AUDI A3 SPORTBACK

Does it matter if this old-tech car is showing its age?

- RACHEL BURGESS

When we welcomed this car to the Autocar fleet, road test editor Matt Saunders wrote: “I’ll be keen to find out if Rachel thinks an A3 S Line diesel still feels sufficiently ‘2024’ or like a car ready for retirement.”

When I first stepped into the A3, having come from a Lexus LBX, an all-new hybrid, the experience did feel very analogue. Not in a negative way but a notable way nonetheless.

Inside, there's a modestly sized touchscreen running familiar Volkswagen Group software, plus lots of buttons, and they're all properly tactile - none of this haptic hoo-ha. The seats are adjusted using a simple handle, which I've always thought just as effective as the electronic alternative anyway. And then there's the inability to open the doors without using the key fob.