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. 

SPECIFICATION

Engine	2.5L Turbo Petrol
Gear Box	S Tronic
Torque	500Nm
Power	294kW
Top Speed	250km/h electronically limited
Price	R1,498,200

 

Bucket Seat: Audi RS3 Sportback

Everyone had that one wild cousin, when you were a kid and they used to come along and visit, you'd do the craziest shit with them, stuff that makes you go outside of your comfort zone but you were content with what you were doing because you had complete trust in what they were doing and you'd have the best time. That's what I'd say my encounters with the Audi RS3 have been like, ever since it's launch last year in October, I was waiting to be reunited with this ridiculous hot hatch and I got my chance last month, I had to fly to Johannesburg for it but it was worth it because, my word, what an incredible car Audi have created, it's every bit of fun as I remembered from the launch and more as I got to spend more time with it on the streets of Jozi. While it might be the smallest RS in the range, it is so perfectly balanced, it probably is the best from the lot if I had to be perfectly honest and in this review you'll find out why I'm singing its praises. 

DESIGN

The RS3, like the A3 comes in both the sedan and sportback versions, on launch I had the sedan which proved to be quite a ripper but everyone knows Audi does Sportbacks so I was properly excited to see what the version minus the boot had to offer. Based on the basic A3 design, the RS version receives extensive sporty additions, starting off with the grille which is fully blacked out, including the borders, has a large honeycomb type pattern with high gloss borders than extend the shape of the bumper out to the headlights, which also feature a matrix LED style that has a unique greeting when unlocking the car. The one side has a checkered light display while the other, displays the R, S, 3 in sequence. A pretty cool party trick to show off the car to people who don't know much about cars and are amused by silly things like that. The car came in Kylami Green paint with 19" 5 spoke Y style rims that had graphite paint work that really gave the car a menacing look from the side. The wide body styling is accentuated by the air vent behind the front wheel arches. The honey comb pattern is continued at the rear diffuser with the twin RS tail pipes either side of the car. The LED lights on the back complement the front with their own unique "dance" when unlocking and locking the car. The car also came fitted with a carbon fiber split style rear boot mounted wing. The interior had the Green RS package to compliment the exterior colour which see's green accents on the inside dash and seats with green stitching. 

PERFORMANCE

The magic of the car lies under the hood, a turbo charged 2.5-litre, 5-cylinder monster produced by Audi Performance that delivers 294kW of power with a max torque of 500Nm. Same engine used in the TTRS and RSQ3 but for me is best suited to this car. The balance in performance and drive-ability of it in the RS3 shell is second to none, its like Audi crafted this engine for the car at hand. Everything just works so perfectly and that noise, my word, it's more addictive than hard drugs. The power delivered to all four tyres in the various driving modes is is quite astonishing, where you can be coasting along in eco mode, doing low revs, shorter gear changes, maintaining a decent fuel consumption but hit that RS button on the steering wheel and you unleash the beast, with high revs, longer gear holds, a propulsion of acceleration that catapults you into warp speeds. The throaty exhausts make it known that the car isn't holding back and adds to the thrill of driving it. With the Quattro engaged, you know you're in safe hands, just point and it goes, the car grips like a big cat latching onto its prey. Now with the RS3, it has a party trick that it's other siblings don't have. It's the first Audi RS to receive a torque splitter which distributes driving force between front axel and the individual rear wheels, that allows the car to perform power slides on demand, for added effect, turn off the traction and eat your heart out at what a four wheel car is capable of doing. It really personifies the new catch phrase of the brand which is "Performance Is An Attitude" because this car is full of attitude!

COMFORT

The RS3 might be a performance car but it still offers the driver and its occupants a comfortable ride. With fully electric sports styled seats that offer great support and cushioning for the driver and front passenger, it even has seat heating as an option. The steering wheel is covered in alcantara, which gives the driver a better grip on the wheel seemed a bit warn out, while the idea was clever it doesn't fade very well and given that this car is only a few months old and probably driven very hard, it isn't a great look. The rest of the cabin is styled exactly on the Audi A3, with the high glass plastics, brushed aluminium and silver accents. The large touch screen infotainment screen is easy to navigate and the car comes with wireless mobile app connectivity. As with all new Audi's, only USB C ports can be found in the car, two in the front and two in the back. The car has a dual zone climate control with vents in the back for the rear passengers. The rear seats are also sport styled bucket seats with the honeycomb green stitching. The trunk space is not compromised from the normal A3 and still can fit a lot, just make sure you knot your grocery bags properly as with this car, you tend to get a bit excited when taking corners so more often than not, your shopping is rearranged by the time you arrive home. The Audi adaptive matrix LED lighting  works like a treat and its a joy to see it in action when hitting the dark areas of road at night. Other note worthy extras was the panoramic sunroof, for someone who didn't see the point of them when I first started out testing cars, I quite like having natural light come through the cabin from the top and it makes driving at night, with stars present just dreamy. 

VERDICT

I said at the start of this review that this is one of my favourite packages from the Audi RS range, having driven a few of them, this one just seems the best balanced in terms of power to size ratio. The addition of the RS Torque Splitter is just genius, allowing you to do things to a Quattro Audi that you could never do before. The size and comfort offered here, is quite special and with great quality of materials used in the interior coupled with that price tag, it definitely feels like the more attractive option than the one from GroBaspach. When I drove the new GTI and the S3, I was a bit disappointed that they added the soft limiter to the tailpipes to take the thrill away from the driver, but with the RS3 there is no such thing, even in Eco mode this bad boy still rumbles like King Kong on an empty stomach! I certainly had a brilliant time with this car in the short period I had it, exploring the vast north west part of Gauteng with exceptional company, that just made the whole experience a whole lot better. 

SPECIFICATIONS

Engine	2.5-litre, 5-cylinder Turbo
Gear Box	7-Speed Dual Clutch Automatic
Torque	500Nm
Power	294kW
0-100km/h	3.8 seconds
Price	R1,246,600*

*base price