Audi RS3 review

Despite being capable of dispatching 0-62mph in 3.6 seconds (Audi claims 3.8 but we’ve clocked it quicker) and 180mph (with the optional Dynamic Pack installed), the RS3 is actually pretty amiable when you’re just trundling about town. Yes, it can be a bit fractious at low speed over an uneven road, but it’s not something that really stands out. It’s firm, but the damping makes it a more comfortable drive than even some mass market hatches. 

The car manages the Jekyll and Hyde switch very well as you turn up the volume. It’s a great everyday option. It’s when the going gets tough that the RS3 really shines, though, because it maintains its damping excellence even over the roughest of surfaces. If the tyres are in contact with the road, the car is gripping – the all-wheel drive system that feels a bit front-wheel drive suddenly feels very four square and dependable, and there’s agility to spare, even on surface changes. 

How’s the engine?

The turbo’d five-cylinder pulls hard, and although you can trigger some hesitancy from the gearbox if you surprise it, there’s plenty of torque to keep the RS3 rowing along at a startling rate. But more than that, it feels reliable and confident – an ally.

Add to that a set of decent brakes and it’s a heady combination – although we suspect the carbon-ceramic brake option is probably only strictly necessary for those who want to hammer track days. The standard brakes could do with a touch more feel though – modulation isn’t something the system does particularly well.

What’s this torque splitter all about?

It’s probably one of the main reasons that the RS3 feels so nimble. The torque splitter is essentially what it says on the tin – it uses a separate clutch on each side of the rear driveshaft to allow it to shove 100 per cent of the available torque to whichever wheel the system desires. That means 50 per cent of the total output, seeing as the front wheels are always driven, so this isn’t a total switch like in, say, an M5 or E63. When you’re going fast, the splitter electronically massages the drive to throw a bit more torque to the loaded outer rear wheel to kill understeer and make the car feel more agile. You’ll feel it happening too. 

Another benefit is that the splitter can adapt – if you feel the need to make the car drift a little sideways, just stick it into RS Torque Rear mode and torque gets shoved unceremoniously at the loaded rear wheel, spinning it and causing the back end to kick out. The car then angrily oversteers (having wailed through some initial understeer), adopting postures that used to come only when there had been a recent diesel spill on a roundabout.

Bluntly, the fake drift mode is an interesting addition, but not a serious one. The car isn’t rear-wheel drive, so come off the throttle and try to adjust the line even slightly, and the car simply pulls straight. Be less than brutal, and the RS3 won’t realise what you want, and will just push the nose. It’s interesting and exciting to try with some space, but you’d never, ever use it on a public road, and it wouldn’t really be that much fun on a track, simply because it’s a bit inconsistent. A good ‘because we could’ moment.