The new Audi RS 3 has changed more than you think, how do you like that?
TopGear just got out of the new Audi RS 3. You can read the full test report in our December issue (in the shop at the end of November); now the highlights.
Test object: Audi RS 3
Performance: Sedan and Sportback
Location: Athens, Greece
Weather conditions: sunny, 26 degrees – we are going to miss it, the coming months…
Ah, the new Audi RS 3!
Yep! The bomb is back and it is, Audi believes, better than ever before. Well it would be weird if they didn’t say that, but this time they have every reason to say so.
How’s that?
Well, they’ve gotten pretty busy with him. The power of the phenomenal five-cylinder remains 400 hp, but the torque increases by 20 Nm to 500. In addition, all power is available earlier in its full intensity and also rumbles longer. But that’s far from the most important.
Oh?
By far the most important change to the Audi RS 3 is the Torque Splitter. It is a largely electronic system that can distribute half of the power (the other half always goes to the front wheels) between the two rear wheels. Possibly even 100 percent to one rear wheel. This means that the RS 3 is now much easier to steer out of a bend: a lot of power goes to the outer rear wheel, which pushes you out of the bend, as it were. Which in turn means that you have much less trouble with the big problem of previous RS 3s: epic amounts of understeer.
And, does it work?
Well and if it works. Especially since they have added it to the driving modes as a sort of extra. You now have no less than seven of them. In addition to the usual Efficiency, Comfort, Dynamic et cetera, there are now RS Performance and Torque Rear. In the first of those two modes, the ESP is a bit ‘looser’ and you are actively helped to get through the bend. In the second, everything is loose and as much as possible goes backwards. And you should even be able to drift.
Drives? In an Audi RS 3?
Yes, well: it remains grumpy, you know. Of course, power always goes to the front wheels, so people who have taken a drift course with a BMW 318 will be disappointed. But it is possible, although you need significantly more space for it than that right-angled bend in your area.
So, what do you think of the new Audi RS 3?
Remains a top thing. It is indeed better than ever before, very easy to drive and significantly less understeer. He’s really gotten a lot nicer. And that five-cylinder remains a jewel. Not a ‘gem’ – a gem. What a sound, what a power, what an engine. Get him while you still can.
