

Test drove the BMW 228xi, liked a lot, but options are exorbitant, and need 4 doors.

Test drove a 2016 A3 glacier white w/ chestnut interior, premium plus w/nav, which convinced me this is the right car for me.

Like the rear camera and lane assist in the 2016 which I need.

Plan to buy in 3-4 months, hoping to get a CPO loaner, with limited miles, save around 6k off of list, as suggested by previous posts, bringing the price down from 41k to 35k. Plan to hold the car for 5 1/2 years, until the CPO warranty runs out.

Question regarding waiting for the 2017 A3 sedan, which the European press is reported to be a minor refresh, with a virtual cockpit in the upper trim levels.

I am a fairly simple guy. I like simple analogue gauges. I do not understand the need for all of this high tech in the dash. We are driving a car, not an airplane,

I am worried I am missing something, in the years to come, might regret my decision to wait a few more months to get the 2017 with the virtual cockpit.

Have seen the videos but have not laid my hands on the new TT with the virtual cockpit.

Any thoughts out there will be welcome!

gamegenie

The Virtual Cockpit is overkill for the A3 IMO. Audi should given the A3 the proper driver info display that it showed the 8V A3 having in it's Concept form.



Instead Audi went for the same small screen that the current A4 had, thus made the A3 look outdated in only a year when every other car manufacture began adding larger LCDs to their dash.


This is why Audi is jumping forward and going full Virtual cockpit for the A3 now.

BEM-S4

Like you, I don't need or want superfluous in-cabin tech. That said I drove the TTS a few weeks back. It will take a little getting used to, but I think once that's out of the way it makes things a lot easier. For instance, in my Allroad if you want to change the fan for climate control you have to go into a sub menu. On the TTS, there's a **** for temp, **** for fan, **** for where you want the air. Much better.

Once you get used to the GUI in the new system, I think you'd be pleasantly surprised that it actually makes life easier.

gamegenie

Also, you see those B&O Tweeters on the dash from that A3 Concept car interior pic.


That is why I always thought B&O equipped 8Vs had this.


I'm shocked B&O equipped Audi 8Vs don't have this.
At the same time This would be another thing to tick me off knowing if I had B&O equipped and not having those cool tweeters shown on the A3 Concept car.


Why did Audi scale back the 8V A3/S3 so much.

If they didn't do this, they wouldn't need to do a refresh.

DennisMitchell

It not realistic to believe that a concept car presented at an auto show is the exact version that goes into production. Audi had the A3/S3 early production vehicles out in 2013 which is the basis for our decisions to purchase early on.

BEM-S4

I think they did about as much as they could while building to a price point. I'm sure if they included everything that's been mentioned on wish lists, we wouldn't be looking at a $50k car when fully equipped.

gamegenie

Nowadays it is somewhat starting to become a reality look at the CLA 250. Mercedes produced it almost unchanged from it's Concept form save for like the mirror placement.

I really think Audi just went cheap on the Driver Info System display in the instrument cluster.
If the Chrysler 200C can get the same big LCD between the gauges there's no reason why an Audi A3 should have lacked it.

visuar

I have this in my 2016 TT (Roadster) and it's been working pretty well. Not sure how much it adds (right now, maybe more in the future), but it's very easy to read. I mainly leave it displaying the big gauges and don't fiddle with it too much. If you do that it doesn't feel too different from analog gauges.

For me personally I like it more during the day than at night. It looks more flat at night (less 3 dimensional) and it's a tad too bright for me. Yes, you can turn it down (and it auto corrects to some level as well), but one dial controls all interior lighting and it's hard to find a balance where I liked all light levels at all times. In the end it's not a big deal though, just a minor annoyance.

arU4ic

Analog gauges are the bomb. Yeah, so, I'm old.

Until there is absolute zero delay (like 120 frames per sec) in the video display, no thanks.

gamegenie

No wonder Audi is throwing in the Virtual Cockpit for the refresh model.

They realize the other car manufactures have stepped their game up, passing them.

Look at the tech that the new Civic has.