Final encore released as Audi debuts sharpened-up facelift RS3

With the facelift A3 and S3, in sedan and Sportback bodystyles, already out, Audi has removed the wraps from the updated, red-hot RS3.

New outside

Modelled on the S3, and therefore furnished with the same S exterior, the RS3 steps things up by receiving matte black, gloss black or gloss dark grey 19-inch alloy wheels, a flatter gloss black Singleframe grille, new checkered flag graphics for the Matrix LED headlights, and a new front splitter it says pays homage to the S1 driven by Walter Rohrl at the 1987 Pikes Peak Hillclimb.

Along with new LED fog lamps and graphics for the taillights, the RS3 retains the functioning rear diffuser and oval tipped outlets for the RS exhaust system, albeit with a new black finish.

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Finally, the colour palette has been revised to include five hues; Kemora Grey, Progressive Red, Ascari Red, Kyalami Green and, for the first time, Daytona Grey matte. As before, buyers can have the RS black or carbon exterior packages as optional extras.

Change in dynamics

Underneath, the RS3’s altered dynamics include a recalibrated torque vectoring system Ingolstadt claims avoids understeer thanks to turn-in brake intervention when going into a corner. The result is a greater tendency to oversteer.

In addition, the exhaust system has been revised with a new butterfly flap, the adaptive dampers as part of the RS suspension retuned and the Electronic Stability Control reprogrammed.

Inside

Keeping the 10.1-inch MMI Plus infotainment system and the 12.3-inch Virtual Cockpit instrument cluster, the RS3’s interior updates come in the form of the new centre console with a toggle switch instead of a gear lever, RS graphics and readouts within the pair of displays, the RS sport or RS bucket seats trimmed in fine or Pearl Nappa leather, and a RS-unique rev-counter.

Also included are upgraded materials, the RS steering wheel from the e-tron GT, contoured ambient lighting no longer available from the options list, an anthracite finish on the doors, gear shift paddles, around the air vents and on the RS steering wheel, and matte carbon or black Dinamica decorative inserts.

While the new console comes decked-out in Dinamica micro-fibres and gloss black, the optional RS Design package allows for the contrasting stitch work and pieces of the doors, seatbelts, armrests, around the air vents, and the 12 o’clock marking on the steering wheel to be finished in either red, blue or green.

Inline-five’s swangsong

Up front, the signature five-cylinder 2.5 TFSI engine, which received its current state of tune three years ago, develops an unchanged 294kW/500Nm directed to all four wheels through the seven-speed S tronic transmission.

With launch control activated and the amount of torque still accessible in full from between 2 250 rpm and 5 600 rpm, the RS3, regardless of bodystyle, will complete the 0-100 km/h dash in 3.8 seconds before hitting its limited top speed of 250 km/h, or 290 km/h with the optional RS Driver’s Package added.

Still to be approved

Confirmed for German market sales in October priced from €66 000 (R1 315 341) for the Sportback and €68 000 (R1 355 200) for the sedan, the RS3, as mentioned, remains unconfirmed for South Africa and should arrive in early 2025 in the event of eventual approval being given.

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