Audi Q3 Sportback 2020 review

I'm Tom Baker, this is Chasing Cars, and this is the new Audi Q3 Sportback, which arrives here in Australia this week. The Q3 Sportback is potentially what you'd expect. It's a new variation of the Q3 with a cutaway coupe SUV roofline there at the back that gives it a slight added touch of style and differentiation from the sort of wagon-bodied version or standard version of the Q3, makes it look a little bit more athletic, a little bit more sporty. I kind of like it, to be honest. I'm not usually the biggest fan of coupe SUVs, but I do think that Audi's more subtle style of doing it actually kind of suits this sort of car, and as we'll find out shortly, it also drives really well, just like the underlying Q3. That's especially the case because the Sportback brings out a bigger engine into the Q3 lineup here in Australia, a 2.0-litre turbo petrol that really suits the car, and inside it has all those goodies that we really liked on the standard Q3, which is a comparison winner here on Chasing Cars. So, today we'll do our usual thing. We'll check out the interior, the back seats, and the practicality of the Q3 Sportback, and then we'll take this 40 TFSI grade out onto the road to see how it drives. But before we do that, make sure to hit subscribe and the notification bell below the video. Inside the Q3 Sportback, it's very familiar from the underlying Q3, but there actually are one or two flourishes that differentiate the front interior from the standard version and remind you that you are, in fact, in the Sportback, and the biggest one of those is actually one of my favourite elements of the interior, and that's the Alcantara lining that you get in place of the secondary trim that you get as normal on the Q3. So, we have this lovely grey Alcantara here on the dash. We also have it repeated on the doors, but you don't have to get it in grey. You can actually get it in orange or brown, which is way out there for an Audi and pretty out there for basically any car in 2020, so that's a cool little flourish. The rest of the interior is very similar to the Q3, but that is a very good thing because this has the best interior of a small SUV on the market as far as we're concerned here, at least at this point in time, and that's largely because of the superb integration of technology in the Q3. So, we have wireless Apple CarPlay down here on this crisp touchscreen. Audi have moved away from a high-mounted screen with a rotary controller, but thankfully their touchscreen is big, clear, bright, and really easy to use with large touch controls, and having wireless CarPlay works great. There's no wireless Android Auto yet, but that could be added in a later update, and then in front of you, you have a beautiful virtual cockpit, full colour, satellite mapping, Telstra data for the satellite mapping, and other services like fuel prices and parking lot space availability for three years included with the car, plus wireless smartphone charging as standard down here. So, everything works just great and you don't actually have to add any options in terms of tech, apart from one thing, and that's the stereo, because the base car, we didn't think it had a great stereo in the normal Q3. Here in the 40 TFSI, you do get a higher-grade Audi Hi-Fi as standard, and then this car has the Bang & Olufsen system, which is actually a well-priced option when you take into account just how great the stereo is, so that's something that I would go for because I enjoy my music. Nice steering wheel here, perforations, stitching, paddle shifters, and a flat bottom, so you've kind of got the whole lot in terms of a sporty steering wheel, and you sit in pretty comfy seats. So, black leather in this car with the S embossing, they are supportive. They're definitely a little bit more sporty with thicker bolsters and Alcantara running down those as well, but we have electric adjustment for both front seats here in the 40 TFSI, which makes them more comfy because you can achieve really a perfect driving position. Seat heating as well, but sadly, no memory. In terms of practicality, it's really good. So, we've got big cup holders between the seats, a deep central bin, adjustable armrest. As I mentioned, we have the wireless smartphone charging, and we also have big door bins. So, up front, Audi have basically nailed the interior of the Q3 and given us very little to complain about here. Here in the back of the Q3 Sportback, even though this is a coupe SUV, Audi's versions of these cars are not as rakishly roof-lined as some in the industry. So, the loss on backseat space and the view out the window isn't as bad as in some rivals. So, if I sit up straight, you'll see that for me, it's six foot. My headroom I've actually got enough. I've got about an inch or so above me, despite the fact this car has the sunroof fitted. Legroom behind my driving position, I've got another couple of inches, and toe room is no problem at all. Now, in a pinch, you could get three people across. The hump in the floor isn't too big, but really, this is a four-seater at most of the time, I reckon. But, it's reasonably comfy back here. The seats are long enough in terms of the squab and angled up, and you also get a few amenities. So, you get air vents, two fast-charging USB-C ports, a 12-volt socket, you get a flip-down armrest that's quite substantial, with cup holders built into it as well, plus those soft-touch door materials and the cool Alcantara strip. They continue into the backseat, too, and just like the normal Q3, we actually still have the sliding and also reclining rear bench here. So, you can prioritise either backseat comfort or boot space, depending on what you need on the day. And speaking of boot space, that's where we're going to go next. Here, around the back, is where the Q3 Sportback is most obviously different to the underlying Q3. Not only is the tailgate cut away, which is a common factor in, you know, any coupe SUV, but there's a number of design elements that have been changed. There's this new diffuser, makes it look a bit broader, a bit meaner, there's changes in the lights. It just looks a little different from this angle, and I think in this Turbo Blue paintwork, it presents pretty well, actually. You open up the electric tailgate, which is a standard feature across the range, and there is a good amount of boot space. It's quite a long space. There's 530 litres on paper, the same as the normal Q3, but we know there's a little bit of trickery there, and that's that the measurement generally in the car industry only comes up to the window line. Obviously, if you cut away the diagonal of the tailgate on a coupe SUV, you don't have as big a boot, but that comes down to that you can't stack it as high. You know, if you ignore that, there is actually a decent amount of space. Now, we've got a chrome finisher here, so you don't damage that awesome blue paintwork. We've got two little cubbies either side of the boot floor. We've got a couple of shopping bag hooks, and then, of course, you can close the tailgate or lock the car entirely and jump into the driver's seat to take this Sportback for a drive and see how it goes on the road, and that's what we're going to do next. Right, so what is the Q3 Sportback like to drive, both on its own and also how it differs from the normal Q3, which scored pretty well in terms of driving dynamics with us here on Chasing Cars? Well, the main differences are that it's a little bit firmer, it's a little bit sportier, and it's quite a bit faster because you can get that 2.0-litre four-cylinder engine here in the Sportback that isn't quite ready for the standard Q3. So, the normal Q3 is running what Audi calls the 35 TFSI, which is a 110-kilowatt 1.4-litre turbo petrol four, but here in the Sportback, you can get both the 35 TFSI engine and also the 40 TFSI, and the 40 TFSI steps the displacement up to two litres and produces 132 kilowatts of power and 320 newton metres of torque, and as a result, it just feels faster everywhere. Off the line, which is actually where the 35 TFSI feels fine, but especially out here in the country, in terms of overtaking, in terms of hard power down out of a corner, the 40 TFSI is just a really good fit for this vehicle, and the reason I say that is because the chassis can absolutely take plenty of power. This is an MQB-based vehicle, which is a really good platform, excellent front bias platform. This vehicle has the Quattro all-wheel drive system, however, which gives it really good traction in slippery conditions, so it's nice and dry today so far. Now, the Sportback comes to Australia as an S-line, whereas the standard Q3 doesn't come as an S-line as standard, so what we get here is a firmer suspension setup out of the box. You do have to pay extra for adaptive dampers, and this car doesn't have them, but the fixed setup is actually fine. It's pretty firm, but if you're buying an SUV that looks this sporty, I think you expect that sort of character from it, especially when it's riding on 20-inch wheels like this vehicle here. I mean, they're pretty mean-looking, big wheels, but they don't damage the ride perhaps as much as you'd expect. Definitely, you can feel imperfections in the road, but they don't go like clanging up into your spine. It's actually pretty well-damped, and honestly, I don't really miss not having comfort and dynamic suspension modes because they've got the one setting right, and there's nothing wrong with a good single-mode damper. There's plenty of cars that don't have adaptive dampers and ride fine, and the Q3 Sportback is actually one of them. The benefit of the slightly firmer setup and the stiffer setup is that it handles corners really well. The standard Q3 was surprisingly good through the corners, and the Sportback is actually better again because the body sits really flat. It digs right in. The Hankook rubber on this car gives you plenty of chemical grip, but it's just a small, tight-feeling SUV that actually gives you quite a lot of confidence as a driver, and perhaps you didn't expect that it would be all that engaging, but it actually is pretty good, and there's something here for keen drivers to enjoy. But when you just want to settle down and commute, it's really fine for that as well. Refinement's pretty good, road noise is fairly low. The engine, look, it doesn't sound amazing. Let's listen. You can't really hear it, you know, it's just a sort of refined-sounding four-cylinder, which, I mean, I'm totally okay with that. Visibility out is not so bad. Obviously, the rearward visibility isn't as good as a normal SUV, but it's far from the worst I've seen, and thankfully these side mirrors here are pretty big, and the blind spot over your shoulder isn't as bad because there's a little piece of extra glass back there that they remembered to include, which is good. Now, other plus points. The steering, I think it's decent. The more you turn the wheel, the bigger result you get because of the variable steering ratio on this sportier model, and that system works really well. The steering wheel is quite nice in the hand as well, and you just get the result that you're expecting. Audi's very good at making cars that slice up corners really surgically, and just make it easy and confidence- I really like about these cars, and you can actually see, like, as the suspension is mopping up these bumps on the road that I'm on now, my head is remaining stable while the car moves around beneath me, so head toss is minimal. That's a sign of good damping. Plus, I just really like the technology integration. There's nothing obstructing your line of sight, and because of that satellite map in front of you here, you really do feel like a bit of a genius in terms of where the road's going to go next, so it isn't just a gimmick, actually. It makes you a better driver in the process. Plus, we've got to talk about the gearbox, so we've got the seven-speed dual-clutch S tronic, as Audi calls it. I mean, it's not the last word in automatic gearboxes, but Audi and the wider Volkswagen group have got their dual-clutches to a pretty sharp point now, and they stay out of your way most of the time, but you're not going to be tricked into thinking that it's got a torque converter. Let's just say that. Finally, on safety, we've got plenty of kit. The base car doesn't get all of it, but this upspec version does get a really good whack of safety tech, including adaptive cruise control, lane keep assist, which is actually standard, as is high-speed AEB and forward collision warning. We also have blind spot monitoring here and rear cross-traffic alert, which is helpful in a car with reduced visibility. So, those are our detailed opinions on the new 2020 Audi Q3 Sportback. This is actually a really good, small, premium SUV, just like its brother, the standard version. If you want one that looks a little bit more athletic, a bit more bold, then the Sportback makes sense. It does cost a bit more, but I do think you get that extra bit of panache for your money, and it still has that great interior, good practicality, and it drives well. It's among the best cars in the segment to drive, as we recently found out in our comparison of the Audi Q3 to the BMW X1 and the Mazda CX-30, which I encourage you to watch by clicking up here next. Let me know what you think about the Q3 Sportback below the video. While you're down there, make sure to hit subscribe and the notification bell, and as always, thanks for watching Chasing Cars.