While small crossovers designed to appeal to as many people as possible typically aren’t quirky, there are exceptions to every rule. This is the new Audi Q3, and it has one gloriously unusual detail that we need to talk about it. Audi’s reinvented the steering column stalk, and before you panic due to Audi’s recent history of capacitive touch controls, this actually seems to be done really well.
If you’re wondering where the Q3 fits in the lineup, it’s not quite Audi’s smallest, least expensive crossover everywhere in the world, but it fills that roles in North America. Built on the same transverse MQB Evo platform as the A3 and current Volkswagen Golf, it’s a practical thing sized just right for most cities. Not too big, not too small, just right for both carpooling and parallel parking downtown.
Unsurprisingly, the Q3 comes with a range of powertrains, starting off with a 147-horsepower 1.5-liter turbocharged four-cylinder mild hybrid powertrain and a 147-horsepower diesel, both of which probably won’t come to America. Instead, more likely U.S. offerings include a stout 261-horsepower two-liter turbocharged four-cylinder engine, and possibly a plug-in hybrid with a 19.7 kWh battery pack, a combined output of 268 horsepower and a WLTP all-electric range of 74.6 miles.
Obviously, since this is a luxury product, a well-specced Q3 will come loaded with toys, and some of them seem genuinely useful. For one, the wireless phone charger is actually cooled to mitigate cooking your phone. At the same time, a sliding rear bench seat that lets you trade off between cargo space and rear legroom, matrix LED headlights prevent blinding oncoming drivers, and you can train the Q3 to park in tight spaces by having it remember your inputs. On the more frivolous side, a 420-watt Sonos audio system promises to bang out the tunes, and ambient lighting actually shines through the cloth door card inserts. That’s all well and good, but we need to talk about the stalk.
See, Audi’s gone with an electronic column shifter in the new Q3, and that takes up space where the wiper stalk would normally go on most Audis. However, rather than hide the wiper controls in an infotainment sub-menu, Audi’s come up with a new stalk to do everything that’s unlike just about anything we’ve seen in the past 20 years or so.
The main function of the turn signal stalk works pretty much as normal, allowing you to flick the small, movable end of it up and down to indicate right and left, but not only is single-wipe and windscreen washer activation done through a button on the end of the stalk, there’s so much more to it than that. Because high beams are flashed or turned on by flicking the end of the stalk toward you or away from you, Audi’s actually added a second immobile layer to the stalk (really, a super-sized shroud) for further wiper controls. There’s a rotary wheel for setting wiper speed and a second button further inboard for the rear wiper. It all adds up to physical controls for everything you need in a wonderfully weird-looking package.
Visually, it’s vaguely reminiscent of the pods on the Citroën CX, or the wild stalks of the original Acura NSX, but it seems to work just about normal enough to not end up J.D. Power’d to death. It shouldn’t be a huge adjustment for anyone used to GM’s old all-in-one column stalk, for example. More importantly, it feels like a sign of fresh character. It feels like Audi’s been visually iterating on the same themes for the past 20-ish years, derivative twists on the language introduced by Walter de Silva. This new stalk is something new and exciting and surprisingly welcome.
On the whole, the new Audi Q3 looks highly competitive against the likes of the Mercedes-Benz GLA and BMW X1, even if the steering wheel controls are capacitive touch It still uses normal buttons and knobs just about everywhere else, the interior looks to be made of nice materials, and the top two powertrains promise plenty of punch. While Audi hasn’t announced U.S. trim levels and timing, don’t be surprised if we learn more within the next twelve months as that nifty stalk makes its way closer and closer to our shores.
Top graphic credit: Audi
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Why do we keep “fixing” things that work and overcomplicating them? I want my simple stalks and a round steering wheel. Now excuse me while I go and yell at some clouds…
Audi has completely lost their exterior design language. From the front, this thing looks like a Ford Escape with a body kit.
Weirdly, current Acuras look more like Audis than Audis.
current BMWs looks like…..ass
’89 Pontiac Grand Prix and ’91 Isuzu Stylus have this style of controls too. Maybe they should be some of the next Autopian cars?
Awww, hell naw.
So this the German version of the Saginaw column, except that the bolts will back out in half the time and miles, and just after the warranty expires.
I think it’s more Citroën Visa than CX, with a touch of Subaru XT. Having wipers on the left stalk with a column shift is pretty common, but integrating all the headlights and a rear wiper is new.
I don’t think this is enough to entice my in-laws to replace their current Q3, since that has required a lot of repairs and since they are in their 80s it may be their last car.
Have they heard of a Toyota Avalon?
If anything they will buy a Mazda crossover. I am fully aware that the Avalon is the apotheosis of the Buick LeSabre, but they want AWD for the snow and ice. FWIW my parents’ final rides were an Audi 4000S and a Honda Accord
They have basically gone to the same basic stalk layout Mercedes has used for a decade or two, but made it even more complex and fiddly. Yeah.
I infinitely prefer wipers on their own stalk. I don’t mind the Mercedes column shifter, but it results in the wipers on the turn signal stalk where they don’t belong, so leave that in the center console.
Capacitive touch “buttons” don’t belong in cars, period.
People have knocked the new Renault 4 and 5 for having ‘too many stalks’, as there’s three (plus a paddle, on the 4, for adjusting regen) on the right hand side of the wheel.
BRING. IT. ON.
It looks perfect. There’s a stalk for the lights on the left, a stalk for the wipers on the right. Above the wiper stalk is a column shift (shaped like a lipstick, because, you know, France) but it’s far up and out the way. Underneath is a dumpy little one for the audio controls, which the French have been doing for decades (I had a 1997 Peugeot 306 with one many moons ago)
Everything is just lined up logically.
There’s no reason to waste the entire side of the wheel on the shifter. They don’t need to be huge, and they certainly don’t need to be the only thing there.
And yeah. The only capacitive buttons I’ve liked in cars are the preset keys that BMW used to do, where you could touch the button and the screen would display what the button was for, but it was still an old-school physical separate button to press.
I could not agree more. Those BMW buttons were perfection – I had that in my M235i. But as you said – they were still BUTTONS, just with the sensing built into them. But that is evidently a cost too far for VAG these days.
And I MUCH prefer a cruise control stalk to yet more steering wheel buttons. Sadly, BMW has abandoned that in the newer cars.
I only see the dumbest and most user unfriendly stalk of all time.
How is someone supposed to turn that little dial hidden behind the steering wheel to select a wiper speed?
Multi-functional stalks were figured out decades ago.
Main complaint I hear about 80s-90s GM products, especially the GMT400 platform stuff: “Too much stuff on the stalk! When it breaks it costs hundreds of dollars!” I can’t imagine what this little bastard would cost to replace, and given VAG’s history with electrical components, it’s not an unlikely scenario.
Like all German luxury cars outside of Porsches it’s also engineered to last until the warranty is up and not a second longer. The second it hits 4 years or 50,000 miles it’s going to incinerate itself and cost $4,000 to replace.
And if you complain about the stalk’s failure, brand stans will blame you for not following the recommended stalk maintenance protocol, helpfully detailed on pages 641-78 of the owner’s manual PDF. Because that’s what the Germans do, and Audis are renowned for the sturdiness of their stalks in the EU.
That is an extremely difficult and expensive outcome to engineer.
What we actually do is engineer things to last until the second the warranty is up, after which we just don’t care. It could last forever or immediately turn to dust, it’s no longer our problem.
Also a Porsche tech friend of mine says that the VW based cars are no more reliable than the VWs they are based on. The Cayman and 911 are significantly better though.
BMW would never innovate anything related to turn signals since they don’t use them. /s
I’m not sold. I’d need to check out the tactile feel of it. The surfaces are all clearly defined, so it probably works great operating blind. But I can’t see why I’d choose this over the traditional style.
I dunno dude, it looks overly complex. I’m sure you’d get used to it, but relearning basic functions that have been fairly uniform in cars for decades seems silly to me.
I feel like this offers only marginally more functionality than the cheap single stalk on my almost 30 year old Jeep, and the spin dial looks harder to use than twisting the entire end of the stalk for wiper speed. It certainly looks a lot nicer, but seems like the industry is running out of ideas for new ways to do old things.
Hello, I am John Q. Autopian Commenter III and this stalk confuses and irritates me. I cannot tell you how overwhelmed I am just looking at it. I will never be able to figure this out and it would completely ruin my life and probably my marriage. I am shaking and crying at the thought of this existing. I’m sorry, but I must now excuse myself to sob quietly for exactly 42 minutes in the passenger seat of my 1991 Nissan Hardbody with a FIVE SPEED MANUAL TRANSMISSION AND SLIDEY CLIMATE CONTROLS LIKE GOD INTENDED.
So offensive and wrong! It’s a 1993 Mazda B-series.
This is highly outrageous and absolutely accurate.
Ha ha! Hi, I’m glad I’ve finally been able to reach you…I’ve been trying to “stalk” you about your…extended car warranty! Have you checked your blinker and horn fluid recently? I also have some Lucas replacement smoke if you’re interested…
This makes haptics and touch screens look appealing.
That’s been my point when people bitch about touch screens…you want buttons? Careful what you wish for.
I’m 100% messing up those dial positions, especially in the dark when I can’t see the selector.
One of the things I like about movable stalks is you can usually know what position it’s currently in just by feel. You don’t get that with a dial, even if has detents.
I drive a lot of rental cars for work, and I almost always forget to look at how the wipers work on whatever car I happen to be driving until it’s pouring rain and dark outside. I also wish stalk icons were illuminated, for that very reason.
Looks cool, looks like $2 grand to fix and you can’t out-button an 80s-90s Pontiac. I give it a 6 outta 10 and a participation trophy.
I am the one that stalks – Audi Doody.
Hmmm… somewhat underwhelming. Would have been better if it weren’t completely hidden behind the wheel, necessitating a reach-around to use it. But maybe that’s just the way Audi likes it.
Anyway, you missed the opportunity to title this article: Audi’s Crazy Stalker!
Nice stalk, shame about the grille
I’m very confused as to why the design approach of so many manufacturers right now is “we need to make our ICE vehicles look as much like EVs as possible”
Though for Audi I believe the design brief has been and still is “we need to make our ev’s look as much like ice’s as possible”
it’s really horrible.
It wouldn’t be a real German car if it didn’t have at least one over engineered, more failure prone solution to a problem that no one had, would it? I also love that several years after VW had to publicly put their tail between their legs about their hellish, button-less infotainment crapola and haptic shit on the steering wheel that the much maligned technology is *checks notes* trickling UP to Audi products?!
VAG needs to give up and just let the four rings die a dignified death at this point. These soap bar styled, engineering overladen, rolling Apple Store ass grayscale crossovers and sedans just bring absolutely nothing at all to the table. Entry level luxury crossovers are lame and embarrassing enough as is but this is somehow even worse than something like an X1 to me.
What are your thoughts on the fact that they sell well and make the company money?
When it comes to entry level luxury crossovers? That a fool and their money are easily parted. Have fun with that $599 per month lease to drive a rebadged front wheel drive economy car with a fancy light up badge that’ll you’ll return in 3 years and can’t buy out because the depreciation will have outpaced the payments….
I had one of these as a rental in California a couple of summers ago and it was perfect for that purpose: looked pretty good (orange!), at least a little fun to drive, easy to park in unfamiliar towns. They are absolutely not worth the asking price though.
Oh I think 90+% of these products are leased and treated as disposable by all parties involved. If for god knows what reason you just desperately want a Q3 or GLA250 or something they’ll lease you one at a comparable bargain as long as you have a 10%ish downpayment.
There’s a reason why you can pick up a 4 year old one for less than a new Civic. I don’t think people even seek them out-I think folks roll into a dealership, ask “what’s the lowest payment on a new Audi/BMW/etc you can get me”, and they wind up with one.
Oh this is so true for the luxury electric cross over/suv things or even sedans go look up the prices of used e-tron’s or any Mercedes eq(whatever their dumb naming convention is). There are used 2022/23 ones around me that used to be anywhere from 70k and up and can be had used for 35k or less now so I am assuming all of these were just lease returns. Also I just recently got a 2022 Polestar 2 and the deprecation on those has been crazy also.
Also I really hope VW keeps the Scouts will all normal buttons and not haptic garbo.
It’s not a starship Camaro Berlinetta but it gets cool points.
I have trouble enough switching from VW to Honda where the direction for the wiper stalk is mirrored between the two vehicles (up-single-swipe vs. down-single-swipe)
This would be maddening.
We are also a VW/Honda family and as much as I love the Honda for things like “always working,” the ergonomics are very basic. Not thoughtful or well laid out, but I’m picking nits.
My 76yo mom has been waiting on the new Q3, but I can already tell you that control interface — as innovative as it is — will be a dealbreaker on complexity alone. Which means they’ll keep their 2013 Q5 until they die.
Do I see a Parking Light option there? I wonder what they’ll do for North America where that isn’t really A Thing. When I used to use parking lights on dim roads (a Euro switch on a US car), inevitably someone would come knock on the door of the house/apartment to let us know we left the lights on. After the third time this happened, I just stopped using them.
It’s a thing on German cars in the US. My two BMWs and Mercedes can do single-side parking lights. Though like you, I have had it mentioned when I have done it parked on a dark road at a party.
Meanwhile, still no cure for Volvo and Mercedes driving cruising around with their rear fogs turned on during normal conditions. IYKYK 🙂
And Audi – I actually see this FAR more with Audis than with the other two.
Looks like all of those control functions are very hidden from view behind the wheel spokes though. But otherwise, congratulations Audi you’ve reinvented the stalk from the F-150
I wish so bad that other (foreign?) manufacturers used Ford’s system for wiper speed, putting them all on a continuum instead of separate “notch for “on”, spin for intermittent” crap.
But also, I have never found a vehicle with a truly tactile, satisfying rear wiper control.
My Matrix has it as a twisty on the end of the “up/down” wiper control. works great, though I am quite used to it.
This Audi thing, though: Doesn’t seem to be an improvement, especially if the shifting controls are that close to the resting hand. Maybe they want drivers to ruin their cars.
I mean, that’s what I like about electronic shifters–they can decide “oh, you didn’t actually mean to shift into Park or Reverse while going 70 mph on the highway. I’ll just beep at you angrily and not do it.” Whereas I was always a little paranoid if I’d somehow accidentally done so in my ’97 Econoline.
So that aspect doesn’t worry me.
As for the rear wiper, yeah, that’s how my Prius v is, as well. My main issue with it is that it’s roughly the same resistance to turn it up (intermittent) vs. down (spray) and of course the stalk doesn’t illuminate at night. Wish that was a common feature in vehicles across the board.
My Mercedes doesn’t even beep – it just ignores you. I, being old and senile, on occasion will push the Park button on the shifter when I meant to push the identical button on the end of the wiper stalk to wash the windshield. I guess it does flash a message on the dash about not doing that.
My e91 BMW wagon you push the wiper stalk forward to turn on the rear wiper. Push it farther to wash the rear window. Works great, but for the exception below.
I do have two gripes with their wiper system though. First, it is rain sensing or nothing, there is no option for fixed interval intermittent. Audi is smarter – if you have the rain sensor on, the slider thingy sets the sensitivity. If you don’t have the rain sensor on, it sets the wiper frequency in regular intermittent mode. Probably the ONLY thing I think Audi does better than BMW for cockpit controls. The other is that when you push the stalk to wash the rear window, it goes back to wiper ON, not wiper OFF, because that is the detent. So you have to remember to put it back to OFF every time. Annoying. But nearly my only annoyances with the otherwise perfect ergonomics of that car (and my near identical e88). I grok BMW.
“Rain sensor” feature is something I don’t need, and it will likely prevent me from purchasing. I know when it’s raining. I know when I want to use my wiper. It is not a hassle for me to do it.
I’m just one person, though.
And you are wrong – I used to feel the same way until I bought my first car with this tech – an ’08 Saab 9-3SC. It’s actually *brilliant* 99% of the time. How many times have you been driving along in a light drizzle, so you only need a wipe every so often. But then a car comes the other way, or you come up behind a truck leaving a roostertail of spray, or you hit a big puddle and suddenly you can’t see poop and you are fumbling for the wiper controls to get the screen clear again? Or as here in FL, you go from no rain to cats and dogs to no rain and back again 11 times in two miles? With rain sensing, the car just does that for you seamlessly, then goes back to only as often as needed. It really is fantastic, and there is very little reason to not have it. I’m quite the Automotive Luddite, but this is a feature that legit makes life easier.
My only complaint, which is why I think Audi and a few others do this best, is that there are conditions where a fixed interval is better – light snow being the most frequent one in my experience. Rain sensing just doesn’t work well for that. So having the choice of rain sensing OR fixed intervals is the best way to do it. And it’s literally just a few lines of code so there is really no reason not to.
I will agree to this compromise. And to all the other nanny shit. Add it to the car, and allow me to set the default.