New Car: 2011 Audi A3/Q7

Audi has revised the A3 for the 2011 model year. The car, which was facelifted in 2008, will see changes to all the variants.

New features on the car include glossy black B-pillars and grille, chrome air intakes, door handles, and side mirrors and a redesigned rear diffuser. Tail-light lenses are tinted on 3dr models.

New exterior colours, like Amethyst Grey, Dakota Grey, Scuba Blue, and Volcano Red will feature. Customers may also choose from two new 17” alloy wheels, and a new 18” alloy wheel design. Inside, the driver will find a redesigned leather wheel and gear lever, black gloss trim elements, aluminium trim inserts, and grey back grounded instruments.

Engines will stay the same. Audi has not yet disclosed when they will take orders on the 2011 Audi A3 and S3.

Audi has announced several mechanical changes for the Q7. For the 2011 model year, the 276bhp 3.6 litre V6 and 345bhp 4.2 litre V8 engines have been replaced by two versions of Audi’s supercharged V6 unit which debuted in the S4.

The lower powered version offers less power than before, at 268bhp, but 40Nm more torque. This powers the Q7 from 0-62mph in 7.9 seconds - 0.6-seconds faster than before - and gives it a top speed of 140mph. The more powerful version that takes over from the 4.2 litre engine, delivering 328bhp and 440Nm of torque. This allows the Q7 to reach 62mph from rest 0.5 seconds more quickly than the V8 at 6.9 seconds, and to continue to a top speed of 152mph.

Both versions return the same fuel economy figure of 26.4mpg (10.7 l/100km) and 249g/km of CO2, representing a mpg improvement of 12% over the old V6 and 16% over the V8, and a 40g/km and 55g/km step up respectively.

Also available is an all-new 237bhp 3.0 litre V6 TDI engine which features start-stop technology. The unit returns 38.2mpg (7.4 l/100km) making it 19% more fuel efficient than the previous unit. The engine also powers the Q7 from 0-62mph in 7.9 seconds – 0.6-seconds faster than before.

All models benefit from the new 8 speed automatic gearbox which debuted in the new A8. Prices range from £40,135 to £54,055 and the newcomer is available to order now.