A very sweet Audi A3 3-door hatchback, seen just inside the eastern section of the Fifth Ring Road in Beijing. The good Audi is painted in gold and fitted with a sunroof and sporty five-spoke alloys.
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Coincidentally, this very vehicle once belonged to the younger brother of a car-fanatic friend of mine, who sold it on a few years ago. I didn’t see anybody with the car but it looked like it was driven regularly.
The first generation Audi A3 (Typ 8L) was made from 1996 until 2003. It came as a 3-door hatch or a 5-door hatch. The A3 was based on the Volkswagen PQ34 platform that also underpinned the Volkswagen Golf Mk4.
The interior is worn out to a high degree, especially the seats. Radio-CD player is after-market.
The first generation Audi A3 was available with four engines: a 1.6, a 1.8, a 1.8 turbo, and a 1.9 diesel. This Beijing car is a 1.8, mated to a five-speed automatic gearbox.
The first generation Audi A3 was never officially sold in China. This car has a black license plate indicating it once belonged to a foreign-owned company, which were allowed to import their own cars in the 1980’s and 1990’s.