First of I took these out with a sales person, and I do not like pushing cars to their limits when I have passengers - having said this I did approach 100mph and enjoyed the drives of both cars.

You can read many auto journalists reports on teh actual drives so I will simply list what I have not read that prospective owners may like to know.

The 3.2
If you have ever driven the 225 or 3.2 TT this car only inspires about 87% of the confidance you have in th TT when taking corners, although I imagine its ability to be much closer to 95%

Despite the reviews all saying the engine is quite refined, I found the sound of the engine and exhaust to be quite grumpy, and satisfctory to know this is no ordinery car.

It failed to excite me, the fantastic build of the car really does hide the actual acceleration, its very surreal to watch the speedo rise so fast and feel and hear so little.

The 2.0TDI
This had uprated tyres to match the 3.2, and it held the road nearly equal to the 3.2, despite it not being quattro.

In contrast to my 2.0 petrol A4 (B6) the A3 seemed to have a greater ability to hold the road, it was certainly quiter in the cabin and side by side for acceleration the A3 has the edge.


For me its a no brainer, I would take the TDI and want the 3.2 like crazy!! but the difference in the 2 cars is really acceleration, not braking nor ability to take corners or comfort as these are pretty much the same.

If only fuel in the UK didn't cost so much.

Thanks for the review. Without ever driving a single car you mentioned, I would have guessed pretty much exactly what you wrote. ;)

As a rule of thumb a chipped TDI yields and extra 25% power and torque. How do you think the two would compare then?

D'nardo