Audi RS3 review: The acme of the touring hot hatchback – if you can afford it

Telegraph

19-02-2025

A bit more aggression in the front, a few tweaks and new lights; you'd be forgiven for wondering what all the fuss was about with this new Audi RS3, forgetting that the remarkable thing about it is that it's still with us.
That's because hot hatchbacks with large-capacity engines have been on the endangered list for years, while the PR industry tries to convince us that there is a substitute for cubes and cylinders. Spoiler alert: for the enthusiast driver, there isn't.
So, while the latest version of the high-performance A3 is situation normal for Audi, with marginal gains and a bit of technical wizardry under the skin, the RS3, launched in 2011 and with 80,000 sold since then, is a survivor. BMW no longer sells its 1-series hatchback with a straight-six-cylinder engine, Volkswagen has eschewed the V6 of the R32 in the Golf R and it's been a generation since Ford used a five-cylinder Volvo engine in the barnstorming Focus RS.
So how important is the five-cylinder configuration, which has been the characteristic 'Audi sound' since the Seventies, especially in the blistering Quattro rally cars? Rolf Michl, Audi Sport managing director, proves hard to pin down.
'It is important to the past,' he says, while saying this powertrain will have to give way to battery-electric cars in future and that it would be 'entirely wrong' to try to artificially create the warbling Quattro growl in EVs.
Perhaps we should lay these cars down like fine wine, since they simply won't make them any more? Even if you can't afford the £68,650 of this fully-loaded launch car, you'll find a nicely-maintained, less than five-year-old example with a low mileage for between £40,000 to £50,000.
On the other hand, the RS3 has always been slightly off the pace in the hot-hatch stakes, the weight of that anvil under the bonnet making the turn-in to corners a little lacking.
Straight-on tendency
Notwithstanding the fact that this doesn't appear to bother UK customers one jot – who have purchased 9,000 examples of the RS3 since 2011, 9 per cent of total production – has this new car solved a bit of that straight-on tendency?
Forget the mighty 394bhp/369lb ft turbocharged, 2.5-litre in-line five-cylinder engine, with its continual adjustment of inlet and exhaust camshaft timing for better manners. Forget the largely academic 174mph top speed and 0-62mph acceleration in 3.8sec, or the smooth-as-silk, wet-clutch seven-speed dual-clutch gearbox driving all four wheels.
The big change for this iteration is the 'torque splitter' rear axle, along with a lot of software changes. The system comprises a clutch pack in the driveshafts either side of the rear crown wheel and pinion, which over-speeds the rear wheels and then slips the clutches slightly to prevent shredding the tyres and winding up the transmission.
The really clever part of this is to completely close one of those clutches and use a rear wheel to 'drive' this 1.64-tonne hatchback into a corner, improving the front-end agility. It works well, especially in sharper turns where the outgoing car could feel slightly stodgy; the suspension geometry to help assuage this trait lost valuable steering feel. Don't get me wrong, this 4.38-metre-long, five-door hatch still rewards a considered and deliberate approach to driving, but it feels quite a bit better than what went before.
The traffic jam
So come with me on a wintery day, with frosty cobwebs blurring the fields and hedges and let's go to the Alps, which are about 70 miles away from BMW's headquarters in Munich. Don't sit in the back though, that's only just big enough for a six-foot adult, with his knees in the seat back and hair brushing the headlining. The boot is not exactly brilliant, either – at 292 litres, it's 100 litres smaller than the standard A3's. The rear seat backs fold 40/20/40 onto their bases to give a useful 1,104 litres.
The facia comes from that awful period after the launch of VW's useless Cariad software and crummy interfaces on the then-new Golf Mark 8, which appeared in 2019. Audi, desperate to mitigate the damage, tried to add its own identity with separate heater controls and a touch-button radio volume control. It's still not great, though, and while you can change the driver modes with a separate button, the rest of the complicated functions on the 12.3-inch touchscreen, which is shared with the regular A3, really require you to stop the car and deal with it.
The rest of the interior is lovely, beautifully finished with fine surfaces, well-worked joints and a non-splashy superior ambience which shows you where your money went. The standard quilted leather seats have good support and are comfortable, although in my opinion you are forced to sit too high. If you're feeling flush you can splurge £2,000 on carbon-fibre-backed bucket seats, but they're no lower.
On the road
For such a large amount of power and on the optional 21-inch wheels, the RS3 manages Munich's legendary traffic with aplomb. The seven-speed gearbox shunts slightly if you aren't careful with the accelerator, but the ride is firm. The squared-off steering wheel has progression and feedback, there's a feeling of compactness and control – although the 12-metre (39.4 ft) turning circle means you're careful to leave space to turn around in a car park.
The growling off-beat five-cylinder is full of portent, which gives the RS3 a rather lovely walk-softly-but-carry-a-big-stick demeanour. In stop-start traffic it's unmistakable, but doesn't ruin live broadcasts of the Brandenburg Concertos.
Out of town there's a long section of unrestricted autobahn, so watch the speed rise – 130mph, 150mph, 160mph… It's too bendy and chilly to max it out, but the RS3 is supremely stable and confidence-inspiring, even if the fuel consumption quickly plummets towards 20mpg at such velocities.
On quieter Alpine roads, the way the engine picks up between corners is simply fabulous, with a sonorous off-beat soundtrack recalling the original Quattro rally cars pummelling the Kielder Forest with Hannu Mikkola or Michèle Mouton at the controls.
The steering feels measured and calm, the brakes powerful and predictable and the body control in the more responsive driver modes inspires confidence. The only thing is the seven-speed gearbox which, unless prepared with every go-faster button pressed, is reluctant and slow to change down.
The Telegraph verdict
It's expensive and with a realistic average fuel consumption somewhere below 30mpg, this is never going to be a cheap car to run. Even more so if you decide – as I would – to halve the 19,000-mile, two-year oil-change services.
But what an accomplished thing, the acme of the touring hot hatchback, a lovely, sophisticated but undemonstrative machine, which at the end of the journey can be simply parked at the side of the road without being the centre of attention.
The facts
Body style: five-door hatchback (also available as a saloon)
On sale: now
How much? From £59,510 (saloon from £60,510), £68,650 as tested in Carbon Vorsprung trim
How fast? 174mph, 0-62mph in 3.8sec
How economical? 30.1-30.4mpg (WLTP Combined), 28mpg on test
Engine & gearbox: 2,480cc five-cylinder turbo petrol engine, seven-speed automatic gearbox, four-wheel drive
Maximum power/torque: 394bhp @ 5,600rpm/369lb ft @ 2,250rpm
CO2 emissions: 213g/km (WLTP Combined)
VED: £1,650 first year, £600 next five years, then £190 (Note: these will rise significantly from 1 April 2025)
Warranty: 3 years / 60,000 miles (transferable)
The rivals
Volkswagen Golf R, from £44,535
What was the surprise of 2005 (shoehorning a 3.2-litre V6 under the bonnet of a R32 Golf) is now an EA888 2.0-litre turbo four-cylinder. The 155mph four-wheel drive hatchback has a top speed of 155mph, does 0-62mph in 4.6sec and delivers 35mpg but, somehow, it isn't as special as the old V6.
Mercedes-AMG A45, from £63,445
'Maximum driving pleasure in everyday life,' is how its makers put it, but I found the A45 a bit of an all-or-nothing thug. It's 415bhp, 2.0-litre four-cylinder engine is heavily turbocharged and feels it. The 168mph top speed and 3.9sec 0-62mph acceleration seem more there for boasting than for practicality, although it will deliver 31mpg. In everyday driving, the milder A35 is a much nicer car.