A sporting chance: Audi’s speedy new offering

The Audi Q3 Sportback is the first ever coupe design with SUV functionality, but is this something we need?

After Audi discontinued the popular Q3 in 2020, the German luxury brand has brought it back with not just one but two variants, as if to make up for lost time. The standard Q3 SUV was launched last year. Earlier this year, it was supplemented by the new Sportback variant, the first compact SUV coupe. With no direct rivals, the Q3 Sportback can carve a niche of its own. But what’s special about it?

The Q3 Sportback has style, and comes in an exclusive shade of blue, but the sharply sloping roof ends up eating into a fair bit of headroom.

Audi has reserved its sporty S-Line styling package exclusively for the Q3 Sportback. What this gets you is more aggressive front and rear bumpers with big brushed-silver trim inserts, a hexagonal mesh pattern with more brushed silver elements rather than the vertical chrome slats in the standard SUV, and a welcome five twin-spoke design for the 18-inch alloy wheels. All in a striking Turbo Blue paint shade, also exclusive to this version. It looks absolutely stunning.

The car has a fabulous petrol engine and all-wheel drive as a standard feature, But the digital cockpit looks outdate.

Balancing design and practicality is an art. The Q3 Sportback clearly leans towards design because the sloping roof ends up eating a fair bit into headroom, which is noticeably less than in the regular Q3. You have to crouch a bit to get in, and once seated, taller passengers will find headroom tight. That aside, rear passengers (unless they are very tall) will find little to complain about. There’s good leg room and comfortable seats. As in the standard car, the bench is contoured for two passengers, so the third won’t be quite as comfortable. And you only get a single-panel sunroof, not a panoramic one.

Slip into the driver’s seat and you’ll be welcomed by a high-quality cabin with equipment similar to the standard Q3. You get powered front seats, dual-zone climate control, gesture-controlled powered tailgate, wireless phone charger and a 10-speaker sound system, amongst other frills. Driver-seat memory would have been a welcome inclusion. Also, the digital cockpit, once the talking point of every new Audi, now looks dated in comparison to the rival brands that have superior instrument clusters and infotainment systems.

As with any new Audi, there’s no diesel engine on offer, but practicality and spending long hours on the highway isn’t the reason to choose the Sportback. Besides, it has a fabulous petrol engine, which in 40 TFSI spec, packs a solid 190hp and 320Nm of torque. It also has all-wheel-drive as a standard feature, one that is quickly disappearing from this segment and is another strong differentiator. All-wheel-drive isn’t for off-roading or climbing mountains, but it provides better traction and grip, especially in wet or slippery conditions. It can be quite a valuable safety net.

Audis of late are exceptionally smooth and easy cars to drive, thanks to a winning combination of refined engines and supple suspension. The Audi Q3 Sportback is no exception. From the minute you select D on the chunky gear shifter and prod the accelerator, you’ll love the ease with which this little SUV builds up speed. The steering is light, the engine is strong. The suspension soaks up bad roads like a sponge. All of this makes the Q3 Sportback a car that takes the stress out of daily driving.

Priced at around ₹60 lakh for the top-end Technology variant, the Q3 Sportback is expensive. If you want an SUV with a coupe look, you can’t get anything else for the money.