Audi A3 2.0-litre TDI price £22,730

Audi A3 2.0-litre TDI price £22,730

Audi, that means the next TT, next A1, next Q3 and possibly a Q1 too. For VW, it means the next generations of Golf (due this year already) and Polo and Passat and Tiguan and Beetle and Touran and Sharan dot dot dot. Plus bucketloads of Skodas and Seats. In all, maybe 10 million cars will be built on the MQB every year.
MQB isn't a platform in the old sense. Remember how the current A1 is just a poshed-up Skoda Fabia? Well, this'll put an end to all that. Many parts will be shared, and so the group can buy them in vast numbers and drive down their price. But others can be swapped out: they'll all use an agreed set of mounts and assembly methods, but they'll allow the cars to be more different. Wheelbase, track and dashboard height can be changed, so the MQB can cover everything from bigger-than-Passat saloons down to superminis via off-roaders, sports roadsters and MPVs. And it's not just the sizes that can be changed, but the qualities of many of the parts too, and that means each model and brand can be free to have its own character.
Like any Audi, it feels reassuringly expensive and solid. The doors and seats feel rigid, and they move with a greased and confident action. All the levers and controls have a nicely damped plumpness. Nothing flexes or creaks. So you infer it's going to drive with equal heaviness. And, of course, that's what we don't like about Audis. They often feel heavy, clumsy and bogged down by inertia. Not this one, though.