Life as a rep isn't so bad these days. The quality of the Little Chefs is better. There's the Birmingham Toll Road to make cross-country commuting more bearable. And the standard of the kind of medium Range motor the fleet manager's likely to give you for the journey has changed beyond recognition.

Think back ten years - then ten years before that. Motorway marathons were things you psyched yourself up for with a stock of Mars bars and a few bottles of Red Bull. No longer. At the wheel of a car like this Audi A3 Sportback, you've the kind of luxury normally reserved for the Chairman.

Of course it helps that our car was a top spec model equipped with all the bells and whistles that you might not bother with if you, rather than your company, were paying the ownership cheque. Having said that, even the most basic repmobile these days comes with things like air conditioning, front and side airbags and a decent stereo. To these things, our A3 test car added satellite navigation, leather trim and electric almost everything. It's well equipped, as we said. As for the price, well the version we have lists at £22,970 but you can buy A3 Sportbacks from around the £16,000 mark and there's a choice of various different specs.

For business buyers of course, these figures are often only the starting point for negotiation, though Audi Fleet Managers in recent times have not had to give too much away given the excellence of the product on offer and the low depreciation it suffers. The A3 in all its forms is universally recognised as a car sitting at or near the top of its sector. No other prestige hatch handles better and in terms of running costs, the car is exactly where it needs to be. The 2.0-litre turbocharged petrol unit we tried manages a top end of 146 mph and it dispatches the benchmark sprint in a sprightly 6.8 sec. Despite this, the fuel consumption figure of 35.7mpg isn't too bad. As an alternative to the manual transmission (which comes with Quattro four wheel drive) a clever DSG automatic gearbox is offered if you order the car in front wheel drive form.

Standard safety equipment includes window airbags, electronic stability control, ABS, brake assist, a part-electric power steering system and anti-whiplash head restraints. The cabin has been restyled to offer a little more design flair, Audi realising that high quality alone isn't enough to lure buyers into showrooms. There has to be some style on display too. The fascia struts ape the interior design of the TT, as do the round air vents and chrome-rimmed dials. It's still not what you'd call revolutionary, but it's beautifully executed.

"To overlook the A3 in this sector would be a mistake. Any middle-ranking Manager who's tried one will tell you that?.."

One of the reasons Audi didn't give the old five-door A3 the big fanfare was, when all was said and done, it was just a three door A3 with an extra pair of doors wedged in. The A3 chassis was always very tightly packaged and with five doors, the styling lost something and the back seat was only ever any good for kids or rather squashed adults. This time round, Audi have approached the problem in a more expansive manner, leaving the regular A3 as a sleek three door and offering this longer bodied five-door model that really does the job for those looking for added versatility.

Although it lacks the nuggety compactness of the three-door car, the five-door Sportback isn't a bad looker at all, certainly a good deal easier on the eye than the rather 'challenging' BMW 1 Series. A 83mm increase in body length and extra wide opening rear doors adds up to easy accessibility and far better rear knee and head room than its three-door counterpart. Space up front is equally good, the transverse engine minimising intrusion into the passenger cell. Given that the current generation A3 is 65mm longer in the wheelbase than its predecessor, it's obvious that rear seat passengers will be a whole lot happier in the Sportback than the old A3 five-door. The luggage compartment also grows by 20 litres giving a total of 1,120 litres of space with the rear seat folded flat.

In a market sector dominated these days by excellence, it's easy for motoring journalists and Fleet Managers alike to take the A3's talents for granted. Even to overlook the car in conversations dominated by cars like the BMW 1 Series, the Alfa Romeo 147 and the Mercedes A-class. That would be a mistake. Any middle-ranking Manager who's tried one will tell you that.