New Audi Q3 | Needs a Reboot

[00:13] new, all new, and it competes in the ultra-competitive class of expensive small SUVs. If I sound ultra-enthused by this class of car, which has real by this class of car, which has real winners like the BMW X2, X1, Lexus UX,

[00:29] is, is because I've never understood this class of car, particularly in the typically don't have the nicest interior spaces. And honestly, particularly with how good the more mainstream SUVs are

[00:41] when it comes to residual and just interior space and how good they are now, these cars are very, very hard to justify just in general other than their size and if you really are brand or badge conscious. So, let's talk about

[00:54] Audi, which means it's going to cost more than an equivalent VW like a You're looking at mid-40s starting with a couple options and then it very quickly balloons past $50,000. And again, this class of car doesn't have

[01:07] usability, this car is bigger and obviously has all new styling. It's be, better interior proportions. The rear which is how you're mostly going to drive this thing around, is 25 cubic

[01:21] seats down, you double that to 50. Rear seats themselves are reasonably comfortable, good headroom, good legroom for smaller adults, children, pets. And when it comes to the typical things that Audi group does well, the switch gear

[01:35] mostly feels all right. It feels not quite like a $50,000 car, but there's throughout. And the actual technology itself, while it is overbearing,

[01:47] are high quality. The software acts quickly, but it's important to bring up that due to Audi's new leadership under Ruven, they're planning allegedly to throw all of this away and go back to a more back-to-basics approach, which is

[02:00] steering wheel controls are an abomination. They're backlit touch-based on the wheel. If you actually brush the controls, you'll get a lot of falses. However, I do love the tactility to these stock controls for

[02:16] your drive mode selector, your turn signals, and your windshield wiper controls. Not something I normally bring up, but I actually find how physically nice. And in your center console area,

[02:28] you do thankfully have physical controls for your audio, control for all of your drive mode stuff, including disabling the to do in this car. The Sonos audio system, which is optional in this car,

[02:42] is right in line with, say, the higher-end options in this space. It So, with that, I'm going to go take you into the shop and walk you through all the technical tidbits.

[03:50] particularly in this application. It gets 22 miles a gallon city, 28 29 on the highway. It does 0 to 60 in the very very low mid fives, which again, for this class of vehicle, makes it very very competitive. So, I said strut

[04:03] the US, we do not get the optional adaptive dampers. They're passive only. You have a variety of wheel sizes from like 18 all the way up to 20. If you want this thing to look ultra tough. Brakes are rather small. The benefit of

[04:17] this being on MQB Evo, their front-wheel drive platform is at least theoretically parts cost should be a lot lower than their more premium counterparts on MLB Every time I have the opportunity to drive a pure luxury car like Audi Q3,

[04:32] Jack sends me on a side quest to fill up his tires and inventory his Bridgestone collection. This time, I came with a power tool, the Wolfbox Megavolt 24 Air. With extreme resilience down to minus 4° Fahrenheit and up to 140° Fahrenheit, I

[04:49] can store it in austere environments like my ex-wife's Jeep Wrangler. I started pumping up tires and I could not believe the power. I also had deflated balls. The Wolfbox pumped those up so fast, I was ready to

[05:02] dunk again. But recently, my dream cars were locked in a garage with no light because Jack burned them out and I had to fill and jump my cars in darkness. The four-in-one emergency device with charger, jump starter, flashlight, and

[05:17] pump saved me. If you need to be saved, get one of 2026's best portable jump starter air compressor combos. Links are in the compressor combos. Links are in the description box.

[05:36] start an Audi Q3 drive without me freaking out at the car itself. I have substituted Mark for a physical dog in this video because he decided But was too good for the Q3. Watson. Hello sir. Hello. We're about to set off

[05:50] in the Audi. Let's do it. Oh, wait for the dual clutch to kick in. Oh, yeah. Zero to the speed limit in adequate speeds. As we mentioned in the shop, this does zero to 60 in the mid-fives,

[06:03] which makes it quite quick for the class of car it's in. I will note it's fairly Tiguan turbo. And I know Mark's not in the car. I'm about this vehicle. The thing that this class of car struggles with, and the Q3

[06:18] is no different despite it being all new, is that it doesn't offer enough versus a commodity car to justify the much poorer residual values and higher price point. If you drive like a brand new RAV4,

[06:35] seats, or even the Tiguan with the massaging seats, you get similar or equivalent levels of luxury features, or in some cases better luxury features, at a lower price point with a higher residual value. And the only thing you

[06:49] maybe lose out on is more screens, which candidly I don't think adds to a luxury driving experience remotely, to my to agree with Mark. And maybe it's a touch quieter driving wise.

[07:03] you compare this to the Tiguan, it's maybe one or two dB quieter. There's less road noise. There's less airborne noise. But you lose out on massaging seats. And from the drivetrain side of things, this dual clutch, while

[07:17] it's plenty quick on the upshift, it's low-speed smoothness is very poor. It's slow to downshift, and every so often it's very, very clunky in that like first to second, second back in the first, or third back in the second, like

[07:33] very, very disappointing from a drive quality side of things. The engine itself, in-gear acceleration, overall fuel economy is fine. This has done a miles to the gallon average. Real world,

[07:46] you're probably sitting in the little mid-20s. Not bad, right? Not bad at all. But, again, what are you really gaining for the 20 miles to the gallon worse than say a RAV4 GR P P have sport vehicle compared

[08:02] to this? You're not gaining anything. You're getting worse fuel economy and refined, which is one of the disappointing parts. Now, dynamic There you go. Sort of surge upshifts, not that refined for the kind of vehicle it is.

[08:15] And again, it's not sporty, right? This is a luxury CUV that you're buying as big as a Q5 and obviously nowhere as big as a Q7, but you still want something that's usable and you can drive every single day. Now,

[08:30] the inputs, other than sort of the the trans cal, typical MQB, right? It's very direct steering. You can sort of change its feel based on what modes

[08:43] you're in. Gearbox cal, again, you can make it entirely relatively rough gearbox is going to be. Or you can sharpen it up. But, the actual like front and rear balance, again, driving on a regular road between

[08:56] some farms, driving in residential areas, it's really hard to show you the dynamic limits of this car, but in typical MQB, it's quite good. Defaults understeer. The all-wheel drive kicks in when it needs to. It's very safe. It's

[09:08] very nimble feeling. These are the pros of this car. But, candidly, so is the Tiguan. The Tiguan is also basically using nearly the identical all-wheel based, non-torque vectoring rear diff.

[09:21] So, I really really struggle with this class of car, at least from an American's perspective. You know, we don't have the confines of the city landscapes that Germany or England has when it comes to

[09:37] cars. And in the US, candidly, if you live in like downtown Chicago or downtown New York, you're probably not going to be driving a little SUV anyway. You're going to be using public transportation or Ubers. So, I don't

[09:50] quite understand this car. If it was like maxed out at 45 or 42,000, this car is. But then, you know, you'd be stepping on where the Tiguan is. So,

[10:03] final thoughts, where Marcus is going to summarize his thoughts on the Audi Q3.

[10:16] might ask yourself, well, what do you expect for around 40 to 45,000? Well, it's not this. And it's not just Audi anymore. It's BMW, Mercedes, Acura, it's Lexus. These vehicles, these entry-level luxury

[10:30] cars, used to be aspirational purchases for people to come out of Hondas, Toyotas, Chevys, Fords. And not any longer. It's because the commodity space, the regular cars, have gotten so good and more expensive, that's made

[10:43] this irrelevant. And there's no way for brands like Audi to compete with that. They can't deliver the feature-rich experience of a Hyundai and Kia, or some other refinement of Honda and Toyota from their drivetrains. And then, you

[10:55] have the tech part. You can buy a Tesla Model 3 or Model Y for pretty much the same price as this, and you can drive yourself through the car with drive itself to a certain extent. So, this is trying to be a hodgepodge of all

[11:10] those cars, and it doesn't have an identity. It's just another small SUV that's a lot of money, but with underwhelming features, very average drivetrain, average refinement, all of that. So, I don't envy this brand. I

[11:23] don't know how you compete in this space, other than like a complete reboot and a subsidization of the vehicle to to people into it, or just stop competing going to leave it at that. Thanks for watching. I'll see you next video.

[11:37] a cause, living out of the blue. but didn't have a clue.

[11:50] was just a game, worn out worn out on my