Still, having adapted to the lag in torque not found in electrified cars, it has quickly become familiar, and this 2.0-litre four-cylinder engine with 148bhp is perfectly decent.
When I took a very slow journey from west to east London on a Saturday afternoon, it was noisy, but diesels aren’t made for that sort of job, and it didn’t feel unforgiving.
As with everything, time (mostly) normalises experiences: a er a few months in the A3, I can hardly remember feeling that it was analogue in the first place (thank heavens for my notebook). But this car is getting old now: it was launched in 2020 and facelifted in 2024.
As with practically every car maker out there, Audi has focused its efforts on accelerating its EV development and just left its combustion-engined cars ticking over with a nip and tuck occasionally.
That seems savvy from a business perspective: there’s only so much money to go round and you can still appeal to those who don’t want EVs or hardly have the option in some markets.
Despite some of its ageing traits, there’s plenty to commend the A3. The District Green paint (which I incorrectly called Distinct Green before; thanks to reader Richard for pointing it out) feels modern and the white and black badge detailing of S Line trim looks similarly on-trend and far better than chrome.
All the legally required ADAS functions can be jarring but less so than in some rivals. I have the ability to charge my phone, use Apple CarPlay for sat-nav and more, listen to the radio, heat my bum on a cold day and get from A to B in a comfortable, usable space.
What more could I need? There’s no doubt that this A3 feels long in the tooth in a world of brand new EVs and space-age interiors. Comparison is everything. But during my time with it so far, this car feels as up to date as any needs to be – depending on your powertrain preference, of course.
Final update
Go back a decade or two and an Audi A3 was the slightly posher mainstream choice for an everyday car.