I'm glad that the 3 and 5-door are being refreshed to stay in line with the new cabrio - but when is the new A3 going to arrive?

I get totally confused with the lifespan of Audis because one model will go through 3 or 4 iterations before finally being retired. I get a very clear sense of a model's age when it comes to BMW or Mercedes, but Audi's frantic update rhythm tricks me into thinking that models are old before their time.

Now that I really think about it - The sportback debuted back in... was it late 2004? About the same time as the 1er, if memory serves me correct.

Guess I answered my own question there. Suddenly the cabrio makes a boatload of sense.

The 3-door here looks like a small car trying to fill a big car's styling shoes. It doesn't really work for me. The sportback, on the other hand, looks phenomenal. Great rims too!

This is the first facelift for A3 Sportback and the second for 3 door A3 (single frame grille integration was the first one).

One series came to the market one year after the Sportback and 2 years after the 3 door A3 and has been facelifted already.

Mercedes facelifted nearly half of their models this year (A , GL , M , SL etc) so i don't think that Audi is doing something unusual.

It's kind of sad but all German brands do facelifts more often that the Japanese brands these days!

GL wasn't facelifted this year.

Japanese brands don't really do "facelifts" per say, its kinda rare. Usually they'll let a car go 5 years with minimal-minor improvements and then usually, the design is shot....and needs replacing. German designs last longer, usually 7 years and their facelifts are usually just improving on the close to perfection of the original. I like the German approach myself. Honda used to re-design the Accord every 4 years like clockwork, which IMO says very little about the design.

M

The S3 Sportback is the Audi I've been waiting for. At last!

I'd have one in a heartbeat (I'm already fantasizing about some of my favourite corners out there...) and I'd get no complaints from the wife department either. A fabulous car.

Second that!

wow the sportback is super hot..gotta be the hottest car in the class..
kudos audi

That sport back is really hot and the standard hatchbak

Most boring car in the whole lineup, still

This is great! But why didn't they put the Common Rail Diesel engines in this?

Agreed