L₃-subshell alignment of Au, induced by proton, deuteron and alpha-particle impact in the specific energy range 0.2-1.0 MeV u^-1, has been studied by measuring the anisotropy of the L_l line. Experimental results processed to account for isotropic Coster-Kronig transitions are compared with available theoretical results. The deuteron data show that the dealignment at low energies cannot be entirely due to Coulomb deflection and second-order effects. For alpha-particles, second-order Born calculations predict a higher dealignment than observed; agreement is better with coupled-states theoretical results.