Chery A3
First Verdict: 2.5 stars
Greatly improved in dynamics and quality but there’s still some way for Chery to go yet
It’s pretty clear after even taking the most cursory of glances at Chery’s new A3 hatchback that the Chinese automaker has its eye on the global market, with the brochure featuring photos of the car with a ‘boulangerie’ (bakery in French) and another sporting a German license plate.
Then there’s the small matter of its design – penned by Pininfarina, the Italian design house inextricably associated with Ferraris, such as the beautiful Dino of yore. This grants the A3 its distinctly European vibe with an oversized trapezoidal grille. While reminiscent of most German brands of late (Audi, VW), it's hardly unattractive.
Sculpted front and rear bumpers, wraparound headlamps with frosted surrounds and a pair of chrome-tipped exhaust pipes top off the A3’s pan-European lines.
This Italian flair for the dramatic is most obvious in its rear door handles, which are concealed in the C-pillars, à la the Alfa Romeo 147 and granting the A3 the appearance of a sporty three-door hatchback.
This integrates well with its official moniker, the ‘A3 S-Coupe’ and if you decide to charge through the corners with it, the A3 is a keen tool, helped along by its sharp, positive gearshift action.
The A3's turn-in is nippy – an inherent advantage of its smallish hatchback dimensions and lack of overhangs front and rear.
It also owes this sharpness to its suspension setup, with an independent multi-link arrangement in the rear, unusual in the budget segment, allowing the tail to tuck in nicely just after the front end begins to bite.
This neatly sidesteps the disconnected rear ends so often found in the torsion beam semi-independent suspension setups of its main rivals, though the A3's soft spring rates tends to make body roll noticeable.
While it is a sporty enough performer, it's no hot hatchback and the A3 can be found wanting more point-to-point speed, though arguably so does everything else in the sub $60k small car segment.
The performance of the little 1.6-litre mill, producing 117bhp, is sedentary at best; its languid 15.0 seconds 0-100km/h time feels exactly as the figure suggests.
The A3's performance then, is more serene than scorching, no doubt padded by its nigh onto 1.4-tonne kerb weight, but its main saving grace can be found in its ride comfort.
The independent suspension which serves the A3 well in the corners also turns it into a capable city crawler, isolating us from the severely rutted, permanently construction-mired roads that dot the area around Chery's Ubi showroom.
The A3's cabin is also a very quiet place to be at lower speeds, but accelerate to highway speeds above 80km/h and it loses a fair bit of the refinement and comfort so abundant before.
Wind noise can turn a little loud and a constant judder afflicts the chassis and steering wheel, which could be down to the locally-fitted optional 16-inch wheels being improperly balanced.
Aside from that, the A3's cabin is a much nicer place to be in against the Cherys of old, or almost any other Chinese car, though the company’s relative inexperience in automaking still shows in the A3’s ergonomics.
For starters, the steering wheel is somewhat oversized, not leaving a great deal of knee room and the cramped footwell doesn’t bode well for the large.
Despite that, the A3’s interior quality is a very creditable attempt and the dashboard’s finish is solid - everything clicks together nicely and all interior fitting remaining rattle-free throughout our time with the A3.
Going beyond bare bone practicality, Chery tries to quite literally inject a bit of sparkle into the A3’s interior with glossy chrome-effect bezels adorning its air-conditioning switchgears.
The net effect of its drivability, improved quality and visual pizzazz combines to make the A3 stellar, though only in comparison with other Chinese cars.
If Chery hopes to emulate the success of those who’ve dominated the segment (Chevy, Hyundai and Kia) as an affordable brand of choice, it'll have to stack up to the Koreans and Japanese too, at least.
Plus, the A3 is also relatively pricey, at $55,999 with COE compared to the competition, and it’s a little more cramped in the rear while being not as well equipped.
Potentially though, the biggest obstacle to its success is its lack of an automatic gearbox option, an omission that could cost Chery dearly in a market where the auto ‘box is almost a standard item.
It does however, have the benefit of Italian design and it’s undeniably eye-catching – a fact which drew the A3 several appreciative double-takes during our tests.
To take nothing away from Chery, the A3 is a mammoth achievement and a quantum leap compared to its previous generation products. However, it still suffers from engineering naiveté with some overlooked details.
Nevertheless, given the speed at which Chery is improving, the rise of this dragon may come much sooner than you might think.
Daryl Lee
SO GOOD
Vastly improved quality
Ride comfort
Design flair
NO GOOD
Patchy ergonomics
No automatic gearbox option
Pricey
FACTFILE
Chery A3
Price $55,999 with COE
On sale Now
Top speed 174km/h
0-100km/h 15.0 seconds
Economy 16.1 km/L
Kerb weight 1350kg
Engine 4 cyls, 1597cc, petrol
Installation Front, transverse, FWD
Power 117bhp at 6150rpm
Torque 147Nm at 4300rpm
Gearbox 5-spd manual
Fuel tank 57L
Boot Not Available
Wheels 16-in alloy
Tyres 215/45 R16