2022 Audi RS3 Sportback TFSI launch review
Audi’s RS3 has carried a legendary reputation for some time now, and a lot of the legend relates to the powerful cylinder engine. That engine still features, and the RS3 is still as capable as ever, as Greg Kable finds out at the international launch drive.
- Step from S to RS is significant
- Five cylinder engine still brilliant
- Looks and feels special
- Tyre noise at highway speed
- Gearbox hesitates a little on down shifts
- Steering could offer more feedback
Introduction
As the two previous incarnations of the RS3 have proven, Audi doesn’t make hot hatchbacks and compact sedans quite like its competitors.
All of its rivals rely on either turbocharged four- or six-cylinder engines to provide their more financially accessible performance models with the sort of headlining power and accelerative properties considered necessary to grab the attention of prospective customers.
However, the German carmaker continues to hold true to a tradition dating back over 40 years by employing a turbocharged five-cylinder power plant.
It is a tradition that has always made the RS3 unique – or it did until Audi recently decided to supply its newly created Volkswagen Group sister brand, Cupra, with a turbocharged five-cylinder engine for its new Formentor SUV.
| Key details | 2022 Audi RS3 Sportback TFSI launch review |
| Price (MSRP) | $89,000-$94,000 (Indicative but not confirmed.) |
| Colour of test car | Kyalami Green |
| Rivals | Mercedes-A45 AMG | BMW M2 | Volkswagen Golf R |
Nevertheless, the five-cylinder tradition continues with the third-generation RS3, which like its predecessor launched back in 2015 will be available in both hatchback and sedan body styles when Australian deliveries begin during the first half of 2022.
Pricing is yet to be announced, though Audi is making no secret of the fact that the new pairing is aimed directly at the $93,600 Mercedes-AMG A45 S 4Matic and $112,000 CLA45 S 4Matic, so expect similar positioning.
Yes, it is a big step up from the milder S3 hatchback and sedan already on sale in Australia. But there is a lot more besides its engine that makes the RS3 truly exciting. And it all starts with its styling, which in line with recent offerings from Audi’s performance car division, Audi Sport, is anything but subtle.
Outwardly, it is differentiated from standard versions of the fourth-generation A3 by a very aggressive-looking front bumper with enormous cooling ducts and a revised single frame grille fitted with a signature honeycomb-shaped insert in either matt or high-gloss black plastic.
| Key Details | 2022 Audi RS3 Sportback TFSI launch review |
| Seats | Five |
| Length | 4542mm |
| Width | 1851mm |
| Height | 1412mm |
| Wheelbase | 2631mm |
The headlamps and tail lamps are LED as standard. They get their own distinctive graphics as well as strobe-like ‘dynamic indicators’. Buyers can also option the new Audi model with adaptive headlamps, in which case the three lower light bars within the headlamp assembly illuminate with the letters RS and the figure ‘3’ every time you unlock it via the remote button on the key fob.
Further back, there are wider front fenders with vertical cooling ducts behind the front wheel arches, black mirror caps, uniquely styled sills underneath the doors, as well as a new rear bumper housing an integrated diffuser element and large oval exhaust outlets within its lower section.
Additionally, the hatchback receives a sizeable spoiler at the top of its tailgate, while the sedan features an altogether more subtle lip spoiler atop the trailing edge of the boot lid.
Not enough? Try the optional black roof available on the sedan for the first time. Audi will also sell you aluminium- and carbon-fibre-look packages similar to those offered on other RS models too. One thing’s for sure, you’ll never mistake the new RS3 for an ordinary A3 hatchback or sedan.
On the inside, meanwhile, Audi has given the RS3 distinctive new digital graphics for the 12.3-inch instrument and 10.1-inch infotainment touch displays.
There are a variety of different themes to choose from, including so-called ‘RS runway’ instruments, as well as displays for g-force, lap times, acceleration from 0–100km/h, 0–200km/h and quarter mile. It is all of a suitably high-resolution and very technical in appearance.
For the first time on the RS3, buyers can also specify a head-up display unit as an option.
The flat-bottomed steering wheel is unique to the new hatchback and sedan. Upholstered in Alcantara like the roof lining, it adopts a competition-style dead-centre marker in red and, in combination with an optional ‘RS Dynamic’ package, an RS button that allows the driver to switch directly into more performance-oriented modes.
| 2022 Audi RS3 Sportback TFSI launch review | |
| ANCAP rating | Untested |
| Safety report | N/A |
The front sport seats are also exclusive to the RS3. Available with either cloth or leather inserts, they’re wonderfully supportive and comfortable. The driving position is near to perfect and, crucially, offers a good deal of adjustment.
Other RS-specific interior styling elements include aluminium-look trim for the pedals and driver footrest, red ‘sliders’ within the air vents as well as a range of different dashboard trim, including the fake carbon fibre of our test car.
The quality throughout the cabin is first-class. But despite its clear appeal – and the interior RS3 does feel quite special in an understated Teutonic way – it is what is underneath that matters most.
At the beating heart of the new model is a lightly reworked version of its predecessor’s transversely mounted turbocharged 2.5-litre petrol engine – the EA850, as the unusually configured five-cylinder unit is codenamed.
| At a glance | 2022 Audi RS3 Sportback TFSI launch review |
| Warranty | Three years / unlimited km |
| Service intervals | 12 months / 10,000km |
| Fuel cons. (claimed) | 8.3-8.8L/100km |
| Fuel type | 95 octane petrol |
| Fuel tank size | 55L |
With lighter pistons, a more powerful electronics package and a revised exhaust system featuring a fully variable flap for the first time among other detailed changes, it develops the same 294kW as in the old RS3, though the peak power is now delivered 250rpm earlier in the rev range than before, at 5600rpm. And it also now spins up to a higher 7000rpm before the onset of the ignition cut-out.
Torque has been increased by 20Nm to 500Nm on a broad plateau of revs between 2250rpm and 5600rpm.
To put this into perspective, the turbocharged 2.0-litre four-cylinder petrol engine used by the A45 S 4Matic and CLA45S 4Matic delivers 310kW at 6750rpm and the same 500Nm but at a peakier 5000–5250rpm.
Drive is channelled through a standard seven-speed dual-clutch auto gearbox with steering-wheel-mounted shift paddles. It is essentially the same Volkswagen Group-produced unit as before, but with new software mapping for even faster shift times.
| Key details | 2022 Audi RS3 Sportback TFSI launch review |
| Engine | 2.5-litre four-cylinder turbo petrol |
| Power | 294kW @ 5600rpm |
| Torque | 500Nm @ 2250-5600rpm |
| Drive type | Four-wheel drive |
| Transmission | Seven-speed dual clutch automatic |
| Power to weight ratio | 180kW/t |
| Weight | 1633kg |
| Turning circle | N/A |
There are no less than seven driving modes via the Drive Select button: Comfort, Auto, Efficiency, Dynamic, RS Individual, RS Performance and RS Torque Rear. Together, they provide the new Audi with a much broader range of driving characteristics than ever before, with RS Performance able to be called up directly with two presses of a button on the new steering wheel.
In a move aimed at boosting fuel efficiency, the latest RS3 also adopts a coast function that idles the engine on the overrun at speeds above 100km/h in Comfort and Auto modes.
It is what lives downstream of the gearbox on the rear axle, though, that really warrants attention. Here, Audi has provided its new hatchback and sedan performance pairing with a so-called Torque Splitter. Manufactured by Austrian engineering specialist Magna, it replaces the multi-plate disc clutch and rear differential of the previous RS3’s Haldex four-wheel-drive system.
Comprising two electronically controlled clutches – one on each of the rear driveshafts – it is claimed to provide the new RS3 with faster and more accurate apportioning of drive between the front and rear axles. It also enables individual torque allocation to each of the rear wheels in more sporting RS driving modes.
Also used by the latest Volkswagen Golf R and Cupra Formentor VZ5, the Torque Splitter brings other advantages, including greater traction on standing starts, as well as enhanced agility on more challenging roads. There it increases the amount of drive to the outer rear wheel to reduce the tendency towards understeer and bring improved cornering balance.
That’s not all, though. The new system also provides the driver with the ability to perform controlled drifts in RS Torque Rear. The additional driving mode receives its own unique mapping, with sharper throttle response, altered shift strategy for the gearbox and control of the four-wheel-drive system.
So configured, the Torque Splitter is capable of directing all the drive to only one of the rear wheels for characteristic tail-out rear- wheel-drive oversteer qualities in controlled conditions.
There is no denying the new driveline hardware has helped to up the RS3’s game. The changes to the engine combine brilliantly with the faster acting and more dexterous qualities of its newly developed four-wheel-drive system to endow it with vigorous off-the-line thrust and, thanks to the quick shifting action of its gearbox, strapping in-gear acceleration when you set out to extract maximum performance.
It always feels more eager than ever before, launching off the line with new-found enthusiasm and stunning traction, the engine pulling with great enthusiasm up to the 7000rpm ignition cut-out.
There it growls with a unique and rather stirring deep-toned blare of exhaust highly reminiscent of Audi’s legendary Quattro rally cars from the 1980s in any one of the three dedicated RS driving modes. For a car of relatively modest engine capacity, it delivers huge performance.
The balance between engine response and overall potency makes the new RS3 very special indeed. Audi puts the 0–100km/h time at 3.8sec, which is 0.3sec quicker than the old model.
By comparison, the A45S 4Matic is claimed to get to the same performance benchmark in 3.9sec.
Top speed is nominally limited to 250km/h, though customers can have it extended to 290km/h in combination with the RS Dynamic package, eclipsing the 270km/h of the A45 S 4Matic to make it the fastest car in its class by a margin of 20km/h.
There is more to it than pure accelerative intensity, though. The broad spread of torque ensures the new Audi provides tremendous ease of driving in other situations.
Its engine might not boast the overall refinement of some four- and six-cylinder performance-based rivals, but the muscular low-end properties help to imbue it with a likeable nimbleness in stop-start city traffic, as well as relaxed cruising qualities in taller ratios out on the open road in Comfort mode. It might be big on muscle on a wide-open throttle, but it also obliges in more relaxed part-throttle driving too.
Interestingly, the newly calibrated Efficiency mode sees the RS3 operate exclusively in front-wheel drive only in a move aimed at reducing fuel consumption and emissions, which are put at between 8.3–8.8L/100km on the WLTP test cycle, giving the Sportback model driven here official average CO2 figures of between 190 and 201g/km.
The good news is that Audi Sport has managed to blend this broad driving character with a whole new level of suppleness. This makes the new performance hatchback and sedan pairing not only more compelling to drive, but also much more comfortable over a variety of different surfaces than the models they replace.
To this end, Audi says it focused a lot of early development work on the RS3’s MacPherson strut front and multi-link rear suspension. The new model sits 25mm lower than the standard A3 and 10mm lower than the latest S3, while the front track width is up by 33mm to 1592mm and the negative camber of the front wheels has increased by one degree.
A new adaptive damper set-up replaces the magnetic ride system of the old RS3 in combination with the Dynamic Chassis Control arrangement already available on other new A3 models.
Like the S3, the new RS3 also receives a ‘modular vehicle dynamics controller’, which can be used to alter the settings of the optional adaptive dampers between comfort and dynamic, as well as the settings for the steering between comfort, balanced and dynamic.
Audi offers a choice of two tyres for the standard 19-inch wheels: Pirelli P Zeros and Bridgestone Potenza Sports, with a profile of 265/30 up front and 245/35 at the rear. Customers will also be able to specify semi-slick Pirelli P Zero Trofeo R tyres developed specifically for track driving.
The brakes have also been upgraded with 375mm steel discs and six-pot callipers at the front and 310mm steel discs and one-pot callipers at the rear. Buyers will also be able to specify optional 380mm front and 310mm rear carbon-ceramic discs.
The reworked suspension, fitted with optional adaptive dampers as part of the RS Dynamic package on our test, is still inherently firm but also clearly more reactive than that of the old RS3, breathing with the road in a much more fluid manner and offering greater compliance across its various driving modes.
The introduction of greater negative camber to the front wheels, as well as larger diameter anti-roll bars, and those new adaptive dampers provide the basis for outstanding handling accuracy and very impressive body control. With relatively compact dimensions, it is easy to place on the road too.
Indeed, the new RS3 is enormously capable when being driven fast, providing great response to steering inputs, soaking up mid-corner bumps with newfound authority, remaining supremely flat, and holding assiduously to a chosen line even at very high speeds.
The grip in the dry is exceptional, providing the driver with immense confidence, while the ability of the trick new four-wheel-drive system to send up to 100 per cent of drive to the rear wheels provides great traction on the exit of corners. All this despite a kerb weight that places it 20kg above the A45 S 4Matic at 1570kg.
To fully exploit the effects of the Torque Splitter, though, you need a race circuit and a good deal of determination. It is here, on smooth bitumen, where the new RS3 feels right at home.
When you load up the outside wheel, the trick differentials that go to make up the new four-wheel-drive system allow the rear end to progressively drift in RS Torque Rear mode. You can feel the drive being transferred across the rear axle to the outside rear wheel. In extreme cases, all drive can be sent to just one wheel, resulting in lurid oversteer in the right conditions.
It’s not perfect, though. The larger tyres tend to generate quite a lot of road roar, even on smoother surfaces. So, despite offering greater suppleness, the long-distance qualities aren’t as good as some rivals.
Other criticisms? The S-Tronic gearbox is super fast on upshifts but occasionally baulks on downshifts, most notably in RS Performance mode. The steering, despite being very accurate, is a little short on feedback, with the upshot that it can feel rather synthetic. The electro-mechanical system is beautifully weighted, though.
Among the fierce competitiveness of the hot hatchback and compact saloon segment, the RS3 stands tall. It is a hugely capable performance car, and one that offers great pace, outstanding handling prowess, a high level of technical sophistication and boundless driving enjoyment.
The effects of its new four-wheel-drive system are nothing short of spectacular. They endow it with a level of agility no-one would have thought possible given the, in hindsight, rather one-dimensional dynamic character of its predecessor.
We’ll have to wait until we can compare it to the A45 S 4Matic on Australian roads to discover if the RS3 Sportback can rise to best-in-class status, but if this first drive is any indication, it will be a closely fought contest. Yes, battery-electric cars are the future. But this new Audi proves there is still a lot of life left in petrol-engined cars for those passionate
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