• Generous passenger room with practical body
• Boot is well shaped and large enough for most
• Good extra storage areas throughout

The A3 is a well-proportioned car that doesn’t feel big and bulky on the road. That means it can blend being a practical small family car with being an urban runaround without being cumbersome.

It’s easy to judge the extremities of the vehicle thanks to good manoeuvrability and visibility, and is easy to nip around small towns and tight car parks.

With the seats in place the Audi A3 Sportback has a loadspace of 380 litres – 10 litres larger than the previous generation. With the rear seats folded the boot space in the Sportback expands to 1,220 litres.

The A3 Sportback trumps its main rivals in the space race making it one of the most practical cars in the sector, although it’s worth noting that you’ll have to make room for the charge cable in here on the e-tron.

Our large child’s travel system fits with a bit of a wiggle to get it through the narrowest part of the boot aperture, but the parcel shelf didn’t sit flat when the tailgate was shut. All told it’s a good effort from the A3 but you might want to check your buggy fits before commiting to a purchase.

There are plenty of cubbies to keep loose change hidden from prying eyes when parked, while the door pockets and glove box are of a good size. All-round visibility is good but it may be an idea to opt for parking sensors for added peace of mind when reversing.

Safety

• Five stars awarded in 2014
• Plenty of safety kit available as an option
• Standard Isofix and airbags

Tested in 2014, Euro NCAP awarded the A3 a full five stars for its safety rating. That was before the tests became more stringent, but the A3 is still a very safe and solid hatchback.

The Audi A3 Sportback is loaded with plenty of safety kit. You get driver, passenger, side body, head and knee airbags while all models also have an alarm/immobiliser, remote central locking, childlocks for the rear doors and front seatbelt pretensioners.

There are also three Isofix points for child seats (two standard and one options), and there’s a wide range of extras available as part of the Driver Assistance Pack, adding; adaptive cruise control, traffic-jam assist, active lane assist, blindspot monitoring, high-beam assist, autonomous emergency braking with pedestrian detection, traffic sign recognition and front and rear parking sensors.