Audi Gives The A3 A Screen-Heavy Cabin After Promising More Buttons

Audi's New Car Offense

Audi has been making a fair bit of noise over the last couple of years with successive launches. The new-car barrage started with all-new A5 and A6, followed up by the redesigned Q5. More recently, the third-gen Q7 made its world premiere, and barely a week later, the A6 Allroad debuted. Oh, and let's not forget the RS 5.

Audi needs to launch all the new cars it can following a rough 2025. With the way things are going, the company range overhaul should help turn the tide sooner rather than later. We still have several launches to go this year, namely the first-ever Q9 and the reboot of the A2 as an electric vehicle.

The A3 Gets Attention

But if there's one model that's largely been left untouched, it's the A3. With the discontinuation of the A1, it's not the smallest and least expensive model to wear those four rings. We're currently in the fourth generation, and that was first revealed in 2020. It was given a facelift in 2024, and not much has happened since then.

To make up for that, Audi has given the compact a few more tweaks for the 2027 model year. It gets updates and upgrades that help it align with the newer offerings, particularly in interior design and tech.

Dashboard Overhaul

For the 2027 A3, it's all about screens this time around, and the shroud for the digital instrument cluster is gone. The dash now sports a curved, free-standing screen that combines the new digital cluster and infotainment screen.

The redesign of the dashboard has prompted Audi to relocate the air-conditioning vents lower, to the climate-control panel. Now, climate control functions are embedded in the infotainment screen. So much for the brand promising to bring back more physical controls. At least the steering wheel buttons were left untouched.

Tech Upgrades

Audi enhanced the A3's advanced driver assist system and added a neat feature to the adaptive cruise control. It can now read traffic lights and react accordingly at a stoplight. The car can now slow to a halt at a red light and automatically move when it turns green. Automatic lane change has also been added for the 2027 model, in which a flick of the turn signal on the highway will steer the car autonomously into the desired lane if conditions are safe.

Trained Parking, which allows the vehicle to memorize specific parking maneuvers and spaces. Up to five parking spaces can be stored in the system's memory. New remote functions are also part of the tech upgrades for the new A3. The status of the parking brake, lights, doors, and windows can now be checked via the MyAudi app.

Changes Apply to All A3s

These updates won't just be applied to the standard A3 models. The lifted Allstreet versions of these changes, too. The same goes for the higher performance models, the S3 and RS 3, regardless of body style. Improvements were also made to the e-Hybrid plug-in hybrid model, with its EV-only range now rated up to 89 miles.

As for powertrain options, they are unchanged from those on the current A3 models. That means the gas, diesel, and plug-in hybrids retain their respective power outputs, from the A3 all the way to the RS3. For now, there is no launch date for North America, but it could likely be in showrooms before the end of the year - presumably only as a sedan, as always.

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