Audi RS3 Sedan now marginally slower, but substantially better

Audi’s RS3 Sedan rewrote our record books back in 2017 when we took it to the Gerotek high-speed test facility.

It became the first compact sedan I had run for The Citizen Motoring that hit 100 km/h in under four seconds when it clocked an unbelievable time of 3.83 seconds.

To put how big a deal this was into perspective, this was a time that saw the likes of BMW’s M3 Competition, Alfa Romeo’s Giulia Quadrifoglio Race Edition, and Merc’s C63 S AMG big guns all come off second best to this little pocket rocket from Ingolstadt. And before you think they came back at the RS3 after getting to 100 km/h, you would be wrong.

In a league of its own

The Audi RS3 Sedan was still ahead of all of them at 200 km/h and only the C63 S got ahead of it at the 1km mark. And even then, it was just ahead.

You might be wondering where the data is for the compact sedan M and AMG cars that would line up against the RS3 Sedan. The short answer is that BMW had no M answer and kept their fast stuff for the M2 Coupe models, and Merc’s CLA 45 S AMG was simply outgunned in all test disciplines.

Fast forward five years and Audi’s second-generation Audi RS3 Sedan has landed. The big question is, can this new model pull off the same giant killing feat of its predecessor?

Firstly, the big guns have evolved and the new BMW M3 is in a different league now. The new Mercedes-AMG C63 S AMG will be too and as such now make a pointless comparison.

BMW still don’t have an M car in this segment, and the CLA 45 S AMG is still a previous-generation car. So it’s basically the old RS3 Sedan versus the new Audi RS3 Sedan for top honours.

I used the word ”unbelievable” earlier on to describe the times achieved by the RS3 Sedan, and I did that because many questioned if the car we got on test was stock standard.

Watch Audi RS3 run against the clock

A case of fractions

And when I posted the test results of the new car and they came in a bit slower by the tiniest of fractions, the same old questions were raised once again.

But you have to take into account the new RS3 Sedan is now 54 kg heavier. It runs wider tyres for some extra drag off the line. Also, the ambient temperature at test was 13 degrees hotter.

The 0 to 100 km/h time of 3.92 seconds, which is less than one tenth slower than before, and the 1km speed only 3 km/h slower at 242 km/h versus 245 km/h, I am content that this Audi RS3 Sedan is every bit as quick as it has always been in a straight line.

Straight-line speed is what the RS3 models are best known for, but what is way better for 2022, is that the RS3 sedan comes with a thing called ”The RS torque splitter”. This ups the handling dynamics of the car from average to best in class.

For the racetrack

What has happened is that the previous rear axle differential, has been replaced by an electronically controlled multiple disc clutch setup on each of the drive shafts that now sees the torque being able to be split variably between the left and right rear wheels.

Audi Drive Select is there as you would expect, but it is now joined by a new RS Performance mode that is tailored specifically for the racetrack and enables you to put in hot laps that the previous car can never match.

Another new addition is the RS Torque Rear mode, which makes drifting possible, but like all these electronic drift modes, it isn’t something that is truly comparable to a proper real wheel driven car when you let it hang coming out a corner.

The RS3 Sedan was the benchmark and arguably the performance bargain of the century back in 2017 when it retailed for under R1-million.

Even though today you might need to whack a quick R400 000 in optional extras on the basic price that of R1 245 000 to have a properly kitted one in your garage, it remains the benchmark in this segment.

Audi RS3 road test data