Tas33

1st post here
Looking at both of these at the moment (be easier when both are released !), diesel going to be the way to go as a company car.

Was initially only looking at the 2.0TDI sportsback, then BMW have bought out the 1 series diesel - with 163bhp & 340 NM of torque & rear wheel drive sound very interesting.

Any opinions, I'm not a BMW driver though tempted.

Simon S3

It depends on how much space you need. The BMW is very small in the back, there`s a picture in the latest `CAR` magazine and a pretty good write-up too.

Cost will also be in favour of the Audi, the Sportback is expected to be around 1500 quid dearer than the 3 door A3 so that puts a Sportback A3 2.0 TDI sport at 19,900. According to the BMW website, a 120d Sport is 20,700 basic. The Audi`s spec will also be a little higher than the BMW`s (eg 17" alloys as opposed to 16"s on the 1 series etc).

I`ve also done some thinking into these cars and am swaying towards the Audi (mainly due to the space issue).

There`s some good pictures of a red Sportback on www.vwvortex.com in the A3(B5) forum.