Category: Convertibles 
Price Range: £19,935 to £26,850
Quality interior, fast-acting roof, stylish-looking, practical.
Slightly uninvolving drive, not cheap, diesel still lacks refinement.
An ideal open-top cruiser for the style-conscious metropolitan car buyer.
The A3 has been built to a pretty high standard and uses quality materials. However, there have been problems in the A3 range with leaking radiators that can lead to head gasket failure, and problems with the dual mass flywheels, clutches and timing belts on the 2.0 TDI diesels.
The build quality feels good, though. Audi is generally recognised for its high-standards of interior finish, and in the A3 Cabrio everything fits together well and comes in soft-touch plastics with accents in materials such as aluminium.
The exterior displays the same level of quality, with consistent panel gaps across the car and doors that give a satisfying 'thunk' on closing. The two- or three-layer fabric roof (depending on trim level) allows only one 1dB more of extra sound in the cabin at 87mph than the hard roof of the A3 hatch.
