RE: Audi RS3: Review

[justa1972]

Sorry to repeat what has already been said but 0 - 60 in 4.3 seconds ????

Thats just insane !

Where will it end ?!?

[F1GTRUeno]

justa1972 said:

Sorry to repeat what has already been said but 0 - 60 in 4.3 seconds ????

Thats just insane !

Where will it end ?!?

It'll be quicker than that.

Expect 3.9/4.0.

[Tickle]

155 limited

[PunterCam]

Mr Whippy said:

"367hp and 174mph are absurd in an A3, but can the new RS impress beyond the spec sheet?"

Almost the spec of the 2.7 biturbo RS4 back in the early 00s.


It was kinda absurd then, but now? 15 years and a 380bhp avant Audi in the 1600kg weight range is still absurd?

Dave

This was my immediate thought. The A3 is a big car. This spec in a Polo would be impressive, but not a big old estate car like the a3.

I'm sure it's a lovely car, but I just find it all quite dull..

[Clivey]

iloveboost said:

This is a terrible GIF in so many ways, but it made me chuckle so thanks for that.
What I find amazing is that a car with a a great technical specification and 255 tyres (I had to read this twice, as I think this is the size many 3 series BMWS have on the back?!) still has a disappointing chassis. The slight weight disadvantage of the five cylinder must have had a really bad effect. I mean the Golf R and Audi S3 are said by many to be good AWD hot hatches, despite being cut from the same cloth.

I think it makes me laugh because it's terrible!

E46 Sports have 255s on the back as standard, with 225s on the front. The RS3 being the only (AFAIK) production car to have wider front tyres than rear tells you a lot about the balance / characteristics / setup and it does sound a lot like last time / other VAG Haldex cars. The weight distribution is partly, though not wholly, to blame for the "uninvolving" characteristics...I mean, the Evo and Impreza/WRX have the engine in front of the front axle yet still manage to have a wider dynamic repertoire. It's mainly the AWD system & setup that frustrates us enthusiasts.

Thing is; you've got a very smartly-styled car inside & out, a fantastic powertrain, good economy / emission numbers for the performance on offer, practicality etc., they seem to have sorted the ride quality and brake feel, which just leaves the handling and steering as a huge great fly in the ointment for anyone that's actually going to drive the thing in a spirited fashion. It's maddening because we know they can build some bloody good cars and if they made an effort with the Golf-platform Haldex stuff, they could give us something exciting.

[PorkFan]

3 door version might have been interesting but this is just more of the same.... kinda like an rs4 x 0.9

yawn

[EricE]

I think the brakes in the latest batch of RS cars deserve more praise, I found them absolutely sublime in the RS Q3 I had for a weekend. Such extreme confidence when you tap the pedal, it's hard to describe but surprised me time and time again. 8-piston callipers up front!

The 5-cylinder is definitely well above average for what you can buy in this class today but so is the fuel consumption when you press on. The suspension settings (comfort/auto/dynamic) were spot on too, the rest was average Audi.

I also think the "Rotor" wheel design needs to die.

A nice package overall for those who are willing to spend the money.

[Mr Whippy]

PunterCam said:

This was my immediate thought. The A3 is a big car. This spec in a Polo would be impressive, but not a big old estate car like the a3.

I'm sure it's a lovely car, but I just find it all quite dull..

Go watch the Tiff Needel review of the 00 RS4 and you probably get the idea of what this new car will be all about.

Power power power on straights.

Understeer understeer in bends.

Probably most will be seen strutting stuff on the high street.


Great for those who like that kinda thing. A shame that Audi haven't changed their tune in 15 years except taken away a cylinder and a clutch pedal.

Dave

[stevesingo]

Paular said:

What an ignorant over generalisation.

Thankyou.

If Audi's target market was customers who prefer deft ride & handling and detailed steering feel, the cars would probably not be AWD and probably not have such nice interiors. But, most customers couldn't give a st if you can turn off the stability control and tip it in to over steer with a lift on turn in or execute a perfect four wheel drift.

[stevesingo]

lasvegas1966 said:

stevesingo said:

lasvegas1966 said:

er, no, an audi for drivers who like warp like acceleration, and smiling. bragging is for under 25's and old men who wear things they shouldn't. tbh i never ever get bored of it. more like riding a bike than driving, you can make snap decisions knowing you have ample power to do the next 'thing'. anyone who disagrees should go try one, then buy one, or get a mate with one. alot of folks talking rubbish on here clearly never been in one, let alone drive one

There is more to life than warp acceleration. Many cars offer more than adequate straight line performance, but traffic light GP's can be the one of the less impressive dynamic traits. But like I said, the business model works for the target customer such as yourself.

sad, nobody said there wasn't more to life. nobody mentioned traffic lights but you. target customer? yeah, ones that like to spend decent money on decent cars. not sad small minded individuals who talk alot about alot, but drive 5 cars in their little lives. while you are dreaming, i'm out driving. seems like you just can't respond without resorting to insulting me, go for your little life. all the while honda and nissan are targeting you, i've seen the ads

Touchy are we?

I've been out living my dream tonight, driving, driving my car I have owned (that is owned, not PCP, never nevered) for 10 years, so I must have missed the Nissan and Honda ads. I suppose I could get them on catch up TV.

[Maldini35]

stevesingo said:

lasvegas1966 said:

stevesingo said:

lasvegas1966 said:

er, no, an audi for drivers who like warp like acceleration, and smiling. bragging is for under 25's and old men who wear things they shouldn't. tbh i never ever get bored of it. more like riding a bike than driving, you can make snap decisions knowing you have ample power to do the next 'thing'. anyone who disagrees should go try one, then buy one, or get a mate with one. alot of folks talking rubbish on here clearly never been in one, let alone drive one

There is more to life than warp acceleration. Many cars offer more than adequate straight line performance, but traffic light GP's can be the one of the less impressive dynamic traits. But like I said, the business model works for the target customer such as yourself.

sad, nobody said there wasn't more to life. nobody mentioned traffic lights but you. target customer? yeah, ones that like to spend decent money on decent cars. not sad small minded individuals who talk alot about alot, but drive 5 cars in their little lives. while you are dreaming, i'm out driving. seems like you just can't respond without resorting to insulting me, go for your little life. all the while honda and nissan are targeting you, i've seen the ads

Touchy are we?

I've been out living my dream tonight, driving, driving my car I have owned (that is owned, not PCP, never nevered) for 10 years, so I must have missed the Nissan and Honda ads. I suppose I could get them on catch up TV.

The average PH'er may know a fair bit about cars but I'm always surprised by how little is known about the car industry as a whole.

The target for this RS3 is clearly not the one-car track day die hard or early 20's hot hatch fan. It is not an Elise and it is not pretending to be one. Same as the Merc A45, it's for well heeled types who want a rapid car that's easy to drive and easy to live with, cossetting on the inside and preferably not too shouty on the exterior. Quite why that seems to offend so many people I'll never know.

Different strokes for different folks

(Please somebody post a 'what you talkin about Willis' pic)

[scorchio]

I really want to like this car but I am struggling , I have never like the sportback proportions and I am still hoping that audi see sense and actually launch the saloon in the uk . Currently I have a S3 saloon and aside from that stonking engine there is nothing that the RS3 offers that would make me swap keys .

Wondered how long it would be before someone mentioned PCP , who actually gives a flying fk if the car is bought outright/financed etc ? . I don't understand why it's being compared to the golf R , is this just a easy comment as every man and his dog can get one on a lease deal for £3.50 squidlys a week .

[Spooge]

6 pages until someone brought up the PCP sour grapes, completely out the blue.

Its the PH version of Godwin's law.

[tomjol]

stevesingo said:

Thankyou.

If Audi's target market was customers who prefer deft ride & handling and detailed steering feel, the cars would probably not be AWD and probably not have such nice interiors. But, most customers couldn't give a st if you can turn off the stability control and tip it in to over steer with a lift on turn in or execute a perfect four wheel drift.

Yeah, I'm always devastated that I can't induce oversteer on my boring drive to work down some boring urban roads.

[Matt Bird]

ubbs said:

1595kg? I'm sure that's how much the old one weighed, thought this one was 30kgs lighter
Ubbs

Edited by ubbs on Wednesday 15th April 20:27

Audi is claiming a 55kg weight saving over the old car. The 1,595kg figure is EU with a 75kg driver. The equivalent figure was 1,650kg (!) for the previous version.


Matt

[MitchyRS]

This will be a £600pm+ PCP so will keep it away from the Golf R 'riff raff' crowd.

0-62 is 4.3, 60 will therefore come up a little quicker than that. Audi are also very conservative with their numbers.

Topgear tested the last RS3 at 3.8 to 60 and 9.9 to 100mph...

http://www.1addicts.com/forums/showthread.php?t=54...



This RS3 has more power and is lighter so expect to see those times bettered.

For me, this RS3 looks a little lame, not aggressive enough for my liking. I think a 3 door saloon RS would be a great move. There's certainly a gap in the Audi line up for a mega fast saloon but I suspect due to S4/S5/RS4/RS5, this is unlikely to happen.

[EricE]

MitchyRS said:

For me, this RS3 looks a little lame, not aggressive enough for my liking. I think a 3 door saloon RS would be a great move. There's certainly a gap in the Audi line up for a mega fast saloon but I suspect due to S4/S5/RS4/RS5, this is unlikely to happen.

I am quite sure that there will be a RS3 saloon in the near future. The USA will get this new RS3 as the saloon version only and I don't see a reason why they wouldn't offer it over here.

http://jalopnik.com/its-happening-367-hp-five-cyli...

[hufggfg]

F1GTRUeno said:

Question is, if this is yet another Audi devoid of steering feel, how do their engineers not see it?

Or at they just aiming for a specific set of things and steering feel just isn't on the agenda?

How can they get it so right (going off reviews) with the B7 RS4 and then fail with literally every other car they do?

They see it, they know what the reviewers say, but the reality is they're in the business of selling cars, not pleasing reviewers (sometimes they are the same thing, sometimes not).

The reality is that 99% of people on the street would drive a car with excellent steering feel, and think that it felt snatchy, juddery, not smooth etc. When going down any road and the wheel is wriggling around in their hands they're going to find that a negative thing, not a positive.

Hell, I LOVE good steering feel, it's one of the major attributes for the cars I own, but even I sometimes get in the car and would rather something a bit more cossetting and easy, rather than something that keeps you alert with what's going on at all times.

Personally, the questions for me these days is why can't they give it an extra mode, called something like "neutral" (so the hero crowd don't just go to it by default as the "sportiest" setting), that gives as much feedback as they can possibly get. Answering my own question here, but my guess is that even on EPAS systems, steering feel is still hugely derived from physical parts, rather than just a software setting.

And before anyone jumps down my throat, the guys here who clearly are enthusiasts but buy Audi's doesn't mean that they don't like steering feel. They'd probably prefer it with more steering feel and a more neutral chassis too, but it just happens that in their personal set of preferences they're ok to sacrifice some of this to get the awesome powertrain etc etc. My preferences are slightly different and I wouldn't sacrifice quite that much.

Maybe the better questions is, as the bastion of steering feel, and adjustable chassis', why aren't BMW able to pull together the rest of the package in such an appealing way! The updated 1 series is certainly better, but man it still ain't a looker!

Edited by hufggfg on Thursday 16th April 08:10

[wideangle852]

. . So not so good on a track . . who cares!! Realistically, how often are you going to be on a track?

[Driver101]

MitchyRS said:

This will be a £600pm+ PCP so will keep it away from the Golf R 'riff raff' crowd.

0-62 is 4.3, 60 will therefore come up a little quicker than that. Audi are also very conservative with their numbers.

Topgear tested the last RS3 at 3.8 to 60 and 9.9 to 100mph...

http://www.1addicts.com/forums/showthread.php?t=54...



This RS3 has more power and is lighter so expect to see those times bettered.

For me, this RS3 looks a little lame, not aggressive enough for my liking. I think a 3 door saloon RS would be a great move. There's certainly a gap in the Audi line up for a mega fast saloon but I suspect due to S4/S5/RS4/RS5, this is unlikely to happen.

Strange drag race pictures with them changing lanes at the end.

The RS3 is a very quick car, but times did vary a lot. The Autocar review takes an average and their times were 4.5secs for 60mph and 11.8secs for 100mph.

They did strike one 4sec time, but couldn't repeat it.

I also remember when Chris Harris put the RS3 and M135i together, the RS3 made by far the best start, but on the move the M135i recovered the gap and was faster.

No doubt this car will be faster again.

Edited by Driver101 on Thursday 16th April 08:25