Daily Life with Audi’s A3 TDI, 2010 Green Car of the Year

There’s no better way to understand the capabilities of a vehicle than to live with it every day. To that end, we’d like to introduce our long-term Audi A3 TDI test car – Green Car Journal’s 2010 Green Car of the Year® – that’s been our ride for the past few months. With several thousand miles now behind the wheel of the $29,950 A3 TDI, we’ve come to understand how this sporty and upscale clean diesel model can fit into anyone’s lifestyle and, of course, how satisfying it can be to drive a car with 42 mpg highway fuel economy.

What makes the A3 TDI car notable is how readily it pleases. There’s its stylish persona, of course…a hot hatchback with luxury overtones that strikes just the right balance. It’s right-sized for most drivers. We’ve found it small enough to fit into tight parking spaces and large enough to handle a family of five with little effort, with the split fold-down seats and rear hatch providing welcome cargo carrying functionality. Leather seating is handsome and comfortable, controls are well-placed, and overall visibility is very good. Its darkly-tinted windows allow an extra measure of privacy and enhance its good looks.

Are there any downsides? Few that anyone will get excited about. We wish the back-up lights were brighter and the center console cupholder design more user-friendly, but that’s about it. We might consider adding the optional $500 cold weather package that brings heated front seats, mirrors, and windshield washers plus the $400 Open Sky sunroof. What’s most impressive about the A3 TDI is what sold us on this car in the first place: high fuel efficiency combined with at-the-ready performance.

That’s not a combination found in all hybrids, but it is resident in all the clean diesels we’ve driven. With its peppy 2.0-liter turbo direct-injection (TDI) engine, we just can’t say enough about the way this car combines power and economy. And did we mention 42 highway mpg? Yeah, okay, we did ... but we just can’t stop coming back to that feature, which really makes anyone feel they’re doing right by the environment by just driving.