This model is the most enjoyable time Jim Kenzie says he’s had behind the wheel in a long time.
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- WHAT’S BEST: Spectacular performance; elegant, understated styling; beautifully crafted interior.
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- WHAT’S WORST: Fearsomely expensive; manual shift pattern is just wrong
This car is a rocket ship.
It’s the Audi RS 3, the fastest version of the smallest sedan Audi offers in Canada. It lists at an eye-watering $62,900. With a handful of options, my test car listed at $76,945.
Yikes. You could buy a Porsche for that. Then again, you wouldn’t get a back seat. Or four-wheel drive. Or go nearly as fast.
Rocket ship? How about a 400 horsepower, 2.5-litre inline five-cylinder engine, sideways-mounted and connected to a seven-speed S tronic gearbox — that’s Audi-speak for the dual-clutch automatically or paddle-shiftable transmission.
And of course, driving all four wheels through Audi’s legendary Quattro system.
Especially in medium grey (called ‘Nardo Grey,’ after the high-speed test track in Italy), the car looks quite sedate, almost a Q-Ship. If you don’t notice the trick 19-inch wheels, low-profile tires, the occasional carbon fiber trim pieces and the relatively subtle, albeit bright red, RS 3 badging, you might be forgiven for thinking this was just another small sedan. Until it vaporizes in front of your very eyes and screams off into the next county.
Getting in, you are reminded that this is a low-slung compact car. I like my seat as high as possible to get the best view down the road. With the big side bolsters on the seats, I had to be careful not to bash my skull against the door jamb when getting in or out.
One interesting thing in a car that costs this much — only the lumbar support is power-adjustable; everything else is manual. Still, there are about a million ways to tailor the seat to your body. Once you get it right, it’s darn-near perfect. The extremely supportive yet comfortable thrones make it worth the effort.
Once in my ideal driving position, I found that the top slice of the colourful and initially complex-looking instrument panel was obscured by the gorgeous Alcantara-covered steering wheel. I had to scrunch down to see how many kilometres of range I had left in the tank. A small price to pay. Even though it’s a smallish car, there’s acceptable room in the back seat, and reasonable luggage space.
The interior takes Audi’s well-known supremacy in such things to new heights. High-quality materials everywhere, beautifully crafted, with subtle red accents throughout. The four eyeball air vents which allow ideal air distribution are works of automotive art.
The start button is to the left of the shift quadrant, the radio on/off switch is to the right. The button that seemed to me to be in the obvious place for the radio was in fact the temperature selection knob. You’ll eventually figure it out. Audi does get the headlight switch correct. You turn it on when you buy the car, and never touch it again.
The RS 3 has all the usual safety systems (lane-departure warning, etc.). The MMI — Multi-Media Interface — is central to the operation of the car, hence is located in the centre console. You choose from one of four main functions, then rotate a large knob to page through various screens to access the specific detail you want. You can dial up a variety of pre-set driving modes, e.g., Race, Dynamic, or Comfort, each of which modifies things like throttle response, suspension firmness, steering response, and even exhaust note accordingly.
Then there’s Individual, which allows you to select from the various parameters according to your own preferences. I just left it in ‘R’ (Race) mode to maximize the car’s performance. Yet, ride quality was still more than acceptable despite the low-profile tires, thanks largely to the magnetorheological dampers. These, originally known as MagneRide (although that label does not appear in Audi’s description of the car), were originally a General Motors invention, but the division that made them was sold to the Chinese BWI Group.
The fluid in the damper can increase its viscosity instantaneously, based on sensors throughout the car. Thus the suspension can give a soft ride, but can stiffen up in less than a heartbeat if it detects the need to do so, for superior cornering. Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic; these things are magic. The handling is sensational, stable, forgiving.
You can slide the gearshift lever handle from Drive to the right to allow manual shifting. But like almost all cars, they get the pattern wrong. It’s back to downshift and forward to upshift; it should be the other way around. C’mon — think about how your body weight is transferred under each condition. Under braking, hence downshifting, you’re being shoved forward, so you should be sliding the lever in that direction. Reverse above procedure for upshifting. I don’t know why so many carmakers get this wrong, especially one like Audi which is so heavily involved in motorsport.
Then again, if you just use the steering column shift paddles and pretend you’re Lewis Hamilton, it doesn’t matter. Or you can let the car shift for itself; chances are you can’t do it better, anyway.
When you’re just cruising along in ‘Drive,’ everything is quite benign. Stomp on the loud pedal, and all hell breaks loose.
If left to its own devices, the transmission downshifts two, three, maybe four ratios, depending on how fast you were going, in about half a second. It takes a barely noticeable length of time for the turbo to spool up; once it kicks in, you’re gone. Zero to 100 km/h takes a near-supercar-like 4.1 seconds. Mid-range acceleration is equally impressive.
The exhaust system comes alive when you accelerate hard, too, with the characteristic five-cylinder exhaust note as accompaniment.
Fast. Comfortable. Beautifully executed. It’s probably the most fun I have had driving a car in a long, long time.
2018 Audi RS 3
BODY STYLE: 4 doors, 5 passengers, compact sports sedan.
DRIVE METHOD: Full-time four-wheel drive.
PRICE: Base — $62,900. As tested — $76,945.
ENGINE: 2.5-litre inline 5, double-overhead camshafts, four valves per cylinder, variable valve timing, direct injection, turbocharged. Premium unleaded fuel.
TRANSMISSION: Seven-speed Dual Clutch Transmission.
POWER/TORQUE, horsepower / lb-ft: 400 @ 5,850 — 7,000 r.p.m. / 354 1,700 — 5,850 r.p.m.
FUEL CONSUMPTION, Transport Canada City/Highway, l/100 km: 12.4 / 8.3.
COMPETITION: Ford Focus RS, Honda Civic Type R, Subaru WRX STi, Volkswagen Golf R.
WEBSITE: Audi.ca
Keyword: The Audi RS 3 is the Fast and the Fun