ArcaMax

Point being, you can rock up to 80 or so and keep it there - and keep on going for pretty much all day long. How many hours does it take to cover 600 miles? About eight hours, give or take. You will need to pee (or eat) before the A3 needs to refuel. That's pretty cool. As is the car's ability to cut a rug.

Hybrids get great gas mileage but they are almost necessarily awkward in the curves due to being beefy (two drivetrains, the gas engine plus the electric motor... plus the batteries) and also less than optimally balanced. Most also have tires optimized for efficiency rather than lateral grip. So, you get the mileage - but the car's usually just not very fun to drive (not counting hyper-miling, if you're into that).

This one pirouettes, darts, dances - and recovers - like a Red Bull-guzzling Bolshoi ballerina. Especially with the optional Sport package, which includes a driver-slectable adjustable suspension and an eighteen-inch wheel/tire package (19s are available, too). So fitted out, you can really push it. The car soaks it up, dares you to push harder. The Benz is a fine car but its limits (of comfort, if not necessarily lateral grip) feel lower. The ILX has sharper steering - and is also a corner carver. But no diesel. And no AWD.

Final observation/opinion: The A3 is a more subtle weapon. The CLA is dramatic to its disadvantage. That SLR-inspired noseclip with foot-tall chromed three-pointed star in the grille is the automotive equivalent of chum in the water at a surfing contest. Discretion - not calling attention to yourself - is as critical as having a top-drawer radar detector. If you plan to use the car, that is. And if not - well, why bother?

AT THE CURB

Compacts are usually cramped inside. The CLA 250, for example, is a gorgeous car … with an unusable back seat. Just 27.1 inches of legroom (and only 35.2 inches of headroom). The Fiat 500 micro-car (a two-door micro-car) has 31.7 inches of legroom in back. The Benz is - for all practical purposes - a four-door two-door.

Not so the Audi, which has 35.1 inches of backseat legroom (and 36.1 inches of headroom). That is a full eight inches more legroom than the Mercedes. Which by the way is the bigger car overall (182.3 inches long vs. 175.4 for the Audi).

The compact-sized A3, it turns out, has virtually the same backseat legroom as the mid-sizedMercedes E-Class sedan - which has 35.8 inches (and a base price of $51,800). The Mercedes also has a tighter-fitting front row: 40.2 inches vs. 41.2 for the Audi.

The ILX splits the difference - with a still-reasonable 34 inches of backseat legroom (and 35.9 inches of headroom) and a best-in-class 42.3 inches of front-seat legroom.

All three have smallish trunks: 12.3 cubes for the Audi and Acura; 13.1 for the CLA. But with the fold-down/pass-through to the trunk, you can manage skis or even a few 2x4s, if you've got no other way to handle such.

The A3 has an iPad-like "floating" flat screen that's similar to the CLA's, but unlike the CLA's - which is fixed in place - the Audi's rises up (and down) out of the dashtop. It does so automatically at start-up, but you can push a button to cause it to disappear into the dash whenever you like. This does not require shutting off the various infotainment features, either. The satellite radio/Bluetooth will still operate - and you can access/adjust such things as the drive modes via secondary buttons, as well as monitor functions via secondary (though smaller) information readouts built into the main gauge cluster. These can be toggled via a thumb wheel on the steering wheel itself. It's very smart design because it lets you adjust stuff without taking your hands off the wheel.

Which, by the way, is still a physical (and analog) cluster rather than a flat screen (and digital) cluster. This may be less "configurable" - but it's more comprehensible and (probably) more durable. The flat screen displays becoming very popular in higher-end cars look neat, but can be distracting and when they develop a fault, will likely cost a small fortune to replace (because you won't repair them). The Audi's climate controls are similarly functional. Straightforward knobs you turn left or right to get more or less of whatever you want - rather than touch/tap inputs. Rotary ball air vents (the CLA has these, too) are much more versatile than the vertical/horizontal stack type, which have a much more limited range of movement.

If you buy the Prestige package, you get 4 gig in-car WiFi with mobile app integration and - really neat - an enhanced GPS with Google Earth imagery. This gives you real-time topographical detail of your surroundings, updated as you drive. And not just the topography. You'll also see landmarks, including your neighbor's house - and even his car parked in the driveway (if it was there when the satellite last passed overhead).

THE REST

Small gripes include the awkward (to reach and to see) plug-in port for USB chargers and Audi's odd little dongle thingie for connecting certain devices like music players. These are all located in the center console and very hard to deal with even with the car parked in the driveway. The upside is if your iPod or phone is charged up, you can use the Bluetooth to pipe music or whatever into the car that way - and skip the dongle connector thingie.

Unfortunately, there's no end-run for the cupholders. Which are also awkwardly positioned too far forward, partially tucked under the center stack and ahead of the gear selector. This requires careful maneuvering of your hot coffee. If the lid is loose the chances of a spill are fairly high. There is also DEF to take into account. Diesel Exhaust Fluid.

Audi markets this as "Adblue." It is basically agricultural waste (urea, horse pee) that is squirted into the exhaust stream to keep the diesel's exhaust within acceptable (to the government) parameters. This afflicts all current diesel-powered vehicles sold in the U.S. - not just Audis. It reduces the efficiency of the diesel powertrain. Without DEF, the A3 would probably break 50 MPG - and it adds a hassle (and additional expense) to the ownership experience. You will need to periodically add Adblue, which comes in gallon jugs sold either at the dealer or WalMart/auto parts stores.

I'd be ok with this if the difference in emissions was huge (it's not) and the mileage penalty small (it's not). I think it's a shame that the government puts so many obstacles in the path of diesels, which have the potential to be so much more energy-efficient than gas engines and which do not pollute grotesquely or even a slightly excessively. The emissions thing has become (has been, for years) a bogey. New cars - all of them - are so "clean" in terms of their exhaust output that it's hardly there anymore. The government is chasing rapidly diminishing returns - and sending us the bill.

THE BOTTOM LINE

If you'd like a useable back seat, need AWD - and dig the idea of 600 miles on a tankful - this A3 TDI ought to hit the spot.

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www.ericpetersautos.com or EPeters952@aol.com for comments.