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2021 Audi A3 Fails Moose Test, Understeers and Eats Some Cones

The 2021 Audi A3 hatchback recently underwent the famous moose test and came out looking a little less exciting than its manufacturer would lead you to believe. While there is no "failing" this particular type of examination, managing it at such a low speed basically implies that it's unsafe in a crash-avoidance scenario.
2021 Audi A3 Fails Moose Test, Understeers and Eats Some Cones 3 photos
Photo: km77/YouTube screenshot
2021 Audi A3 Fails Moose Test, Understeers and Eats Some Cones2021 Audi A3 Fails Moose Test, Understeers and Eats Some Cones
Unless we're mistaken, the A3 is the last of the four major MQB cars to undergo the moose test at the hands of Spanish magazine KM77. We've shown you how the VW Golf and SEAT Leon are a little less agile than in previous years, so we didn't really expect the Audi to do well.

The moose test is a type of slalom designed to replicate a wild animal suddenly appearing in the middle of the road. You're supposed to swerve and avoid it and immediately jump back in your lane to avoid hitting oncoming cars. It doesn't look too complicated, and the target speed of 77 km/h or 48 mph also seems very reasonable.

If you think about it, 48 mph isn't even a highway speed. An average driver might just be speeding a little when an obstacle suddenly appears. The test carried out in good weather show that the A3 Sportback can only manage to do the slalom at 72 km/h or 44 mph, which is basically like failing.

A video like this also gives us a rare chance at seeing the on-limit handling of a standard 2021 A3. The hatchback is shown to understeer hard and hit a bunch of cones in the initial attempt. And there's no reason to believe the A3 sedan will perform any better. It's worth noting that the test A3 is a 35 TFSI with a 1.5-liter turbo pushing 148 hp. Its tire of choice is the Bridgestone Turanza 225/40 R18 and it doesn't have the lowered S-line suspension system.

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About the author: Mihnea Radu
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Mihnea's favorite cars have already been built, the so-called modern classics from the '80s and '90s. He also loves local car culture from all over the world, so don't be surprised to see him getting excited about weird Japanese imports, low-rider VWs out of Germany, replicas from Russia or LS swaps down in Florida.
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