Audi A3 sedan vs the rest: Entry luxury price comparison

Audi has just launched its highly anticipated entry-level luxury sedan, the A3. It is available with two engine options, a 1.8-litre TFSI direct-injection turbo-petrol and a 2.0-litre diesel. The petrol powered Audi A3 is available in just one trim while the diesel A3 is available in four trims. So how do the prices of the new Audi A3 compare against that of the A-class and B-class from Mercedes-Benz and the BMW 1-series? Here’re the details.  

Petrols

The petrol Audi A3 40TFSI is available in only one Premium Plus trim which is priced Rs 28.95 lakh. The BMW 1-series petrol too is available in just one Prestige trim which retails for Rs 22.65 lakh. This makes the BMW 116i Prestige petrol around Rs 6.3 lakh cheaper.

Mercedes-Benz has two entry level luxury hatchbacks in its portfolio, the A-class and the B-class. Both are available in two trims – a Sports Standard Edition and a Sports Camera Edition.

There’s the base A180 Sports Standard Edition which is priced at Rs 26.56 and the A180 Sports Camera Edition which costs Rs 27.12 lakh. So, the Standard Edition turns out to be cheaper than the Audi A3 40TFSI Premium Plus by Rs 2.39 lakh while the Sports Camera Edition costs around Rs 1.83 lakh less.

On the other hand, the base Mercedes-Benz B180 Sports Standard Edition retails for Rs 28.86 lakh which is only Rs 9,000 less than the Audi A3 petrol. The top B180 Sports Camera Edition sports a price tag of Rs 29.42 lakh. That makes it the only entry level luxury car which is more expensive (by Rs 47,000) than the new Audi.

Diesels

Audi has launched the A3 35TDI in four trims – Attraction, Premium, Premium Plus and Technology. The prices of the diesel powered A3 sedan start at Rs 22.95 lakh for the Attraction trim while the top Audi A3 35TDI Technology is priced at Rs 32.66 lakh.

BMW offers the diesel powered 1-series in three trims – Prestige, Sports Line and Sports Plus. The base BMW 118d Prestige costs Rs 25.60 lakh while the top 118d Sports Plus trim retails for Rs 32.50 lakh. The base 118d Prestige trim costs around Rs 2.65 lakh more than the base Audi A3 35TDI. However, the top 118d Sports Plus trim costs only around Rs 16,000 less than the A3 Technology trim.

Just like the petrols, the diesel powered Mercedes A-class and B-class is also available in two trims.  

The Mercedes-Benz A180 CDI Standard Edition is priced at Rs 25.64 lakh while the A180 CDI Style Camera Edition costs Rs 26.19 lakh. This makes the base A180 trim around Rs 2.69 lakh more expensive than the base A3 Attraction trim. But, the top A180 trim costs a whopping Rs 6.47 lakh less than the top A3 35TDI Technology trim.

The Mercedes-Benz B180 CDI Standard Edition sports a price tag of Rs 27.75 lakh. This makes it around Rs 4.8 lakh more expensive than the base A3 diesel trim. The top B180 CDI Camera Edition costs Rs 28.31 lakh which is around Rs 4.35 lakh less than the Audi A3 35TDI Technology trim.

How does it fare?

Audi has made a smart move as far the price of the base A3 diesel trim is concerned. In this entry-level luxury segment, the diesel trims rake in the majority of sales. The base Audi A3 35TDI is the cheapest entry-level luxury diesel car one can buy in India. In fact, it is cheaper than the base diesel trims of its competitors by a significant amount. And while the top Audi A3 Technology trim is a lot more expensive than the top trims of Merc's A- and B-class, the top BMW 118D Sport Plus is priced very close to it. The petrol powered Audi A3 40TFSI is more expensive than both the Mercedes A-class and BMW 1-series but is cheaper than the Mercedes-Benz B180 Sports Camera Edition.

What could work well in Audi's favour is that the A3 is a sedan and this body style is more popular with Indian buyers than hatchbacks. But Audi only has a little bit of time to capitalise on this as Mercedes is expected to bring its CLA compact luxury sedan here soon. That's when the competition in the segment is really going to heat up.

More on the new Audi A3 sedan

Read our Exclusive A3 petrol  review

Read our Audi A3 diesel review