2022 Audi A3 Debuts In The U.S. As Cadillac CT4 Rival
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Audi has pulled the sheets on the all-new, U.S.-bound 2022 Audi A3, introducing a fresh rival for the Cadillac CT4 luxury sedan.
Outside, the 2022 Audi A3 features a redesigned exterior inspired by the Audi RS line, as well as exterior measurements that are longer, wider, and taller than before. Up front, there’s a larger Singleframe grille with a honeycomb insert, while the four-door is offered with Matrix-design LED headlights. LED taillights are standard.
The interior of the 2022 Audi A3 is new as well, and offers more passenger room than before. Standard spec includes eight-way power seats with a heating function and four-way lumbar support, plus available memory function for the seating position and sideview mirrors. Leather seating surfaces with contrast stitching are also standard, as is a 10.1-inch MMI touchscreen infotainment with handwriting recognition and a 10.25-inch digital instrument cluster. A 12.3-inch virtual cockpit with multiple viewing modes is available. Wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto are standard, while wireless phone charging is optional.
Safety and driver assist features include collision warning, high-beam assist, and lane departure warning, while blind-spot monitoring, rear cross traffic alert, adaptive cruise control, and park assist are all optional.
The standard engine spec for the 2022 Audi A3 includes a turbocharged 2.0L four-cylinder, which produces 201 horsepower and 236 pound-feet of torque. The ‘four connects to a seven-speed dual-clutch S tronic transmission. There’s also a standard 48-volt mild-hybrid (MHEV) system for an extra torque boost at low engine speeds. The mild hybrid allows the 2022 Audi A3 to coast with the engine off in certain driving situations. Front-wheel drive is standard, while all-wheel drive is optional.
Pricing starts at $33,900 for the 2022 Audi A3 Sedan 40 TFSI Premium, excluding a $1,045 designation charge and additional fees.
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Fwd = no dice…
201 HP…
201 hp? Seriously?
But, but…! It’s GERMAN!!!
The mild hybrid system sounds interesting. It might make the engine “feel” more powerful than it really is. At least when sprinting from zero.
But the design……meh. It looks like Audi Designers are getting desperate in their attempts to make succeeding generations of their cars look somwhat different than the last. I don’t like the bulbous, bloated areas over the wheels, and the oversized deep-draw “light catcher” sections across the lower doors. It’s over- done and from a brand known (in the recent past ) for elegant restraint.
CT4 RWD heck yes, and heck no to Audi A3 FWD. Basically all the A3 is an overpriced Jetta GTI.
Okay, and the CT4 is “basically an overpriced Chevy.” C’mon, get real. This is not a Jetta GTI and you know it. One of the nicest if not the nicest interior in the segment. If an Audi is a VW, then a Cadillac is a Chevy.
Audı candır👍
Not impressed. Does Audi consider this FWDer direct competition to the CT4?
The fwd version won’t compete with the rwd of the CT4, but both are offered with awd. Those would be better comparisons.
CT4 isn’t a vehicle for the market competitors to aspire to. Save for price, pretty sure Audi doesn’t consider the CT4 to be competition for the A3. They already have the A4 which is a proper D segment vehicle for which the ATS err… CT4 was originally competing against.
CT4 is a D segment dropout because GM/Cadillac didn’t give the needed engineering dollars for it to keep pace with its intended segment occupied by A4, C Class and 3/4 Series.
Cadillac and its ‘tweener bullsh*t approach.
Screw that. I’ll take a RWD Cadillac CT4 over this ugly, soulless derivative “segment conforming” Audi anyday. Screw your segment conformity and your Democrat conformity and your masks and all the other killing conformity that’s strangled the life out of living in the Land of the Free.
C segment D segment E segment F you segment who gives a crap? Y’all have doomed us all to Hell with your mindless, empty, draining conformity. What utter misery.
Cadillac and its ‘tweener bullsh*t approach. YEP!!!!!!
Audi will outsell the CT4, so no Audi will not consider this direct competition to the CT4. Cadillac will however consider this direct competition to them. See how that works?
Beautiful car. Hard for Cadillac to have a rival when the market isn’t interested in you in the first place.
Not beautiful. Hyundai-Kia-Genesis sells much better looking Audis than Audi could ever muster these days.
Your name says it all.
There isn’t a graceful line on this forgettable brick
Bricks have clean lines. Cadillac hasn’t had a memorable line since the 60’s. At least clean lines are appealing. Can’t say the same for Cadillac’s asymmetry.
Who is Cadillac by the way Idiot Boy? When you figure it out, let me know.
Why don’t you ask Mary Barra who Cadillac is? Maybe Alex Luft can tell you. I’m not making excuses for Cadillac, but it’s obvious there are still some car guys within fighting to bring their perceived market something special. They’ve succeeded with at least one car. But that doesn’t mean it’ll sell.
Because as you’ve already pointed out – “Cadillac has not earned their rightful place”
Logic is dead
Okay, and there may be people in Cadillac trying to do that. They’re pushing a rock up hill with Mary and Marks foot ready to push it down. They can’t wrap their mind around why they are third from the bottom.
Audi will continue selling the forgettable brick, and very well, while Cadillac is dumbfounded as to who their customers are and what they want. No matter how good the CT-5V Blackwing is, it won’t propel their sales or improve their image. This is a rudderless division and a sad one.
That interior blows away the CT4 by like at least two Generations. It is as if GM hires Interior Designers from the 90’s still.
Not shocking but still needs to be pointed out that Cadillac Interiors still look like 1990’s Acuras when compared to the German Big Three. The Escalade is the only Caddy interior that is great.
Cadillac EV’s cannot get here soon enough. Cadillac is simply just not competitive in the ICE segments right now vs. Mercedes, Audi, and BMW unfortunately.
I’m sure it does, thanks for the Acura compliments……
Speaking of Acura, the new 2022 Honda Civic interior stylistically blows this Audi’s interior away. The best looking new car dashboard I’ve seen in a long time. Simple is a joy to use and behold. When will the tech obsessed robots begin to figure this out?
The people who spend the amount of money that a Luxury car costs in todays market care that is who.
If you do not want the absolute latest in Tech, go ahead and purchase the upcoming Civic. But for the majority of the Luxury customers they want everything. Hence why almost NON GM Fanboys covets Cadillac vehicles except the Escalade as I stated. Cadillac EV’s cannot get here fast enough.
The new Kia Sportage has more interior Tech than the 1990’s looking CT4 interior Lol
Tech is not luxury. Tech is common and far, far too much of it is terrible. Luxury is not common. It is elegance of line and form. Luxury is richness and quality of details, materials and execution. Luxury is beauty. Luxury must not necessarily be hair-raisingly expensive and certainly not complicated. Good design itself is a luxury. Done right, minimalism is absolute luxury.
As evidenced by today’s mostly hideous elitist automobiles, spending unGodly amounts of money to put one’s status on display in a vehicular technological tour de force has little to no correlation with one’s good taste nor common sense. Character weakness perhaps. Tech is taking the easy way out. Baffling with trendy BS that’s at best frustrating from the outset and will be laughably outdated and trouble prone tomorrow. That’s not luxury. That’s nonsense and a poor investment. Luxury is timeless. Luxury doesn’t entangle one in webs of miserable, deceitful complexity.
Luxury is comfortable; satisfying; soothing. And it never goes out of style. Tech is simply crap.
You are FAR from being an idiot. Your comment hits the nail squarely on the head. Trendy BS has been around for a long time. Cadillac had a good thing going with the “upkicked” tail lights of the early and mid 1950s, then it all grew into the wretched excess of the 1959 model, which – to my eyes – was the most hideous car Caddie ever put on the market. Tons of chrome, ridiculous proportions, but, in the end, an uncomfortable car on the road due to low, unsupportive seats. Where’s the luxury in that?
Fast forward to the Bangle era of BMW, or, all of the sedans from Mercedes that look like any other Toyota but, by George, it has that three-pointed star on the hood.
Luxury for me is plenty of headroom, ease of entry and exit, seats I can sit in for an 800 mile (at the limit) day at the wheel, a good but not needlessly complex radio, and a good HVAC system. Throw in quiet and good fit and finish, and I am happy. That beats four interlocking rings, a three-pointed star, or a roundel on my key fob any day of the week.
Amen. But I must confess to being an admirer of the exquisite 1959-60 Cadillac Eldorado Brougham which shared the standard Cadillac’s unsupportive seats!
How is Tech not luxury?
Technology is Luxury. Makes things easier for you. So again, how is that not Luxury?
Quick question….which vehicle has more Tech in it. A Bentley Flying Spur or a Chevrolet Impala?
Your way of Old School Luxury thinking is unfortunately why currently pretty much ONLY GM Fans purchase a Cadillac or bargain priced Shoppers once Cadillac drops their pants with Rebates.
I mean the German Big Three are at a breakneck speed on outdoing each other on Technology so they can sell more vehicles.
I am of the generation that wants a CAR. You seem to want a video game with tires.
Last time I checked a BMW M5 is an amazing CAR.and guess what it also has….amazing Tech that Cadillac cannot even dream of. What are you talking about? Tech is basically True Luxury. It makes everything easier for you meaning it saves you time and energy. Is there really anything more Luxurious than added time? Time Gained.
Like I stated earlier….your way of thinking is literally the reason Cadillac cannot sell their vehicles to NON GM Fanboys.
If you are scared of Tech that is fine but at the same time you cannot have the mindset that more Tech doesn’t translate to more sales in the Luxury Segment.
The Proof is in the sales. Cadillac is nowhere to be found and the German Big Three and Tesla are slaying it.
Afraid of tech? Not at all. I just don’t need all that crap.
As for Cadillac: they don’t make anything I want. Too cramped, too full of gadgets, overpriced. I greatly enjoyed my 2003 CTS which I bought from a family member, but nothing they have offered since holds any appeal.
The CT5-V Blackwing has just enough technology to appease the sport sedan market without absolutely ruining it. It will excel on superior ENGINEERING.
Its distinct lack of appeal to technology wh0res is no failure of Cadillac’s and makes it a more desirable CAR.
The problem is, people don’t take Cadillac seriously with respect to the CT-5 Blackwing. They have a credibility, brand and reliability issue. It’s an also-ran with the Germans, so the Germans will always, always get the first look. Why? Because the Germans earned their place. Cadillac has not earned their rightful place.
So, change is but a myth? A wishful concept. Cadillac might as well not even bother making better cars then because no one will consider them anyway. Their fate was sealed long ago, apparently.
Like the leftists who gleefully ruin a person’s life for a 10 year old “tweet”. Nobody can evolve. Certainly not Cadillac. We just have to keep buying German even if, uh these new German cars are meh and the new Cadillac’s better! It’s American. We hate America! Punish them!
So much for open minds. So much for earning one’s rightful place. It’s like the Monarchy now. You have to be born into it.
How is tech luxury? Tech makes things easier for whom??
Reference countless articles about the infusion of tech resulting in confounding, trouble prone and downright dangerous automobiles. Vehicular interactions once easily accomplished by muscle memory now require taking one’s eyes off the road to focus on a tiny patch of touchscreen with minuscule virtual buttons with zero tactility. “Real luxury” now requires touchscreens that are reconfigurable and cover the entire dash. This is NOT progress, it’s BS.
The German Big Three work at a breakneck speed outdoing each other on technology that assures their vehicles spend even more time in the shop and guarantees horrible resale values. The focus is on tech because they forgot how to design and build the epic cars that made them famous (and nobody wants such cars now anyway).
I will not argue that tech is what today’s carbuyers want. But then again, look at the world today. The brain dead have corrupted nearly everything, so mindless tech overload comes as no real surprise.
You forget: Owning one of die/der/das grosse drei means you can lay that key fob down on the meeting room table in a way that lets the others know You Have Arrived.
A good friend of mine from high school enjoyed doing the same thing at such meetings; his key fob was the Plymouth sailing ship. And, no, it was not a Road Runner or Hemi ‘Cuda. It was a 4-cylinder Acclaim. It was one of those cars where with the exception of inadequate power, was about perfect. Tight, rattle-free, comfortable seats, excellent brakes, quite decent handling. Being “different” can be fun.
Whether you think tech is luxury or not is irrelevant. Cadillacs competitors are beating them soundly in sales. They understand what the customer wants and they are executing at a higher level.
The proof is in sales and market share. Cadillac is third from the bottom in this segment, well below Tesla and only slightly higher than Infiniti and the always insufferable Lincoln.
Cadillac has lost its brand cache. Younger buyers with cash do not aspire to Cadillac. Old fat geezers do because they romance about the “good old days.”
Why do you think Cadillac is going full electric with ultra modern design? Wait until you see the tech in the new EV’s. You’re going to vomit. Xbox on wheels.
You’ll be shopping for a fully-restored 1980 Fleetwood Brougham with the vinyl roof.
So your argument is that Cadillac makes more Bulletproof vehicles than the German Three?
Not a single NON GM Fanboy like ourselves would chose a Cadillac over an Audi, Mercedes, and BMW for so called perceived long Term dependability.
The Six cylinders and V8’s that they use Cadillac couldn’t even dream of having in their vehicles. What are you talking about.
Nobody holds the Chevrolet High Feature 3.6 V6 in Cadillac engine Bays in any high regard vs. the German Big Three…..NON
Not even GM Fanboys that can actually admit the truth.
I am a huge Cadillac fan and cannot wait for their EV’s to show up because if the Tech and Design of the upcoming Lyriq are any indication of the Future of Cadillac, they can compete with the German Big Three in the Future.
The XT4, XT5, XT6, CT4, and CT5 are not in the same Universe as their German Counterparts. Not even remotely close.
I would say that the CT5 is the best of all of the XT/CT vehicles but not many are choosing one over an A4/A5, C-Class, and 3 Series.
Sadly much of what you say is true. One thing is holding Cadillac back from excellence. Cheap ,soulless autocratic, GM missmanagement!
@Cadriver
Agreed. Because exterior design is great and so is Ride and handling.
GM just refuses to spend what it takes to make Cadillac a True Tier One Luxury Brand. It saddens me.
Cadillac deserved better. Hopefully the Future will be mush different. We shall see.
GM brands all have an identity crisis. They rush out and make the next flavored popsicle, that is mediocre, and then wonder why the market runs to other brands. GM and their products are not ahead of the curve.
Figure out who you are, what’s your identity and what’s your purpose and then stay in your lane while making the best product in that lane. It’s not rocket surgery.
It’s not just gm brands that have an identity crisis. The sheeple have driven automotive design on the whole into an abyss of regimented classes of slavish, bland conformity. It’s exactly what consumers want. I’ll posit that if gm did build class defining automobiles, it would still lose out to other brands because generations of Americans have been willfully indoctrinated to despise gm (within a narrow perspective) and America itself (on a broader level).
The hypocrites and traitors wouldn’t buy Cadillacs if Cadillacs were head and shoulders above the rest. Today’s typical Cadillac certainly isn’t anywhere near outstanding, but take a look at the “class leaders” and try to puke out the word “aspirational” without appearing as clownlike as the social climber who dumps a buttload of they/them’s money on this here “premium” Audi. Face it, Genesis is way closer to aspirational now.
VWAG should’ve shaken things up and brought their class leading Polos and Ups to a US automotive landscape utterly devoid of practical, efficient, affordable cars. That landscape is ripe for change.
🇺🇸https://www.roadandtrack.com/car-culture/a36715409/why-does-every-new-car-look-like-every-other-new-car/?source=nl
“The sheeple have driven automotive design on the whole into an abyss of regimented classes of slavish, bland conformity. It’s exactly what consumers want”
Even if that is true, why isn’t Cadillac building the best bland slavish luxury vehicles to the market?
Willfully indoctrinated by whom? If people are fooled in to buying other products, which they are not, then GM has failed in the marketing/propaganda war. Who’s fault is that? It’s GM’s fault. GM did enough self-injury with respect to quality and innovation, enough so that the market went elsewhere. If you call that indoctrination, then GM did it themselves.
Everybody wants the best product for their money. It neither makes you a hypocrite or traitor because you buy a German car. Furthermore, Cadillac has become an analog to three other German luxury car makers. If I want a German luxury car I will buy one. Why would I want an American car posing as a German luxury car?
The ever insufferable Lincoln figured this out and went in a different direction. Cadillac needs to design and build luxury cars that aren’t German in appeal. Running laps around the Nurburgring isn’t going to sell Cadillacs. Make the car look American and build American luxury. Does Bentley try to be German. NO. They know who they are and they appeal to those buyers. Cadillac is a basement dweller in sales and overall share. That means whatever they are doing isn’t working.
Call it what you will. A generation of minds poisoned by toxic far left ideology and seething anti-American propaganda force fed from infancy by neoliberal fascists advancing a Global New World Order would never consider an American car from a traditional manufacturer like gm strictly on principle – no matter how good it is. Distaste for America, its history, traditions and anything else those may conjure is so widespread that making Cadillacs more “Cadillac” would be adding another nail to Cadillac’s coffin. That’s gm’s harsh business reality. Lincoln’s, too.
So why has gm done such an overall piß poor job cloning German cars? It’s obviously entrenched GM bean counters. The virtuous Marry Barra certainly hasn’t won that battle. Has she even tried? I’ve steadfastly maintained they should’ve resurrected the Standard of the World a decade ago capitalizing on the grand concepts released prior to the Great Ed Welburn’s retirement and sold fewer cars to a far more discerning true luxury clientele – à la Bentley. To which I’ve received endless blowback from the majority German fanboys here. Obviously, gm management didn’t see it my way, either.
Although CT5–V Blackwing may be far truer to BMWs legendary ideal than any contemporary BMW and promises to be *the best product for the money*, we’re constantly reminded that this accomplishment is wholly irrelevant. Excellence won’t be nearly enough to sell Cadillacs because anti-American and anti-gm sentiment is so deeply ingrained in our elitist self-loathing burgeoning neo-Bolshevic culture, there’s no opportunity wasted to punish and hasten the demise of domestic industry right along with the (fundamentally flawed) country itself.
I don’t even think it goes that far. You have at least two generations that hang on every single word Consumer Reports publishes. They were told, for decades, just have bad American cars are.
I am making up the two paragtraphs below, but they really arent that far fromt he truth, Here goes:
“Despite the severe oil sludging problem in the Camry V6 two years ago, and Toyota refusing to repair the cars until a class action suit was filed, we highly recommend the Camry.”
“We found the Buick LaCrosse to be a highly roadworthy car with excellent handling, great brakes, comfortable seats, and an instrument panel that was easy to understand and learn. The drive train is the tried and true 3800 V6, with the 4-speed automatic that has proven durable. Yet, because the vibrator in the radio of the 1955 Buick Roadmaster we tested 60 years ago failed, and despite the dealer installing a new one in ten minutes, we feel that consumers should consider other makes.”
Ask yourself this: how many truly old Japanese cars do you see on the road?
Cadillac should not be trying to build German cars. They should, instead be building Cadillacs. I do not mean padded vinyl tops and 15” tail fins and squish-o-matic ride. I mean silent cruising, gobs of power, great brakes, as good a handling as one can put in without the car riding like a buckboard, an instrument panel that is legible and where every control falls to hand where you expect it to be, and with a fit and finish to rival that of a Patek Philipe watch.
Let the Germans build their over-complex, fussy cars with unimaginative names. Let the Germans waste their engineering (such as it is) on things like a radio that somehow makes music to fit yor driving style. Who in the world even THINKS of things like that?
I say “[German] engineering (such as it is)” for a reason. It seems everthing they engineer is needlessly complex, or poorly thought out. “347 parts to do a 22 part job”. Or, designs so inherently silly as to be unbelievable. Any of you ever do a tappet adjustent on a BMW 2002 engine? You know: tappets in mechanical lifters when most of the rest of the world had LONG since gone to hydraulic lifters that needed no adjustment in the first place. Those adjusters were some sort of an eccentric-lobe affair that needed three hands, or special tools to work on. Meantime, Volvos and other cars still fitted with solid lifters used an arrangment that used a nut-and-screw affair that were adjustable with standard tools. Not complex enough for the Germans I guess.
Whether a generation of minds is blown by toxic left or not, I’m not sure that it affects their car purchases. I don’t know that Mary is all that virtuous-from a Judeo-Christian perspective. She is singularly focused.
I disagree however, I think if Cadillac started making Cadillacs with world-class quality and materials, their sales numbers would change instead of trying to compete pound for pound with the Germans. If they were smart they would have made Pontiac the division to take on the Germans and it might have worked. But that ship has sunk.
I don’t think the lack of sales is due to anti-americanism or otherwise. Cadillac has done a good enough job on their own to neglect the brand for over 2 decades.
Let me go further: WonderBar tuning in car radios was “luxury” in its day but none worked well.
Push-button shift with an electric servo was luxury in Packards, but were a constant source of trouble due to ignorance of the owners of the cars.
“Tele-Touch” shift in the Edsel (a mid-to-up-market model despite the jokes) was The Talk of the Town but was gone the following model year due to constant issues.
Mitsubishi fitted digital dashboards to their line back in the 1980s. Really whiz-bang, ooh ahh stuff, and soon became a cliché.
Meantime, a tight, rigid body, solid, unobtrusive drive train, comfortable seats, a GOOD (not necessarily loud) sound system, and controls that fall readily to hand and are intuitive beat all the glitter-flash and blinky-blink any day, at least for me.
And let’s talk drivetrains. Does all the needless complexity of “precision German engineering” truly offeri any benefit? Is there an increase in fuel economy for a given size of car? A better 0 – 60 time? Any better passing performance? Any quieter?
But when Consumer reports sings the praises of an American car are you going to disregard it and say it not credible? They sing the praises of Tesla-An American car.
Tech is luxury.
Tell someone dropping coin on a luxury vehicle that ABS (tech) is not included or power windows (tech) is not included. Or that their new ride has a carburetor instead of fuel injectors (tech) or VVT(tech). And these are just some basic luxuries.
Omg, its a car….a new one! Way to go VW!