AUDI'S A3 saloon is a hoot to drive and very easy to live with but it comes only in two levels of trim.

Both of these come with sports suspension as standard, but you can specify without it with nothing to pay and I strongly urge that you do.

The standard handling and road holding are fantastic, with huge grip and safe, sure road holding in all conditions.

Sports suspension hardly improves on this, but it spoils the ride by a ridiculous margin and should be avoided.

I have just driven the 1.4 TFSi turbo petrol and the engine, with 140bhp on tap, is brilliant. It pulls hard from low revs, giving brilliant acceleration, and sounds sweet and tuneful.

In Sport trim, it had the optional £1,480 S-tronic automatic gearbox, which is the same as VW's DSG and the best in the world, but it is expensive.

It changes gear quicker than I can do it at my best and is always in the right one. It even has paddles to do the changes manually.

Inside, the A3 is plush and well-kitted, with excellently supportive seats and enough rear legroom for four to ride in comfort.

The boot is a good size, equipment includes climate, stability and traction control and electric child locks for the rear doors, but the non-touch screen sat nav is a nightmare. Don't bother.