What, exactly, is the new Audi RS3? It can't be the world's hottest hatchback, and the Sportback variant available in Europe certainly isn't migrating over here soon. It isn't exactly M3-like either; the RS3 is still based on architecture meant for front-wheel-drive cars on the Golf platform, so it leaves that duty to the bigger RS5 line. While the RS3's $58,900 starting price is admirably close to the previous generation's (around $56,000), it is too expensive to be a rally-car substitute for a youngster filling an STI-shaped hole in their heart. All rational points to consider before laying out up to $75,000 (after options) for a luxury car that shares plenty with the Mk 8 Golf.
But the RS3's appeal is not all that rational. And many people buying cars aren't rational either.
Audi RS3 and Quattro Gallery
Ultimately, the sales pitch for the Audi RS3 is that it has 400-plus horsepower from a turbocharged inline-five and a funky all-wheel-drive system to put that power to work in an interesting way.
Audi calls this twist on Quattro the RS Torque Splitter. On paper, the complicated rear differential will look familiar as the nifty torque vectoring that could not save the Golf R from itself. Two clutches dynamically change torque distribution to each rear wheel appropriate for any and every situation. Additional menus newly buried inside Audi's MMI navigation system (also accessed quickly from an RS button on the steering wheel) offer the driver options to choose what they want those tools to focus on. It’s a level of control similar to that of an electric car operating off independent motors.
The range of options opens with a FWD-dominant comfort mode at the base and escalates up to RS Torque Rear, an ultra-aggressive mode that unlocks power rear wheelspin in a car built upon front-wheel-drive architecture. By throwing power to just the outside rear wheel while turning and reapplying power to both only when the wheel is straightened, this is effectively a drift mode. In between are two performance-optimized balance options, one of which is customizable to offer a few extra layers of aggression.
The RS3 is optimized for a tight mountain pass. It has big power, sure, but that's placed in front of the axle and sent to all four wheels, with most headed for the rears in the fun settings. Unfortunately, the road-drive portion of our time with the RS3 was in the wide-open desert, a strange place to explore this car.
The RS3 proved usable and quick here, sure, but it was all a display of competence rather than excellence. If you forget how small the car behind you is, you find yourself in a sport sedan with more than enough power to accidentally reach speeds far higher than intended. There, you suddenly remember you're in a car just a little too compact to feel comfortable on a grand tour, and you feel an immediate need to dial back.
That feeling is made worse by the tires bolted to the cars that Road & Track got a chance to drive—Pirelli P Zeroes woefully unequipped for how sharp the RS3 was in the few places where it could excel. We were unable to test the Bridgestone Potenza Sports that are also available from the factory. But if you have the money, Pirelli and Audi have a much more compelling solution.
That would be Pirelli's P Zero Trofeo R performance tires. They're a $450 option, provided you've already checked a $5500 box for an increased speed limiter and carbon-ceramic front brakes. And that you've signed a waiver, since they're shaved-down tires meant for track use that are far from optimized for rain.
We experienced those Trofeo Rs on a trio of highly optioned cars around one of Spring Mountain raceway's many natural-terrain road courses. Those cars, clad in this RS3's signature Kyalami Green launch color and optioned past the $70,000 mark, excelled.
With the added grip of the Trofeo Rs and the added aggression of the most enthusiastic settings the RS3's menus could offer, the car is a blast. An inline-five humming along with all the anger and noise you've always wanted from every 2.0-liter turbo four in the Volkswagen Group highlights a track car that steps out like a rear-wheel-drive sport sedan and catches itself like an all-wheel-drive hot hatch.
While I think Audi set up the little RS3 for disappointment by choosing to display the car in a garage with four of its greatest inline-five racing and rallying cars ever, driving the RS3 on track did feel a bit like a fulfillment of my childhood Audi 90 IMSA GTO dreams. It's fun, particularly when playing with the limits of just how much the torque-vectoring all-wheel drive is willing to help exit a corner. I never actually reached a point where I was punished for doing this; instead, the RS3's torque vectoring solved the problem for me in a dynamic way that felt less like a computer working to get the best performance possible in spite of myself and more like one that knew the point of the performance was to have fun.
And the car is very fast. With the help of those grippy Trofeo Rs, an RS3 adorned with the five-cylinder's 1-2-4-5-3 firing order lapped the Nürburgring in 7 minutes, 35 seconds. That, as multiple Audi representatives told us at different times, is five seconds faster than a Bugatti Veyron.
On an autocross course laid out in the shape of the letters "RS" next to the circuit, we also got a chance to try the RS3's drift mode. Here, the car's inherent tossability and some nifty torque-vectoring tricks combined to create the perfect parking-lot toy. It's something like the world's most advanced take on putting a lunch tray under a rear wheel, allowing deeply satisfying slides. Our course involved drifting around a barrel and transitioning through three hairpins. With little practice and enough room to stop before spinning into anything, the RS3 quickly made sense as a performance product from a company that partners with Ken Block.
Audi positions the RS3 as an entry point to the Audi Sport brand, a way for younger buyers to see what makes the all-wheel-drive focus work before following it up the price range as they grow older. Audi also positions it as a direct competitor in what is currently a two-car battle with AMG's equivalent entry point, the similarly priced CLA45. But those are corporate justifications for pursuing the project, not what a consumer must care about. All a buyer needs to know is that the Audi RS3 is good, weird fun.
With all the German subbrands now offering a tuned-down performance variant of their traditional compact sport sedan, rational thought still says you should probably buy an Audi S4, a BMW M340i, or an AMG C43 over the RS3. But driving is not necessarily a rational enterprise.
I have seen used Ferrari Californias cross-shopped directly with new sedans and high-performance SUVs. Out there, the RS3 will find buyers who do not particularly care whether a compact hatchback is an odd origin point for a supersedan sold at three times the price. They'll be intrigued by how unique the RS3 looks and sounds, they'll find it a delight to drive, and they'll purchase what will soon be the only new five-cylinder performance car on the road.
Sure, nobody needs a compact that laps the Nürburgring faster than a Ferrari 458. But it is not particularly hard to see why someone wouldn't want that.
