2006 Audi A3 SE review from UK and Ireland

Nothing.

I only had my A3 up until a month ago, I owned it from new for a year and a half, and it never gave me any bother.

The 2.0 diesel was a strong performer and returned a very respectable 53MPG on long trips.

The interior in my opinion is best you can get for the price. I do wish I had gone for the more expensive Nappa leather as the standard leather had a rather hard wipe clean type finish.

I only serviced the car once at 18,000 miles and I think the Audi dealer did take advantage when it came to servicing. My first service was over £300 for an oil change, not much else. The brake pads didn’t need changed for another 40,000 miles I was told and the wiper blades for another 30,000 miles. The car was a good example in quality.

My relationship with this car came to an abrupt end, when driving home from a friend’s house with my girlfriend on the M6. A foreign truck sideswiped our car as we were overtaking it in the middle lane, our car hit the safety barrier and bounced back onto the motorway before getting hit passenger side full on by another car, sending our car spinning into another safety barrier protecting a motorway bridge. All 6 airbags had deployed. I was able to escape using my driver’s door, but my girlfriend was trapped until the fire service came. I spent four nights in hospital, and my girlfriend spent 3 weeks in recovery. But I was told by the fire service later that when they approached the scene they didn’t expect anyone to be alive in the vehicle. They were surprised at how well the passenger compartment remained largely intact. I owe our lives to safety technology in my old A3. I get my new Audi A6 in a few weeks time.