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Ingolstadt sharpens up its five-cylinder hyper-hatch

This car was not supposed to exist. The 8Y-generation Audi RS3 was signed off based on a business case that assumed it would never make it past the base A3’s mid-life facelift, because the 2.5-litre five-cylinder engine that defines this car’s character couldn’t be made compliant with the upcoming Euro 7 emission standards – not economically anyway.

But then Euro 7 got postponed, and it turned out that making it pass the latest Euro 6 variation was achievable with a bit of tweaking. The game was on to keep the last remaining car with a five-cylinder engine alive for a few more years. After all, despite now-astronomical pricing, the demand was still there, and it’s a great halo product for Audi.

As well as the regular A3’s facelift tweaks, the RS3 has gained a number of intriguing mechanical upgrades. We have never strapped the timing gear to this generation of the RS3, so let’s do that now and see if the five-cylinder can go out on a high.

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DESIGN & STYLING

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02 Audi RS3 2025 Autocar road test review front cornering

As before, the RS3 is the most extreme car to sit on the Volkswagen Group’s MQB platform. More commonly featuring a 1.5-litre four-cylinder engine with front-wheel drive, here it sports the long-running EA855 2.5-litre five-cylinder. There is a new catalytic converter aftertreatment to keep it legal, but that hasn’t affected power and torque. Meanwhile, the exhaust flaps open earlier in the rev range for a more enticing soundtrack. Like the smaller engines, the five-cylinder is transversely mounted, which makes for quite a crowded engine bay.

Power goes, via a seven-speed dual-clutch automatic gearbox, to the front wheels in the first instance, or, if the ECUs deem it appropriate, to all four via a wet multi-plate clutch. When the third-generation RS3 was launched in 2021, it (together with the Volkswagen Golf R) introduced a significant innovation for MQB cars. Instead of a conventional rear differential, it had a clutch-based torque-split device that could send all of the rear axle’s torque (up to 50% of the total) to either rear wheel, in order to overspeed the outside rear and turn the car in to corners.

19in cross-spoke wheels were introduced on the pre-facelift Performance Edition and are now an option on the standard RS3. A more conventional Y-spoke design is available as well, but we like this throwback to the BBS wheels that were popular in the ’80s and ’90s.

This set-up returns, albeit with different tuning. This is partly predicated on the new tyre selection. The standard rubber is now a Pirelli P Zero R. Trofeo R semi-slicks remain an option, and in any case the RS 3 is very unusual in having wider tyres at the front than at the rear.

The additional grip from the standard tyres works with a revised torque split algorithm to make the front end more keyed in and the car more adjustable through weight transfer, but less keen to oversteer purely on the power.

Naturally, the facelift version comes with some visual tweaks too. Like the standard A3, it gets the latest version of the Audi badge, which moves up slightly in the front grille. The grille itself has a different pattern and the air intakes have a slightly different shape. At the back, the diffuser becomes more elaborate, with a central light.

INTERIOR

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09 Audi RS3 2025 Autocar road test review dashboard

As the current A3 is one of Audi’s older models, it finds itself between two different design philosophies. Inside, it is not exactly an Audi of the old school with outstanding materials and lots of physical controls, but neither has it adopted the radically screen-heavy approach of the latest A5 and A6.

For its class, it finds quite a healthy balance, with a slightly unusual constellation of air vents, some pleasing matt carbonfibre trim, and a useful selection of physical controls for functions such as the climate control, drive modes, mirror controls and lights.

Shortcut buttons for the drive modes are a nice touch, but otherwise the steering wheel is no improvement, with an odd shape and buttons that can be activated inadvertently.

Infotainment is covered by a 10.1in central touchscreen and a digital driver display. The former is logically laid out, with calm graphics and a good amount of configurability, but doesn’t have the snappiest responses. The gauge cluster lets you choose from a number of layouts, some of which are clear and attractive. Engaging one of the sportier drive modes automatically switches it to one of the messier views, though.

Generally, the materials and build quality reach a high standard for the segment, though it’s not entirely free of scratchy or gloss black plastics. Rear passengers may feel slightly like they’re in second class, because their door cappings are made of hard plastic. They get their own air vents and USB ports, but space is not exactly generous – leg room is notably tighter than in a BMW 1 Series, and so is boot space.

The front is where you really want to be. The seats and driving position are mostly standard-issue MQB, which means that you can sit quite low for a front-wheel-drive hatchback and the seats are multi-adjustable and mostly comfortable, though particularly tall drivers may wish for a little more leg room.

Here, there are two novelties. The first is the steering wheel, which is borrowed from the E-tron GT and is no improvement over the round, button-rich one in the pre-facelift car. With its thin rim, the new one is nice enough to hold, but the flat top and bottom are needlessly awkward, and the touch-sensitive buttons are susceptible to accidental activation. The new shortcut buttons to activate your individual drive mode and the maximum-attack RS mode are useful, at least.

The RS3 also gains the option of the ‘RS bucket seats’, which were introduced on the not-for-UK limited-edition Performance Edition. Although we have not had the opportunity to try them, we suspect they would be a worthwhile option if you’re fairly slim and are looking to use your RS3 on track, since some testers found themselves sliding around in the standard seats.

ENGINES & PERFORMANCE

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17 Audi RS3 2025 Autocar road test review engine

In an era of hybrids and EVs, 1619kg (as tested) is looking relatively svelte by comparison. In fact, despite its physically larger engine, the RS3 is very slightly lighter than the Mercedes-AMG A45 S we weighed in 2020 (1661kg). Add in 394bhp, sticky tyres and an effective four-wheel drive system, and it’s no surprise the RS3 is searingly quick in a straight line.

When you engage launch control, the electronics ensure there is just enough clutch and wheel slip to get off the line cleanly, after which the seven-speed dual-clutch automatic punches through the gears. All of this is accompanied by the five-cylinder’s soulful howl.

Press the stop-start button and the five-cylinder engine emits a ‘signature’ roar based on its 1-2-4-5-3 firing sequence. A bit loud? There’s also a ‘neighbourhood-friendly’ option.

In the dry, it got away from the line faster than the A45 did in the damp, but didn’t prove quite as rapid through the gears as the AMG. Even so, this is still a hot hatch that out-accelerates a V8 Lexus RC F. It also proved a good deal quicker than the previous-generation RS3 we tested in 2017, despite the same power output and gear ratios. The current one does have slightly more torque and a wider power band.

More significant than the raw performance, however, is that this five-cylinder must be one of the last great engines. Audi keeping it alive for another generation is effectively a service to the world. It’s relatively subtle at low revs and when pootling around, but as soon as you get more than 3000rpm on the tacho, it unleashes its full vocal range – a soundtrack that is unique in new cars. Indeed, it needs a few revs before it starts to give its best, which is actually quite refreshing when the default is instant electric torque fill.

Apart from that, it’s extremely characterful. Aside from the core sound, this engine emits all sorts of secondary buzzes and growls – the sort of rough edges that you would expect to be tuned out in modern engines and would certainly never be tuned into any digitally augmented sound but make it all the more special.

We suspect this transverse application of the seven-speed dual-clutch gearbox must be at the top end of the power and torque it can handle. It clearly gets the job done but can behave in a slightly unusual way. At low loads, it seems to slip the clutch and slur gearchanges like an old-school torque-converter auto, and yet it’s not always perfectly smooth. Even at speed, the gearchanges aren’t as crisp as you might expect from a dual-clutch.

Despite not being fitted with the optional carbon-ceramic brakes (£4590), our RS3 test car displayed short stopping distances, both in the dry and the wet, which is impressive given the performance-oriented tyres.

RIDE & HANDLING

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18 Audi RS3 2025 Autocar road test review front cornering

The torque-split device that has been appearing on the rear axle of MQB cars over the past few years has been excellent at conjuring extra agility and adjustability in any car it is fitted to. The RS3 was no exception when the Mk3 was launched a few years ago. It seems odd, then, that this updated version dials up the grip and supposedly dials down the power oversteer.

There is no need for concern, though: the RS3 still feels alive in a way that you don’t necessarily expect from a transverse-engined four-wheel-drive hatchback. The nose-heavy balance isn’t really an issue on the road. Instead it’s neutralised by a combination of the unusual tyre set-up (wider at the front than at the rear), the variable-ratio steering and the torque vectoring – both by braking and using the rear torque splitter.

Some have derided Audi’s decision to fit wider tyres at the front as fighting the platform’s innate lack of balance – cheating, effectively. But how is it different from fitting wider tyres at the back of any other car? It’s unusual but it works.

As a result, this RS3 turns in keenly, then pivots into corners off the power, and feels like it’s rotating on the throttle. It never feels like a well-balanced rear-drive car that can gracefully tighten its line on the throttle or exit corners with a sliver of oversteer, but it does give it a feeling of agility that’s really satisfying. Although grip levels are huge, you don’t need to drive at maximum attack for the RS3 to feel alive, either. There’s always something happening.

The steering feels odd at first, because there are less than two full rotations of the wheel between locks. This is partly due to there just not being all that much angle available – blame the long engine mounted transversely and the wide front tyres – and the rack having a variable ratio. It’s one of the better of its kind, with reasonable feedback and relatively gentle responses off-centre that quicken as you add more input. We can’t help wondering if a conventional rack might have felt more natural, though.

Track notes

Trying to push beyond that initial sense of rotation is something best left for the track, because it can feel quite snappy on a dry road. When you do have the space, however, the RS3 can be rapturously good fun, letting you live out your Walter Röhrl fantasies without requiring the same level of talent and skill.

When trying to scribe a neat and tidy line around a dry track, you can just about feel the heavy front end: it demands a bit of patience. When not driving for time, though, it can be sent into easy four-wheel drifts at will. Even ignoring the Torque Rear mode, booting it out of second-gear corners will swing the back wide, so long as the corner isn’t so slow that it dips the engine out of the power band.

More satisfying is how responsive the car is to being flicked into faster bends off the throttle, and you can then power through with a bit of yaw and all four wheels over-rotating. A wet track allows you to indulge in much the same sensations, albeit at lower speeds.

Comfort & isolation

Away from a smooth road or track, you can start to run into the limitations of this platform. As a top-rung Carbon Vorsprung model, our test car was fitted with adaptive dampers. Unlike on other MQB cars, where the dampers have 15 settings, in the RS3 they have a mere three. Even so, we only found the softest one truly usable on the road. They seem to lack some bandwidth: most of the time the suspension feels quite supple, but it can fall apart when the road surface deteriorates. It feels brittle over potholes and corrugations – something we have found in many MQB cars with big wheels. Meanwhile, large-amplitude bumps expose a shortage of travel, and the ride gets excitable.

Clearly, the RS3’s performance and handling introduce a few compromises to the comfort. Although an equipment issue meant we weren’t able to take our usual decibel readings, the RS3 is clearly noisier than a standard A3 on the motorway, with some general vibrations from the stiffer bushings and offbeat engine. None of this is unbearable, or even unusual for what is quite a serious performance car.

MPG & RUNNING COSTS

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01 Audi RS3 2025 Autocar road test review main front driving

Audi wants £70,330 for an RS3 in Carbon Vorsprung trim, and that’s before you tick the boxes for the bucket seats and the carbon-ceramic brakes. That’s an enormous amount of money for something that could uncharitably be referred to as a posh Golf. If you’re willing to forgo the adaptive dampers and the carbonfibre trim, you could just stick with the entry-level car at a slightly more palatable £62,120.

But then the RS3 arguably only has one direct rival left, in the form of the Mercedes-AMG A45, which costs around the same. The Honda Civic Type R has recently been discontinued, and the Toyota GR Yaris is sold out. Meanwhile, cars like the Volkswagen Golf R and BMW M135 play in a lower league. BMW’s M2 and M340i Touring are similar money but not quite the same sort of proposition.

To celebrate 15 years of RS3, we'd love to see a special edition with the 401bhp of the Performance Edition, the bucket seats, carbon-ceramic brakes and some trick manually adjustable passive dampers, like on the RS6 GT and RS4 25 Years.

Although it’s not formally a limited model, Audi doesn’t churn out RS3s like it does less CO2-heavy models, so residuals should remain strong.

With its heavily turbocharged engine, the RS3’s fuel economy depends completely on driving style. It’s capable of MPGs in the mid-30s on a motorway cruise, but those plunge very deeply when you use all of the performance. At 55 litres, the fuel tank isn’t excessively large, either, and the engine demands 98-octane petrol for full performance.

VERDICT

20 Audi RS3 2025 Autocar road test review front static

Audi’s five-cylinder may be one of the last truly great engines in a relatively mass-market car. It’s powerful, sure, but the character of its sound and power delivery make it truly special. Its theatre would make the RS3 recommendable all by itself.

Some Audis of the past might have stopped there, but in this latest evolution the RS3 has some serious handling chops. It relies on its exotic differential, clever electronics and an unusual tyre set-up rather than natural balance, but that makes it no less beguiling to drive on road or track. It’s almost as easy to live with as a regular A3 too.

At its sky-high price point, there are quite a few tempting alternatives, some of which offer more comfort, but none has quite the same blend of a spectacular engine and all-wheel-drive handling in a fairly compact model. A one-of-a kind car.

Illya Verpraet

Illya Verpraet Road Tester Autocar
Title: Road Tester

As a road tester, Illya drives everything from superminis to supercars, and writes reviews and comparison tests, while also managing the magazine’s Drives section. Much of his time is spent wrangling the data logger and wielding the tape measure to gather the data for Autocar’s in-depth instrumented road tests.

He loves cars that are fun and usable on the road – whether piston-powered or electric – or just cars that are very fit for purpose. When not in test cars, he drives an R53-generation Mini Cooper S.