In one of those entirely spooky coincidences the day after Ford confirms a
new Focus RS
and speculation of 300hp-plus and possible four-wheel drive are rife Audi weighs in with confirmation of the new RS3 Sportback.
The five-cylinder turbo stays; hurrah!
at the 'ring
recently we suggested "over 350hp" and, inevitably, Audi has delivered. Sticking with its trademark 2.5-litre five-cylinder turbo the new RS3 will have 367hp and 343lb ft, up from 340hp and 332lb ft in
the previous one
. That's also more than the 360hp and 332lb ft in its most obvious rival, the A45 AMG, and a significant step up from its closest MQB relative, the 300hp VW Golf R. It is, confirmed Audi's Dr Hackenberg in typically poetic form, "the most powerful production engine in the modular transverse matrix."
More stats? OK then... Via a seven-speed S Tronic dual-clutch gearbox the RS3 can hit 0-62 in 4.3 seconds (A45 4.6 seconds, Golf R 4.9 seconds should such things matter) and will go on to 174mph. At the other end of the scale official figures of 189g/km and 34.9mpg are impressive for what in this day and age is to be considered a big engine.
At 1,520kg with driver it's still no featherweight but at least 55kg lighter than the previous car, the technology quota has also been significantly boosted. This may or may not be a good thing, the old RS3 Sportback's more back to basics, old-school approach being one of its more charismatic features. Still, time waits for no man and an increased gadget count was inevitable, torque vectoring, an active centre diff (actually mounted at the rear) and options including Audi's Magnetic Dampers and (first in class) ceramic brakes all available. Reading between the lines the four-wheel drive system would appear to be a Haldex 5 design, Audi promising that with Sport mode in the Audi Drive Select the previous car's nose-heaviness can be mitigated with the throttle and the system "enables the driver to even perform controlled drifts on low-friction road surfaces." We'll look forward to putting that claim to the test...
Insert observation on style and quality here
In typical RS fashion the suspension components have been revised and beefed up over regular A3 Sportbacks, the RS running 25mm lower and boasting wider track front and rear, revised pivot bearings and dedicated spring and damper rates. Worryingly it seems Audi's 'Progressive Steering' is also standard and able to vary the rack ratio from 15.3:1 to 10.9:1 - Audi is promising it works with "an RS-typical characteristic" but if the benchmark for that is the similarly equipped RS5 we'll not be expecting much in the way of steering feel.
More information to follow, including pricing, but by the time you've added your ceramic brakes, magnetic dampers and optional carbon engine cover there's a very real possibility we'll be looking at a £50K hot hatch.