2025 Audi A3 Reviews, Pricing & Specs

Classic Audi styling cues blend to create the A3’s tidy and attractive design. From the “single frame” grille and roofline arc to the swollen fenders and tapered taillights, the A3 sedan is easy to identify as an Audi with no more than a glance. It has character, but it remains conservative enough to fly under the radar.

Given how few A3s Audi sells each year, it’s unsurprising that this entry-level model’s lineup is thin. Choices include Premium or Premium Plus trim packages, nine paint colors (six of which are grayscale), and 17-inch or 18-inch wheels. Black is the only interior color. Prices range from $39,495 to $42,095, including the destination charge.

Our fully-loaded test car arrived with Premium Plus trim, Arrow Gray Pearl paint, the Black Optic Package featuring 18-inch wheels, and the Technology Package, which included upgraded digital instrumentation and infotainment features. It carried a manufacturer’s suggested retail price (MSRP) of $46,040 with destination.

Variety may not be the spice of life when it comes to the Audi A3, but you may enjoy yourself so much that you won’t care. Additionally, the black interior isn’t dour, thanks to its high-tech design, gloss-black trim, genuine wood inlay, and metallic accents. There is plenty of fancy detailing to keep your eyes entertained, and quality materials ensure you don’t mistake the A3 for anything but a small luxury car.

Switchgear is straightforward and thoughtfully executed, but navigating through the views and menus on the digital instrument cluster can be somewhat distracting. You can tune the radio or adjust the stereo volume using the steering wheel controls or a brilliant touch-sensing round pad on the center console. The climate and secondary controls are simple and sophisticated in operation. However, on multiple occasions, we selected Drive instead of Reverse due to the initially counterintuitive transmission controls.

Speaking of driving, the 2025 Audi A3 is equipped with a turbocharged 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine that’s slightly more powerful than before. It still makes 201 horsepower, but torque increases 15 pound-feet to 236 lb-ft. A seven-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission delivers the power to the newly standard Quattro AWD system, which helps the little luxury sedan feel quick and nimble in addition to providing extra traction during inclement weather.

If the manufacturer-estimated six-second zero to 60 mph time isn’t quick enough for you, Audi offers a couple of upgrades. They include the 328-hp Audi S3 which, for a $10,500 upcharge, will shave 1.6 seconds off that time. Or, for maximum performance, you can blow almost 65 grand on the Audi RS 3, which has an exclusive 394-hp 2.5-liter five-cylinder engine delivering zero-to-60 mph acceleration in 3.6 seconds.

Those sport- and performance-tuned versions of the A3 are impressive, but in real-world driving on narrow mountain roads, the standard engine is remarkably satisfying. You can choose between Comfort, Auto, Dynamic, and Individual driving modes, and while we used Auto most of the time, we selected Dynamic for a blast across the Santa Monica Mountains near Malibu.

So calibrated, the A3 was a real pleasure to drive with enthusiasm. The S-tronic dual-clutch transmission shifts expertly enough to render the steering wheel paddles decorative instead of functional. But the A3 is more than just a sweetly revving and refined powertrain. Due to its size, you can conserve velocity in curves by slowing less and using more of the available lane.

Additionally, the Black Optic Package’s sport suspension instantly quells unwanted body motions while retaining sufficient compliance to absorb road surface irregularities and react softly when necessary. The steering is perfection, the P225/40R18 Pirelli P Zero all-season tires provide remarkably good grip, and the brakes proved effective and fade-free. However, by the time we reached the beach at the terminus of Mulholland Highway, the front pads were emitting smoke.

On the highway, the A3 can suffer from excessive road noise on imperfect surfaces, and with a full load of passengers, we would have appreciated a little more mid-range power for passing slower vehicles. Around town, the A3 feels solid and structurally sound. The transmission is well behaved, though in Auto mode, following a slight delay in response to accelerator input, the Audi can surge forward more rapidly than expected as the torque kicks in. This, in turn, appears to make some of your fellow motorists believe you wish to race.

The A3 is EPA-rated at 28 mpg combined. That aligns perfectly with our result of 28.4 mpg on our Southern California evaluation loop.

The Audi A3 is a small car. Narrow and short, it technically seats five passengers, but even with children in the rear bench seat, it’s a snug fit for three people. And the trunk’s 8.3 cubic feet of cargo capacity is half the size of a Honda Accord’s 16.7 cubic feet.

Nevertheless, the A3 makes the most of the space it has. We used it for family duty in the suburbs of Los Angeles, taking teenagers to school, running local errands, and driving into the city. Nobody complained about comfort, and while a road trip may have proved daunting, the trunk held what we needed it to.

Heated, power-adjustable front seats wrapped in leather are standard in every A3. Between them is a padded armrest that slides forward and adjusts for height to help ensure comfort. While exiting the car can be awkward due to the roof pillar, and we wished for seat ventilation on more than one late spring day, front seat comfort is excellent.

Unexpectedly, the rear seat accommodates average-height adults without any issues, and you can double stack six-footers front and rear. People with lanky legs must take care with their knees and shins due to the rigid front seatbacks and storage netting, but otherwise, the A3’s rear-seat legroom is accommodating for shorter trips. The test car had rear climate controls, a center armrest, and a short but supportive bottom seat cushion.

Storage space is reasonable, too. You can hide items in the glove compartment or the cubby in the lower left portion of the dashboard, while open trays on the center console and bins in the door panels accommodate the items you may carry with you during a typical commute.

Previously, we mentioned the A3’s tiny trunk. The good news is that two full-size suitcases fit side by side, leaving room on top of them for flat items and stash space around them for other items. You can pack it full, too, thanks to the enclosed trunk lid hinges. A hook drops down to hold shopping bags, and there is a small amount of storage space under the cargo floor on either side of the spare tire.

Audi equips the A3 with a 10.25-inch digital instrumentation panel and a 10.1-inch touchscreen infotainment system with wireless Apple CarPlay, wireless Android Auto, access to Audi Connect services, and a six-speaker sound system. It’s basic tech, but it gets the job done.

Audiophiles will have no choice but to upgrade to the A3 Premium Plus for its impressive Sonos premium sound system. You also get SiriusXM 360L satellite radio, providing subscription-based access to a diverse range of music. Separately, a Technology Package is available, adding a larger and more sophisticated 12.3-inch Audi Virtual Cockpit Plus digital instrumentation display, a navigation system, and exclusive Audi Connect service plans.

During our evaluation, connectivity between an iPhone 16 and the Audi Multimedia Interface (MMI) proved intermittent, and not just because we drove in and out of cell coverage. Occasionally, we would return to the A3, and it seemingly did not recognize that the phone was present. Additionally, on a hot day when the sun shone on the MMI display, it nearly burned our fingertips while navigating the touch-sensitive menu icons.

The voice-recognition system proved nearly flawless, quickly and accurately responding to all of our testing prompts except for one. When requesting directions to a specific local restaurant on a specific street—a potentially common situation when driving and unaware of the destination’s exact address—the system could not help us, even after adding the city name to the query.

Audi equips every 2025 A3 with a basic set of driver-assistance features. Audi Pre Sense Front packages forward collision warning with automatic emergency braking. Lane-departure warning, rear cross-traffic alert, a vehicle exit warning system, and Audi Side Assist blind-spot monitoring are standard as well.

The Premium Plus trim adds Adaptive Cruise Assist with adaptive cruise control, Lane Guidance (lane-keeping assist and lane-centering assist), and hands-on detection capability for the steering wheel. You can use adaptive cruise control with or without Lane Guidance, and Adaptive Cruise Assist includes a Predictive Control setting that automatically adjusts vehicle speed for curves in the route ahead. You can turn this on or off, or set it up with a speed tolerance to reduce driver irritation.

Adaptive Cruise Assist is excellent technology, and while it is a hands-on system, you barely need to hold the steering wheel to avoid warnings to take control. Most of the curves of Pacific Coast Highway were no trouble for the Audi’s tech, and on a rural two-lane farm road where we came upon a car parked with its back end nearly in the path, the A3 calmly ignored the potential trigger.

At all times, the tech can “see” far enough down the road that it reacts to changing traffic situations early and smoothly, even when using the closest following distance setting. And, when it must hand control back to the driver, the directive is polite and calm rather than shrill and demanding. It was truly a pleasure to use Adaptive Cruise Assist in a variety of highway driving situations.

With that said, the A3’s lane-departure warning system regularly issued false alerts. Fortunately, they take the form of a subtle vibration through the steering wheel. Frequently, they were in response to lanes widening from one to two or narrowing from two to one, or to pavement scars from old construction zones. However, sometimes they were simply wrong.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) had not released safety ratings for the 2025 Audi A3 at the time of publication. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) gave the A3 its top rating in a small overlap front crash test, but had not released any other current results.

Small luxury cars are uncommon, but not unheard of. The 2025 Audi A3 counts the Acura Integra, BMW 2 Series Gran Coupe, and Mercedes-Benz CLA as its rivals. Compared to them, the Audi’s base price of $39,495 (including destination) is higher than that of the Acura, lower than the Mercedes, and in line with the BMW.

Audi’s warranty coverage is typical of the segment, although Acura provides slightly better powertrain warranty coverage, while BMW includes complimentary scheduled maintenance for three years.

So, the Audi A3 won’t win any value awards. Still, it is a delightful daily driver, boasting a stylish design, comfortable front seats, accessible and helpful technology, and an engaging driving experience. Take it for a romp on your favorite back roads, and it proves an impressive German sports sedan in the traditional idiom.