Audi S3 - long-term review

The S3 is pretty trick. It has adaptive dampers, a clutch-actuated torque-vectoring differential and the usual overbearing safety systems that we All Must Obey. It looks lean and has the complex surfacing of a really contemporary and precisely built car. It’s very mid-2020s, in other words.

So, why does it bleat ‘Youreah mobile phone is still in the veeeehical’ every time I jump out in some weird 1990s imagined-AI voice? Made worse by the fact I’ve already picked-up my phone and it is very definitely about to exit the veeehical. It’s an odd miss for a car that seems so meticulously developed and slots so easily into everyday life.

For the most part the tech is actually superb – fast, intuitive (admittedly, I mostly use CarPlay, which they can’t really take credit for) and seamless. Yet, that little 16-bit style audible warning dates the car every single time the driver opens the door at the end of a journey.

Otherwise, the Audi continues to mostly entertain. It really does have a wide operating window from Comfort mode all the way up to Dynamic Plus, with tangible steps to suspension, powertrain and the feeling of focus and agility. Which is great. But also means finding the sweet spot to programme into the Individual setting is taking some time!