Audi RS3 Review – Redline Magazine

Written by Mark Rose, photos by Dom Ginn

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Few hot hatchbacks are more bonkers than the latest Audi RS3 Sportback. And that’s not because it’s some laser-focused, spine-tingling driver’s car, no, it’s because it packs 400 horsepower and 500NM of torque. I’m about to sound older than I actually am, but I remember when supercars were putting out those figures. Thanks to quattro all-wheel drive, none of that power is squandered either. You just bury your foot to the floor, wait a moment for the S-tronic gearbox to kick down, and then fire towards the horizon. Sure, there are much faster cars out there, but the sense that you’re in a normal A3 but have enough performance to make a mockery of most sportscars takes some acclimatisation.

From behind the wheel, the only inkling you have that you’re driving something with such huge potential is the motor responsible for the punch. It’s a turbocharged 2.5 litre five-cylinder engine which at low revs has a whiff of V10 about it. The engine tone adds a character that other modern, fast hatchbacks don’t possess, which is important when you realise that the rest of the cabin is a bit, well, boring.

One of a few bugbears I had with the RS3 after a week of road testing was how bland the interior was. Perhaps it was just the vanilla spec of our press demonstrator, but apart from the RS button and badge on the steering wheel, and a poor attempt at faux carbon fibre, there was little to remind you that you’re actually driving the fastest production hot hatch Audi has ever churned out. There were some quality materials and it was well built, but the driver-side air vents looked like they had been stuck on and there were some scratchy plastics in some obvious places. Not what you expect from a performance Audi, but we move, and it’s when you’re on the move that the RS3 starts to shine.

Show me a quicker car across a bumpy, country road and I’ll give you twenty quid, because unless you have something unfathomably special and incredibly well-driven at your disposal, you ain’t getting away from a well-pedalled RS3. The key to this isn’t the abundant performance at your disposal, but the quality of the damping. There are a multitude of driving modes including the option to configure the suspension, steering, stability control and engine sound for your ideal setup, but however you configure the car, it deals with the worst a backroad can throw at it. The composure, compliance and body control make the RS3 a deeply confidence inspiring car, and you can use all the potential in most conditions thanks to the all-wheel drive system. Pushing too hard in to a corner does uncover some understeer, but this is typical fast Audi behaviour, so it comes as no surprise. A lot of the time, the RS3 actually feels front driven which is handy because a dab of throttle mid-corner helps tuck the nose in and pull it round the turn.

It’s ruthlessly efficient, but also lacking in feel thanks to the steering which is too quick. Despite its brilliance over a technical piece of road, the RS3 can feel a little nervous and you often find yourself having to make smaller inputs at the wheel than you would initially think. Also, the gearbox – a seven-speed twin-clutch – could do with some sharpening as there were times when I called for a lower gear and didn’t receive it as quickly as expected. Individually, these aren’t big issues, but some fine tuning here and a tweak there could elevate the levels of response you get from the RS3 and would no doubt add to the overall experience. It’s not a million miles away and it’s clearly a step up from fast Audis of old, but there’s still some room for improvement.

As a daily driver is where the car arguably makes the most sense. Much of the time, I forgot I was behind the wheel of a hyper hatch that can do zero to 62mph in just 3.8 seconds a top speed of 155mph, which is no bad thing of course. When you dial everything back in to the comfort or efficiency driving modes, it transforms in to a run-of-the-mill Audi A3. It’s comfortable, has enough room for four grown adults – five at a squeeze – and there’s a reasonable boot with the potential for more luggage space if you fold the rear seats down. While we had the car, we actually went to road test and photograph another vehicle, and the RS3 actually made for a convincing support vehicle. It was capable of carrying all our gear and doubled as a tracking car for on-road photography.

The MMI infotainment system was easy to use and quick to respond, although I did loathe having to turn off lane assist and pre-sense every single time I got in the car – I know how to drive thank very much, Audi. The RS3 was also insistent on shouting “your mobile phone is still in the vehicle” every time I cut the engine and opened the door, even when I didn’t have the volume set high. Very antisocial. Otherwise, the Bang & Olufsen hi-fi was a treat for the ears and the panoramic sunroof was the perfect summertime companion.

So, the Audi RS3 Sportback is a very rounded hot hatchback, but when people asked me about it, they often recoiled when I told them the price. Our lightly optioned press car came to £60,460 which means you could quite easily drop seventy-bags on one, especially if you start adding carbon ceramic brakes from the options list. The truth is though, very few people will ever spend that because what they’ll do instead is buy it on finance. These cars typically benefit from good residual values which also drives down monthly payments, so in reality, ownership isn’t as scarily expensive as the top line price would suggest.

When you consider the car’s performance, practicality, and sheer capability, it becomes a very compelling proposition. You also don’t need to trouble the aforementioned options list in order to get yourself a decent spec, just do what you can to spruce up the interior, spec an outlandish paint colour – preferably our test car’s Kyalami green – and go and have yourself a blast. This is the only five-cylinder, do it all hot hatch on sale, and one day soon, you won’t be able to buy one at all.

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For more information on print magazines, visit the Redline Magazine website here. Don’t forget to use discount code FIN10 for 10% off!