Pahrump, Nev. – The Audi RS 3 is a type of efficiency fashions that feels extra like a ardour mission than a calculated enterprise case. Now that the TT-RS has bowed out of the market, Audi’s track-tuned compact sedan is the one automobile at present bought in North America that’s motivated by a five-cylinder energy plant. Provided that, it could’ve made sense for the second-generation RS 3 to have transitioned to a hopped up four-cylinder borrowed from the Volkswagen Group components bin – in spite of everything, the S3 already will get its grunt from a 2.0-liter that’s similar to the Golf R’s. Ratcheting up the efficiency of a extensively used engine for a high-performance software is a typical strategy within the business, and that’s ostensibly what Mercedes-AMG did to develop the 4 pot within the RS 3’s closest rival, the CLA 45.
However Audi has rightfully recognized that there’s worth in being the oddball, particularly when these traits join on an emotional degree. The five-cylinder configuration got here to epitomize Audi efficiency in the course of the automaker’s numerous motorsports efforts all through the Eighties, and the 1-2-4-5-3 firing order produces an immediately recognizable soundtrack that’s nonetheless carefully related to the model in the present day. The most recent iteration of the RS 3’s turbocharged 2.5-liter scores an output bump of seven horsepower and 15 pound-feet of torque over the outgoing mill for a grand whole of 401 hp and 369 lb-ft. The 0-to-60 dash falls by three tenths to three.6 seconds. Whereas these are astonishing numbers for a subcompact sedan, they’re hardly transformative. However they’re mixed with the engineering work that Audi has achieved elsewhere within the platform, it ends in a extremely succesful efficiency machine that surprises on a number of fronts and delivers on the promise of a genuinely distinctive driving expertise.
There’s a brand new aesthetic to go together with it, too. Purposeful vents within the flared fenders up entrance are a refined homage to the Quattro S1 E2 utilized in Group B rally racing, whereas greater air intakes, a wider entrance monitor, and extra aggressive aero components give the brand new RS 3 a much more purposeful look than its predecessor. Audi additionally included a small contact that provides to the sense of event by the use of the Matrix-design LED headlights, which greet you by spelling out R-S-3 every time the automobile is unlocked.
On the chassis entrance, the brand new RS 3 boasts greater brakes with improved warmth administration due to these bigger entrance air intakes and the flexibility to evacuate sizzling air by the fender vents. The magnetic dampers outfitted on the outgoing RS 3 have been ditched in favor of the adaptive Dynamic Chassis Management setup discovered on different A3-based fashions, a transfer that Audi instructed us was made to supply a larger vary of damping adjustability. There’s additionally the requisite RS-tuned springs, dampers, and sway bars, together with a experience peak that’s 10 mm decrease than the S3 and 25 mm or almost a full inch decrease than the A3. The large information, nonetheless, is the brand new RS Torque Splitter: two electronically managed multi-plate clutches, one for every of the rear-drive shafts, that enables for absolutely variable torque distribution between the rear wheels.
That in flip has yielded two new drive modes: RS Efficiency, which is designed to attenuate understeer throughout onerous cornering by sending torque to the skin wheel, and RS Torque Rear, which strategically distributes the facility between the entrance wheels and the skin rear wheel to assist induce managed oversteer. Yeah, this one’s bought a drift mode.
Our first stint behind the wheel of the brand new RS 3 was on the street course at Spring Mountain Motorsports Ranch, about an hour west of Las Vegas. It’s a demanding circuit with a stunning quantity of elevation change, and this specific configuration included a quick sweeper that allowed the RS 3 to place its Torque Splitter tech by its paces. The take a look at vehicles used for monitor work have been outfitted with the carbon ceramic brakes that come as a part of the Dynamic Plus Bundle in addition to the optionally available, ultra-sticky Pirelli P Zero Trofeo R tires that have been used to set the Nürburgring compact manufacturing automobile lap document final summer season.
The latter present a surprising quantity of grip; the onboard telemetry registered lateral forces exceeded 1.26G in each braking and cornering on numerous events as soon as we bought snug with the automobile and the monitor structure. The RS 3 does a exceptional impression of a rear-drive automobile within the RS Efficiency drive mode – understeer was just about non-existent, solely briefly showing when gradual corners have been overcooked. That’s simply physics. On the few events after we got here by that sweeper a bit too sizzling, it was the again finish that stepped out first, nevertheless it instantly got here again in keeping with zero drama by merely dialing again the throttle. The steering is fairly gentle whatever the drive mode that’s set, and there’s not a lot in the way in which of helpful suggestions, however the ratio is fast and it’s correct sufficient to put the automobile proper the place you need it lap after lap. In that sense it doesn’t actually add to the monitor driving expertise, nevertheless it additionally doesn’t take away from it.
The carbon ceramic brakes are much less forgivable, although. Whereas they remained fade-free all through repeated lapping periods, they supplied little or no preliminary chunk even when the pads have been recent, and the pedal principally needed to be stood upon to get all the accessible stopping energy from them. Audi’s Pre Sense security system hated it when that was achieved and beeped its displeasure every time we went into the braking zone for the monitor’s massive hairpin, however to its credit score, it by no means intervened past flashing warning messages on the Digital Cockpit show.
After we’d had our fill of the monitor we headed out for a two-hour drive by the desert to get a greater sense of what the RS 3 is like in on a regular basis use. There’s a little bit of turbo lag when accelerating from idle, however there’s no scarcity of grunt when the enhance is available in. It’s additionally form of onerous to remain mad at this engine when its exhaust notice retains reminding you of the R8’s naturally aspirated V10 at decrease revs.
Audi’s choice to swap out the magnetic dampers for extra typical items got here as a little bit of a shock, however out on the street it was onerous to argue with the outcomes, because the RS 3 was remarkably compliant on each the sunbaked pavement round city and the undulating stretches of freeway close to Dying Valley Junction. In additional spirited sections of the drive, urgent the RS button on the steering wheel switched the automobile from Consolation to the RS Efficiency drive mode so as to stiffen the suspension and enhance physique management because the tempo ramped up, nevertheless it by no means felt abusively stiff no matter how briskly or gradual we have been going. Our take a look at automobile was outfitted with the RS Expertise Bundle, which features a properly balanced Bang & Olufsen audio system and sharp head-up show which might be price springing for.
Returning to Spring Mountain, it was time to don helmets as soon as once more, this time on a skidpad autocross Audi set as much as absolutely reveal the RS Torque Rear drive mode. Anybody who has ever tried to float a strong rear-drive automobile is aware of that a lot of studying course of includes terminal understeer or spinning out – or perhaps a mixture of the 2 throughout the identical try – however the Torque Splitter system within the RS 3 is a respectable recreation changer. Managed drifts usually require a really measured strategy with the throttle, and in the event you’re reacting to what the automobile is doing quite than anticipating it, you’ve most likely already misplaced it. Not so with the brand new RS 3. Flip in, pin the throttle to the ground, dial in some reverse lock, and modify as obligatory alongside the way in which. With the system serving to to distribute energy the place it must be so as to maintain the automobile energy sliding with out letting the again finish come round fully, it principally looks like a cheat code. It’s additionally very addictive, so ensure you put aside a tire finances.
You can argue the RS Torque Rear trick serves no sensible objective in a lot the identical approach that you can argue that producing a novel five-cylinder engine for a low quantity automobile is pointless, and therein lies the brilliance of the RS 3. That is simply as a lot about celebrating heritage and the sheer pleasure of driving as it’s about hitting numbers on the Nordschleife and injecting some persona into your every day commute. When automakers make impassioned selections like these, all of us win.
Associated Video:
