Your servant pictured here behind the wheel of the Audi Q3, driving out of the Dolder Grand premises for the first dynamic impressions of this remarkable SUV...

Driving is believing, the old saying goes. And after a whole day behind the wheel of the all-new Q3 in various versions, we are again convinced of its wisdom and truth.

Indeed, the Q3 needs to be driven to appreciate it fully, no matter how good the impression already is when admiring Audi’s latest at standstill.

Hans Knol ten Bensel

The Audi Q3 showed unerring balance even on slippery Swiss country roads around Zürich...  

We sat already behind the wheel at its Brussels presentation. But now it was time to push the starting knob. We gently drove away from the grounds of the magnificent Dolder Hotel in Zürich. We felt immediately at home in the Q3. Everything fell nicely into hand.

The S Tronic transmission coupled to the 177 hp 2 litre Diesel handled the power with uncanny smoothness. A slight push of the throttle, and a feline burst of power followed.

The narrow country and farm roads in the countryside around Zürich were wet and slippery. But the Q3 mastered it with a wonderful balance, never feeling disturbed or stressed, even under full power.

Accelerating, cornering, braking, this compact SUV took it all in its stride. The Q3 was smooth, noiseless and effortless, while being agile and fast. When it comes to driving pleasure, the Q3 certainly delivers…

We flicked between the various driving modes, dynamic, efficient, comfort and auto. The drive select varies the engine response, steering characteristics and the behaviour of the S Tronic automatic transmission.

The Drive Selector lets you select the setup which suits your (driving) mood...  

Especially the comfort mode was impressive, as the very comfortable ride did not in any way disturb the excellent handling. The modes can be supplemented by a suspension with damper regulation. When one chooses the efficiency mode, the Q3 just freewheels when one lifts the throttle, conserving as much kinetic energy as possible.

The Q3 was presented in the magnificent setting of the Dolder Grand in Zürich 

Overall, the car sits just right, and the Q3 gives a very roomy impression to both driver and front passenger.

A 140 hp two wheel drive…

The Audi TDI Diesel engine offers state of the art technology with injection pressures of 1800 bar and eight-hole injection nozzles... 

Of course we also laid our hands on the two wheel drive version with the 2 litre 140 hp Diesel TDI engine, equipped with the 6 speed gearbox. Even unleashing the impressive torque of the Diesel engine hardly resulted in any noticeable wheelspin, and the car remained stable in all (wet) road conditions. It again showed its masterful road balance.

Hans-Jürgen Rudolph, responsible for the Development of the Q3, explained its technical qualities...

The accelerations are quite brisk indeed, the car feels very lively yet remains very refined. For (Urban) users who will hardly tackle any serious off-road work, this version of the Q3 is certainly not to be overlooked…

… and the smooth power of the 170 hp 2 litre TFSI

Audi's 2 litre petrol TFSI engine has been declared 5 times in a row "The Engine of the Year..."  

Modern gasoline engines are utterly smooth, very powerful and yet quite frugal. Audi’s engine is a true champion in all this, and not surprisingly it has been declared “Engine of the Year” five times in a row. We drove the 125 kW (170 hp) version in combination with the smooth and precise 6 gear manual box, and the excellent torque and elasticity of the engine makes it an ideal companion for (very) refined (Urban) motoring.

5 cylinder sound and fury in the Q3…

The Quattro 5 cylinder Q3 S-line was well and truly the icing on the cake...  

But the pinnacle in Q3 driving was yet to come. The icing of the cake was a short stint behind the wheel of the S- Line 5 cylinder Q3, coupled wih the 7 speed S-Tronic transmission. A sports version to come, and we must admit, certainly well worth waiting for. The beautiful staccato of the high-revving engine under lightning fast gear changes, triggered by the paddles at the wheel, or just selected by the gearbox, the beautiful and still quite comfortable handling of the sports chassis, these are the ingredients of every sporting motorists’ dream. The engine sounds very much like the RS 3 and the TT RS, which is no surprise as it is a de-tuned version of this engine, to around 300 HP. The power has been reined to the benefit of some better torque, and this is certainly felt. Performance figures could not be measured of course, but subjectively it seems quite able to sprint from 0 to 100 in some 6,5 seconds.

The 5 cylinder TFSI Quattro before the Niki de Saint Phalle sculpture in the courtyard of the Dolder Grand: we couldn't think of a better setting...

The Q3 coped very well with the immense power, the handling and balance of the car remained undisturbed. It was truly a gem to drive. We just cannot wait for snowy mountain roads with this Q3, but we are quite happy to hit the summer (holiday) roads with the available Q3 versions so far…

Between the test drives, light but exquisite lunch was served in the Gallery of the Dolder Grand...

When the car will be available in Belgium, we will certainly report in these columns on a more extensive test drive of this SUV, which certainly is bound to set benchmarks in its class…

Hans Knol ten Bensel