FRANKFURT MOTOR SHOW: Audi A3 Cabriolet

The company made famous by its quattro rally cars is about to launch its new, small four-seat convertible without an all-wheel-drive system.

Audi’s second-generation A3 Cabriolet, which will be launched at the Frankfurt motor show on Tuesday (September 10), will instead head into battle as a pure front-wheel drive machine, with two petrol engines and a turbo-diesel.

Initially, the A3 Cabriolet will come with a 103kW 1.4-litre turbocharged four-cylinder engine, a 132kW 1.8-litre turbocharged four-cylinder or a 110kW 2.0-litre turbo-diesel.

Of the three powerplants, only the 1.8-litre version will have a seven-speed dual-clutch transmission, with the rest of the line-up running six-speed manual gearboxes, making the 1.8 the most likely candidate for Australia.

The A3 Cabriolet will be last of the four-car A3 model range and will eventually be topped by a 221kW S3 Cabriolet – with all-wheel drive – while an 81kW 1.6-litre TDI is also on Audi’s A3 Cabriolet to-do list.

The quickest of the family will naturally be the S3 Cabriolet, which will reach 100km/h in 5.4 seconds. It does this using a completely different six-speed dual-clutch transmission, and despite delivering 380Nm of torque, it still delivers an NEDC figure of just 7.1L/100km.

It uses the same engines as the A3 hatch, Sportback and sedan, so expect the 1.8-litre TFSI to deliver 250Nm of torque, while the 2.0-litre TDI will have 320Nm and post economy of around 4.5L/100km.

Larger in almost every dimension, the A3 Cabriolet will be based on the premium version of the same Volkswagen Group MQB modular small car architecture that sits beneath everything from the Volkswagen Golf to the Seat Leon. The ‘premium’ end of the MQB means it carries the more sophisticated four-link independent rear suspension found in the rest of the A3 range and in the new Golf GTI, along with electro-mechanical power steering.

Its wheelbase has grown from 2.58 to 2.6 metres, but its overhangs have grown longer. It is now 4.42 metres long (up from the old car’s 4.24 metres) and it’s also around 20mm wider at 1.79 metres -- almost all of which has been translated into extra cabin space up front.

For all of the extra size, Audi has pulled its base weight down from 1415kg in the outgoing car to 1365kg in the new version, thanks largely to a body-in-white that is both stiffer and 30kg lighter, plus the inclusion of weight savings in the engines and the addition of an aluminium bonnet.

Its rear seats will also fold down to allow a flatter, longer storage area and an active rollbar pops out from behind the rear seats in a crash. Audi has also answered one of the major criticisms of the old car by boosting its luggage capacity from 226 to 286 litres, most of which is retained when the roof is down.

The new A3 Cabriolet protects this luggage space because the cloth roof folds, in 18 seconds and at speeds of up to 50km/h, into a high-mounted plastic retainer bucket at the top of the luggage area, rather than a soft catch-all pouch. Audi claims the car is also quieter with its roof up, thanks to thicker acoustic foam inside the three layers of cloth roof material.

The A3 Cabriolet will come with wheels ranging from 16- to 18-inch alloys, and optional 19-inch rims as well. There will also be three suspension packages, ranging from the standard set-up to Sport suspension (with the car riding 15mm lower on tauter springs) and finally to the S Line Sport (-25mm in ride height).

Inside, the A3 Cabriolet transfers the critically acclaimed interior of the current A3 virtually unchanged and, though Audi offers three different standard specification levels, the only big ‘first’ is the option of touch-sensitive reading lights.

The car’s options list is extensive, ranging from cruise control and LTE internet transmission to Audi Drive Select system (which changes the car’s character depending on your preferences) and a smart navigation system that can find available parking spaces for you – at least in Europe.