Used Audi RS Q3 2012-2016 review

Suspension is by MacPherson struts at the front, with a four-link set-up at the rear and coil springs and conventional passive dampers all round. We’ve often found that fast Audis run out of brakes quite quickly on a circuit, but the RS Q3 has ventilated discs front and rear, 365mm in diameter at the front, and the discs also have ‘wave technology’.

‘Wavy’ brake discs are now a relatively common sight on motorcycles and mountain bikes (they first arrived on dirt bikes more than a decade ago because they dissipated grime more easily than round discs), but they’re a more recent arrival on cars.

The theory is straightforward. For a given diameter, putting waves in the outer edge of the disc reduces weight but retains the same circumference around the edge, maintaining good heat dissipation. That the pads overlap the missing segments and are exposed to air frequently helps this, too.

The decrease in the total amount of metal (obviously, given the weight reduction) means wavy brakes generally run hotter, but Audi claims improved cooling means they fade more slowly. We also suspect Audi likes the look of them.

They’re more expensive to produce than round discs, mind, while bike experts say the pads wear quicker and that they’re noisier than round discs.

The steering is neither communicative nor incisive – even on its weightiest setting. The chassis isn’t unwilling to change tack, but it doesn’t feel particularly grippy, interactive or entertaining, either..

Several of the entries in our all-time top 10 wet lap times at MIRA belong to Audis from Quattro GmbH. But the RS Q3 didn’t add to that glorious haul. In the wet, this car is actually no quicker than a well sorted family hatchback.

Fitted with optional 20-inch wheels, the RS Q3 just didn’t have much lateral grip in the wet. Nor does it have the sophisticated drivetrain hardware to drive securely and precisely through corners just beyond the limit of grip, such as you find in the likes of the RS4 Avant and the Audi RS5.

Probe beyond the fringes of its comfort zone with the ESP switched out and, first, it’ll understeer before rolling into quite sudden oversteer. And once it is sliding, the Haldex 4x4 system never quite makes it clear what you should do to wrestle back control. Sometimes power straightens things out, but sometimes it just makes things worse.

Stability is more assured in the dry, but it comes at the expense of more than a hint of old-school Audi power-on understeer.

In the process of applying sporting dynamics to a 4x4, it seems that Audi has sanitised them a little here. Which isn’t the most surprising news to report from a go-faster department that doesn’t always produce the most exciting performance cars