[1996 328ti]

Ouch! Sounds like Satch.

Edit:
http://www.automobilemag.com/auto_sh..._a3/index.html

Audi joins the premium hatchback segment with the A3, which it hopes will follow in the tire tracks of the Mini Cooper and not those of the BMW 318ti or the Mercedes-Benz C-class hatch.

http://www.automobilemag.com/reviews..._a3/index.html

ll in all, the A3 is a highly likable ride-high class, high content, and high quality. But the sub-$35,000 arena is full of temptations these days, and premium hatchbacks never have had an easy time of it here (BMW 318ti, anyone?).

http://www.automobilemag.com/reviews...upe/index.html
Well they got this one right, sort of.

BMW stopped selling its 318ti hatchback in the United States in 1999, and the company won't bring the next generation to the Americas because of certain marketplace failings of the previous car. The original 318ti was supposed to appeal to a new set of BMW buyers--a little younger, a little less married, and a little less male. But the 318ti, with its easily modified four-cylinder engine and recidivist trailing-arm rear suspension, wound up speaking to the hardest core of BMW enthusiasts, who found in it the perfect car for track days. In other words, BMW made a car too real, too specialized, for status-conscious Bimmophytes to grasp fully, and, as a result, BMW sold only 21,377 of the cars from 1995 to 1999.

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