Audi RS 3 Sportback
First violin
100 km / h are reached after 3.8 seconds
© press-inform – the press office
The Audi RS 3 offers a lot of power with 294 kW / 400 PS. The agility enhancer is the torque splitter on the rear axle, which makes driving behavior more neutral and even enables a fun drift mode.
There will soon no longer be an Audi TTRS. So if you want the traditional inline five-cylinder, you have to go for the Audi RS 3 in the future. In the latest version of the compact sports car, the supercharged unit, like in the TTRS, delivers a crisp 294 kW / 400 PS and makes many sports car drivers pale. Basically, the new Audi RS 3 shares the technology with the VW Golf 8 R, which uses a turbocharged four-cylinder engine. This means that the compact sports car from Ingolstadt does not have the individual Haldex coupling and the limited-slip differential on the rear axle. Instead, there is the torque splitter with a multi-plate clutch on the left and right, which enables variable power distribution. However, a maximum of only 50 percent of the drive force can be sent backwards. At the front, the five-cylinder works in conjunction with the seven-speed dual clutch transmission.
The Audi RS 3 is full of sensors that report the speed of the wheels or the steering angle. In addition, there are messages from other controllers, such as the ESP and the engine control unit, which send their data to the two control units in the torque splitter, which distribute the power. First and foremost is the dynamics under the premise of stable driving behavior. That means: when oversteering, more torque goes to the inner rear wheel, while understeer goes to the outer one. Even when the torque splitter plays first fiddle in the agility orchestra, the baton remains firmly in the hand of the modular driving dynamics controller. Because smooth driving behavior can only be achieved if all systems pull together.
The RS3 offers seven driving modes. In addition to the well-known programs Efficiency, Comfort, Auto, Dynamic and RS Individual, the new scores of the driving dynamics symphony can be found on the right-hand side of the screen, RS Performance and RS Torque Rear. The fact that it is now more extensive than before is due to the torque splitter. The RS Torque Rear mode is something like the fun program in the new RS 3, which is known in a similar form from the Ford Focus. With this setting, up to 1,750 Newton meters are sent to the right or left rear wheel and allows really casual drifts or dancing across a curve on the racetrack. This driving program is nothing for the public road.
Those who want to be particularly brisk in the wild can switch to RS Performance mode, in which the technology allows the Audi RS 3 to fire around corners in a balanced manner. When turning in on dry roads, the Audi is eagerly involved and when accelerating out of the bends you notice how the power is transported forward and literally pulls the 1,570 kilogram compact sports car out of the bend. The concerted action of all systems drives the RS 3 out of almost all squabbles. The compact sports car implements the driver’s wishes with dedication, without causing problems for the pilot. Turning in, waiting, aiming at the vertex, maintaining the steering angle, accelerating – the RS 3 makes it easy. When things get tight, big brakes take hold. However, in spite of all the power and the efforts of the fast dual clutch transmission, the five-cylinder cannot hide a lack of acceleration below 3,000 revolutions. If you get everything out of the Audi RS 3, it cracks the 100 km / h mark after 3.8 seconds, is up to 250 km / h and consumes 8.8 l / 100 km. With the RS dynamic package and ceramic brake, 40 km / h more are possible at top speed. There is a start program for the sprint. The flood of multimedia does not stop at launch control either. When the rocket launches, there is now a start light and a shift light.
However, even the most modern technology reaches its limits if the old world does not play along. As standard, the Audi RS 3 rolls on tires with optimized rolling resistance. As long as normal road conditions prevail, everything is paletti, but on very wet or greasy surfaces, the approximately 70 kilograms extra weight on the front axle becomes noticeable and the RS 3 begins to push sullenly over the front wheels, but remains controllable at all times. The extra pounds in the front of the car are also the reason why 265 tires are pulled up at the front, while there are 245 rollers at the rear. The weight distribution of 59 percent on the front axle and 41 percent on the rear axle is therefore not surprising.
The body of the RS 3 flies 25 millimeters lower over the asphalt than that of the regular A3 and the wheels on the front axle have a camber one degree greater. If you want, you can set various parameters such as the steering in the RS driving modes. But even in the sporty setting, the chassis is not brutally tight. “We received a lot of criticism because we made the last RS 3 too hard,” says chassis expert Meic Diessner. The implementation was successful. The Audi RS 3 is more tightly tuned in the dynamic setting than in the RS performance setting, which also explains the fundamental difference between the two drive programs. In contrast to the Wolfsburg technology brother, the driving programs in particular give the driver a little more freedom and accelerate the dynamics a little more. However, the whole thing has its price. The Audi RS 3 Sportback costs at least 60,000 euros. That is almost 10,000 euros more than its technical brother, the Golf R, which has one cylinder, half a liter less displacement and 59 kW / 80 PS less than the compact sports car from Ingolstadt, where the standard 19-inch wheels are one inch larger than the one Wolfsburg.