Both of these hot hatches are bonkers fast. But is Audi's latest RS3 good enough to beat its thrilling Mercedes-AMG A45 S rival?
Audi could doubtless have tuned the new RS3 to 420bhp or more and won some shallow bragging rights in the process, but it instead decided that 394bhp was quite enough. After all, when your family hatchback can already out-accelerate aBut that doesn’t mean Audi hasn’t spent many hours improving its range-topping. It’s just focused on better deployment of all that power, and added some clever tech that should hopefully make the new RS3 more playful and fun through corners.
Fortunately, how easy these cars are to drive quickly doesn’t make you feel disconnected from the experience. When you want to, you can even take full control of the gearshifts by pulling Formula 1-style paddles behind the steering wheel. This is great fun along country roads, because you can downshift when braking for a corner to make sure you’re in the ideal gear to slingshot out the other side.
That said, the RS3 has the better-sounding engine. Go for Carbon Black trim and you’ll get a sports exhaust as standard, letting you hear the delicious warble from the 2.5-litre five-cylinder motor even better. In fact, the RS3’s engine alone is almost enough of a reason to buy one. In fact, we’re struggling to think of a more comfortable hot hatch. Switch the RS3’s optional adaptive suspension to its most comfortable setting and you’re treated to a ride that’s genuinely more supple and sophisticated than that of many regular. Audi’s decision to stick with sensibly sized 19in wheels, with no option to upsize, is no doubt partly why.
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