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The market for four-seat convertibles has almost disappeared in recent years, but by the time the Audi A3 Cabriolet bowed out in 2022, it was a good example of why these cars are still appealing - it’s an attractive, refined, and relatively practical package, and there’s nothing quite like having the top down on a sunny day.
The Audi badge definitely helps its appeal too. A compact, classy Audi convertible certainly worked for Lady Diana in the 1990s, and the A3 Cabriolet is cut from the same cloth. Used prices may be less than you expect, too.
The BMW 2 Series Convertible takes a similar tack to the Audi but feels marginally sportier to drive. Outside of this you’re either looking at smaller models like the MINI Convertible, the unusual Volkswagen T-Roc Cabriolet, or dedicated sports cars like the Mazda MX-5.
Convertibles are very much a luxury purchase - something to make you feel good, and to brighten your day where a regular hatchback might just fade into the background. But as drop-tops go, the A3 Cabriolet is about as sensible as they get, which means it could be an option if you know you don’t need the outright practicality of an A3 hatchback.
It certainly drives just as well as the hatch, has an elegant profile helped by being based on the A3 saloon rather than the hatchback, and when the roof is up, it’s refined enough that you’d barely know there wasn’t metal above your head.
The interior has aged well too, for a car that came out in 2016. You won’t find the very latest technology in here but the dashboard design is simple and elegant, and everything works well. You can just about fit adults in the back seats too, though space and visibility both take a dive with the roof up.
On the road, the A3 is sophisticated and easy to drive, and while even in S Line or S3 form it’s no sports car, it does make a very fine cruiser. The wobbles you get with some drop-tops are absent here, and the engines offer a good mix of performance, refinement, and economy.
The A3 Cabriolet has very few direct rivals - the BMW 2 Series Convertible gets closest, and feels sportier to drive. The A3 has no equivalent in the modern range, and there’s no Volkswagen Golf Cabriolet these days either, but the SUV-based Volkswagen T-Roc Cabriolet might be an option.
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There’s a lot to be said for the entry-level petrol versions of the A3 Cabriolet, which don’t consume a great deal of fuel but do have a decent turn of pace - and they’re smooth engines, too. Diesel remains the economy choice but refined though modern diesels are, you’d still hear some grumble and clatter when the roof was down.
S Line has always been popular on Audis in the UK, but we’d probably stick to Sport trim. It’s slightly smaller wheels and slightly softer suspension make more sense on a cruiser like the A3 Cabriolet.
The drop-top A3 gets three trim levels, with Sport and S Line models much like the rest of the Audi range, plus the performance-focused S3 Cabriolet at the top. You can see the differences between the models below, with larger alloy wheels and lower and firmer suspension the further up the range you go, as well as visual tweaks.
The Audi A3 Cabriolet’s dimensions are:
The Audi A3 Cabriolet’s boot size is:
The S3 Cabriolet is the only model that cost more than £40,000 brand new, and therefore the only A3 Cabriolet to suffer a punitive VED surcharge, taking the annual tax price up to £570 in years two to six. All others will come in at £180 per year, though cars registered prior to April 2017 are taxed on CO2 emissions, meaning some of the diesels and the manual 1.5 TFSI currently cost only £35 per year to tax.
A 1.5 TFSI in Sport trim starts off with an insurance group 29 rating (out of a maximum 50), while the 1.6 TDI is a little lower at group 25. The S3 tops the range at group 46. These figures are a little more than a regular A3 to insure, but not excessive for this class of car.
Read our full Audi A3 Cabriolet review