A3 Facelift - of sorts.

[erisaman]

Hi, placed a provisional order for the A3 Sportback SE, 2.0TDi 170 with S-Tronic transmission just two weeks ago, haven't confirmed as there is an outstanding problem which needs to be resolved, however, news today is that the A3 facelift has been released and cars will arrive in mid-summer.

My problem? They appear to have dropped the SE version - the comfort rather than Sports version - and I'm a little concerned. Of course, they may still have pre-facelift versions available for the foreseeable future - but I'm meeting with Dealership bosses tomorrow to try to resolve the problem-issue and I'll be checking out the SE availability! Unless YOU know different?

[erisaman]

Okay - answering my own post. The new 'facelift' A3 has been announced and orders for the 'old' A3 and Sportback are now suspended. Trim levels have been changed - starting at the standard model which will have manual air-con, then the SE which will 'lose' many of it's creature comforts but these can then be specified as options and the net result (apparently) will be a car priced and specced very close to the outgoing model. Next comes the Sport then the S - and an S variant in Sportback mode has also been announced.

My personal choice of a 2.0tdi 170 will be on hold for quite some time as production will not commence until week 36 - and then it will be the new common rail engine as found in the new A4 and TT. The S-Tronic gearbox will also be 7 speed instead of the previous 6.