Driving or being driven in a drop-top is a multi-sensorial experience that everyone should partake in at least once in a lifetime. Whizzing through a tunnel in the new Audi A3 Cabriolet, one feels as if he is sprinting through the cavernous thoroughfare on foot. Honks of neighbouring vehicles and the sputters of their engines feel closer than they actually are. The whiff of roadside vegetation is replaced with that of uncharacteristic tarmac.
As you reduce the agile A3’s velocity to a stroll upon reaching the car park, the unique acoustics of the A3 Cabriolet lends you insight into the whispers of other cars. Each engine has a different voice, as they pant and drip while waiting for their owners to return.
The 2014 Audi A3 Cabriolet is exuberance embodied. A highly acclaimed model upgraded to fete the 10th anniversary of the A3, this highly stable automobile exhibits extreme stability at high speeds – I was blitzing Singapore’s arteries at 130km/h effortlessly and was hardly aware of the breakneck speed that I had quickly achieved. Despite being quite capacious for a sports model, the dashing mount is also not too wide and gives its driver good sense of its proportions from the cockpit.
Brandishing a tried and tested 125bhp 1.4 TFSI engine with a seven-speed S tronic transmission, the A3 was awarded the prestigious title of 2014 World Car of the Year, which was a title issued by an independent panel of judges, consisting of automobile journalists and other industry veterans. Crucial boons that lifted the dynamic and responsive A3 to receive this lofty decoration, was its impressive combined fuel consumption value, which stands at 5.1 litres per 100 kilometres, and its carbon emission that totals a mere 119 grams per kilometre. In the ten-year history of the World Car of the Year awards, Audi holds a spectacular seven tips of the hat.
In practice, a test by The Millenary yielded about 700km from the A3 Cabriolet’s full gas tank. Yours for around SGD200,000 including COE, I was quite tempted to make this beautiful steed permanently mine.
In impeccable power and poise, the Audi A3 Cabriolet devours the road with ease. Audi’s Singaporean ambassadors are currently professional golfer Quincy Quek and singer-songwriter Dick Lee. Upon request, premium customers of Audi can be the recipient of a one-on-one coaching session with Quek. Like Quek, Lee was chosen because he represents both style and home-grown talent.
Unseen by the common man, the A3 Cabriolet sports a thoughtfully designed, streamlined and levelled undercarriage, which is an immense boost to the power of this sports car when cutting through the wind, and also serves to cut out noise and insulate passengers from external temperatures. Able to be enjoyed by all, all of Audi’s Cabriolets feature premium sports car-style seating that undeniably calls out to the active male.
The first A3 was unveiled in 1996 to a warm reception. The new member of the Audi family was a premium hatchback and notably, unwittingly, set a new sporty upscale hatchback trend, prompting rival brands to churn out similar models in pursuit of the original A3’s success.
Among Audi’s collections of automobiles, ‘A’ is used to define Audi’s main line, while ‘S’ is a dressed up and souped up range of the A Series that is capable of even more. In 2003, the A3 was designed as a spunky three-door, eventually metamorphosising into a cabriolet in 2008. Today, the A3 has a sportback version as well as a sedan variant. The A3 Cabriolet’s roof can be raised while travelling at speeds of up to 50km/h, as compared to the previous maximum speed of 30km/h, and can be kept in under 18 seconds.
Audi’s range of Cabriolets themselves bears a rich history. Notable fans of Audi’s Cabriolets include the late Princess Diana. The various models are frequently related to traits like powerful manoeuvrability, weightless driving and romance, which is why Audi’s designers have never produced a hard-top cabriolet, so as to not lose the vivacity and cohesiveness of the Audi Cabriolets’ silhouettes.
The 2014 Audi A3 Cabriolet sprints in in a variety of colours, complemented by black, brown or grey tops, demarcated by an iconic brushed aluminium border separating the dark and vibrant tones.
Filed under: Lifestyle Tagged: A3, Audi
