Get your magnifying glass out – the Audi A3 has been facelifted for 2024, with a few tweaks to its styling, interior design and technology. Fortunately, Audi has provided us with a handy before-and-after picture (below).
And now, the updated Audi A3 is available to order. Audi has revealed full prices and specs for its big-selling hatchback, which starts from £32,035. First deliveries are due to begin in late May.
New Audi A3 prices and specs
Three trim levels are available: Sport, S Line and Black Edition. With the previous entry-level Technik trim gone, Sport is now the first one. But it includes a huge amount of new equipment, such as heated front seats, automated parking assistance, three-zone climate control and wireless phone charging.
S Line and Black Edition trims bring largely cosmetic upgrades, including bigger wheels and exclusive trim options. At £34,315, S Line costs just over £2,000 more than Sport, while the top-spec Black Edition costs £36,015. Those prices are for the hatchback with a 1.5-litre petrol engine – you'll pay around £2,000 more across the range for the diesel engine and an additional £550 or so for the A3 Saloon.
Styling
The most noticeable styling change at the front is the new frameless grille, which is wider and flatter than before. To our eyes, it makes the A3 look more like the Audi Q8 e-tron, the brand’s flagship electric SUV. There are also new air vents and a new lower bumper, while the rear end welcomes a new bumper and diffuser design. Two new paint colours are available – District Green and Progressive Red.
The headlights might look broadly the same as before, but they now offer four different daytime running light signatures. These can be chosen from the settings menu on the touchscreen.
Interior
From the 10.1-inch ‘MMI navigation plus’ touchscreen, you can also buy a couple of extra convenience features. If not already equipped, you can pay to upgrade to adaptive cruise control and high-beam assist, and you can choose whether to upgrade for a month, a few months, a couple of years or permanently. We’d prefer a high-end hatch like the A3 to come with these features as standard, however.
You can also add third-party apps to the Audi’s display screen through the car’s app store. Apps such as Amazon Alexa can be installed in the background without taking you off the navigation or music screen.
The design of the interior has been lightly refreshed, too. The air vents are reprofiled to make the cabin feel wider, there’s new ambient lighting and a new recycled fabric strip across the dash, and automatic models get a smaller shifter that takes up less space.
Initially, the A3 launches with its popular 150hp ‘35 TFSI’ and ‘35 TDI’ petrol and diesel engines. A manual gearbox will return to the petrol engine later in the year, along with a broader engine range and an improved plug-in hybrid model.
New 2024 Audi S3: prices and specs
The warmed up, more powerful Audi S3 has also been treated to a host of updates as part of the A3's midlife refresh. Of course, it gets similar styling updates to the standard A3, but the big news is that power is up from 306hp to 333hp. That's reduced the 0-62mph time by a tenth of a second – now 4.7 seconds. The S3 should also be more fun to drive, thanks to the now-standard inclusion of Audi's Torque Splitter system, which was originally reserved for the even more powerful Audi RS3.
The S3 is available in Black Edition or Vorsprung trim levels so, like the standard A3, the entry-level trim has been dropped. S3 Black Edition cars get 19-inch alloy wheels, sports suspension, a Sonos sound system, fine Nappa leather upholstery and black trim inside and out. Vorsprung has the bells, whistles and more besides, with Matrix LED headlights, a 360-degree camera and a panoramic sunroof, among other things.
In the meantime, browse our exciting range of used Audi A3 cars for sale, or read our Audi A3 review.
