The Q3 Sportback is the sportier take on an Audi compact SUV, we'll try it out with a range of diesel engines under the hood This is the new Audi Q3 Sportback and you'll know what happens when the manufacturer nails a suffix like 'Sport' on the tailgate of one from their SUVs. There's a shift that's happening, no one sees, to move a little bit further away from functionality (which, of course, is what an SUV is all about, even compact), and towards a more abstract concept in general: the aesthetic. So you get some sportiness with new design features that are meant to make the car look even more sporty than it really is. The Q3 HBO, for example, has a lower shoulder line and slightly swollen arches for a more muscular, assertive look. There are also octagonal grills so large that they would probably work as UFC rules in the Arena. And finally, the branded roofs that slope towards the top of the rear lightweight hull are in vogue, not unlike the flighty Alsatian spine. Usually the resulting product is not particularly beautiful. But credit for the Audi B3's sporty styling is pretty well executed - by class standards, at least. Still, it's hard to shake off the feeling that this is yet another car designed to answer a question that no one was really asking in the first place. Audi will of course tell you otherwise, and no doubt has a lot of market research to back up its claims. And to be fair, at least this shade is more interesting here than another derivative, the identikit compact SUV.
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