the Bucket: Bucket Seat: Audi RS3 Sportback

Audi's RS stable has a formidable line up with very powerful weaponry in their arsenal, powered by some legendary motors ranging from 5-pots to V8's that deliver enough power to knock the wind out of you on launch. While many do live by the age old Jeremy Clarkson analogy "More Power", sometimes the ones with the lesser power deliver more fun. The latest edition of the Audi RS3 reached our shores earlier this year, still powered by the 5-cylinder turbo-charged petrol engine but now delivers slightly more punch than the launch edition which was first reviewed by us in 2023. Funny enough, the test unit I had back then was in Kyalami Green and this new unit was the same colour. Even though it is the baby of the RS stable, does the RS3 still deliver a thrilling drive like the rest of its companions or does it fall short? Having spent a week with it, here are my thoughts.

DESIGN

I'm not going to be like the generic influencers by saying "Audi cooked" or "Audi knocked this one out of the park" or anything to that effect but in all honesty, this car looks stunning. I had my reservations of the exact spec I got as I feel the colour deserved a darker colour rim but it grew on me. The way Audi transformed this car from a regular A3 to something so muscular and aggressive, feels like they took a regular A3, filled it up with Red Bull and creatine, sent it to the gym for a weight session and it came out bulked up ready for competition. When you delve deeper into the design, you can see it's not just a body kit they slapped on but paid intricate detail into the aerodynamics and ventilation of the car. Sharpened proportions and a lower in stance, gives the car a more pronounced presence, the car is wider and squared off in areas that not only add character but also serves a purpose in terms of cooling or ventilation. There are some faux details for added visual effects but most of it is functional. Major new styling cues include the new headlights which feature a new matrix LED design that is customisable from the infotainment screen, a new rhombus grille with honeycomb pattern, angular side pods which flow onto the flared wheel arch. The rear features a twin style spoiler and the rear bumper is a thing of beauty with a pronounced difuser that is finished off in black that houses the twin RS performance exhaust pipes and a reflector dead center gives the RS3 that iconic rally style look. Not much significant changes are on the interior, the racing seats receive some new styling and the steering wheel design has changed.

PERFORMANCE

Now, for a 5-cylinder motor, this one sure is throaty, the vocals are enhanced by those massive performance exhausts, the soft-limiter does fade away once the car has warmed up but the noise in the cabin when going full tilt is just intoxicating. The power which is drawn from the 2.5-litre motor is astounding, with it delivering 294kW and 500Nm of torque. Audi's claimed 0-100km time is 3.8 seconds, my best attempt was 3.9 seconds multiple times, I attribute the extra 0.1 second to my spare tyre I carry around but still, it's mind blowingly fast for such a small car. The on road feel with the various driving modes dependent on your mood add to the versatility of the RS3, if you just want a chilled drive to the shops, Eco mode would do it for you, comfort is for everyday driving that has a chilled mode but the devil within can be woken up at any time. Dynamic mode is where things start to get interesting with the car becoming more vocal and you can feel things start to tension up. Audi have added two performance buttons to the steering wheel cluster for easy access to RS mode and track mode, both of these can be customised in the cars menu settings depending on your driving preference. The Quattro all-wheel drive with RS Torque Splitter distributes power between the front axel and individual wheels on the rear axel as required, it's this function that allows you to drift an all-wheel drive car, having done this on track at the launch was tonnes of fun, unfortunately finding a decent spot to test it out proved to be impossible but I'm glad I got to do it at least once. The balance of the car is just superb and I think this is why I prefer this smaller RS model to its bigger bruts, It's got a tonne of power but its so easy to control, thanks to the Quattro system, it assists to such a great extent that you don't feel like you have to exorcise demons to get it do what you want it to do.

COMFORT

It's a sports car, that means lowered ride height, stiff suspension, low profile tyres mean a very hard and bumpy on-the-road feel but with the RS3, while it did have all of the above, it was quite comfortable. The racing bucket seats were super comfy and not restrictive even for someone my size. I had 4 full size adults in the car and all of them praised how comfy the car was. Audi packed the RS3 with all the regular creature comforts and more, the car is also laden with the latest tech, as mentioned it has the new designed steering wheel with flat top and bottom that has multi-function controls, the MMI interface gotten an upgrade too with so much going on in the various menus, I didn't dabble too much into that as I usually had my phone projected onto the screen. dual-zone climate control, seat heating for the front seats and a panoramic sunroof were just some of the items worth a mention. Heads-up display, which is optional also helps the driver keep their eyes on the road, the RS configurator on ton the in screen menu lets you calibrate the cars settings for your optimal driving preference. The sporty details of the interior really make the car stand out from the normal A3, a mixture of alcantara and leather make up the materials of the interior with robust but great quality plastics serving the rest. The LED Matrix headlights from Audi just keep getting better and better, these ones have various different patterns for your day-time running lights so you can choose to change it whenever the need arises. The sound system has received a nice upgrade with the RS3 coming with a SONOS 3D sound experience system featuring 15-speakers including subwoofers to give you an ultra-premium sound experience, even though the orchestra from the exhausts sounds great, sometimes you want to kick back with some good tunes.

VERDICT

While the RS3 is the baby in the Audi RS line-up, it still remains one of the most fun cars to drive, only rivaled by the TTRS which shares the same power-plant. The car is legend in street racing in our paths and this new one is sure to carry on that status with not only the looks but also the power to prove it. Audi have taken an already great car and tweaked to become even better. When I first drove the new gen RS3 on launch I thought they had a winner, this face-lift just goes to show you what German engineering is all about, the strive for perfection never stops and its justified given how much different this car feels that its predecessor. I love how Audi have integrated some of the new design philosophy into this model by including this like the new steering wheel which is in the all-new A5 which just was recently launched and the MMI interface ensuring that customers who are buying this car are getting the best that they have to offer. My time with the RS3 was short but oh was it sweet.