This is RS 3 part II - a beautiful ode to the top end of Audi’s baby RS lineage.
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This is RS 3 part II - a beautiful ode to the top end of Audi’s baby RS lineage.
This is RS 3 part II. A third-place finisher at our 2022 Speed Week edition, the RS 3 thrilled us then with its vastly improved setup over the previous generation. It earned its fame through the new rear torque splitter that turned the traditionally understeer-prone Audi into a sharper, wilder and more playful tool.
Now facelifted and a lot more respected on the street, the RS 3 is one of those cars that leaves a strong first impression. It’s an even more exciting design with signature features. A revised singular grille piece treated in black trim, revised animated headlights with a variety of sequences to suit your childish dreams, new wheel designs and an aggressive rear with oval exhausts and a revised diffuser. Press the glowing start button, and that five-pot wakes up with a growl that remains one of the great signatures of modern performance cars. In this company, the RS 3 is a standout — pulling eyes and phones wherever we stopped. That 5-pot is special isn’t it. It’s become something of a legend, emotionally thrilling in its aural delivery but also so well tuned as far as performance is concerned.
Most of the updates to this RS 3 are surface-level, but the torque splitter has had more work, and that matters. On our long journey to Gqeberha we couldn’t help reminiscing about the 2022 car, whose overly lively rear cost it a place, especially during our wet runs of the Slaaihoek Pass. Mandla called it “a handful” as the weather turned grim, and he wasn’t wrong.
This time, the RS 3 behaved exactly as expected: exciting yet approachable, easy to hop into and get going. The ride is firm but never temperamental, with well balanced damping. This is helped by the buffet of drive modes on offer: Auto, Comfort, Dynamic and Efficiency, backed by RS Individual, RS Performance and the lairy RS Torque Rear. These modes fundamentally change the car’s character — steering weight, exhaust attitude, chassis stiffness and, crucially, the thresholds at which traction control intervenes. Two dedicated RS buttons let you configure your own presets, and as it turns out, these are the most important buttons in the whole cabin. More on that shortly.
On first impressions then, the RS 3 is a hoot. But we’re not here for first impressions… we’re here for performance impressions, and that’s where things start to unravel. Once the exhaust drama and straight-line shove faded, Aldo beckoned, the place where every car in this group is stripped down to its truth. And initially, the RS 3 felt strangely subdued. It was as if the car was still wearing a layer of caution. Think of it as an envelope of performance marked “Open Carefully”. The ingredients were all there. 294kW of 5-cylinder thunder, quattro grip, the torque-splitter wizardry and the Brembo stopping power, yet the car held back. Traction control trimmed enthusiasm, the rear wouldn’t rotate as freely as expected, and the front felt slightly filtered.
After experimenting with RS modes, things improved, but there were still moments, particularly out of Hangar, the fast right-hander, where the RS 3 still kept pulling the reins. It was good, but we wanted more control, less nannying. Ultimately, the sweet spot revealed itself in RS Torque Rear mode with every other form of hand-holding removed. Only then did the RS 3 exhale properly. Suddenly it was agile, playful and far more alive.
Driving the RS 3 back-to-back with other sports cars built from very different philosophies, the quattro system is both a gift and a curse. When the heavens opened over Aldo Scribante, the RS 3 was one of the few cars we confidently attacked the circuit with. It’s planted, predictable and confidently secure. But when the surface dried, the Audi felt heavier on its feet. The steering, though good, is not as sharp as the GR Yaris, and dare I say it, the RS 3 now plays in a price league where it actually needs more power. Comparing it to the very closely priced BMW M2, its power deficit was certainly noticed.
This is where the RS 3 earns a lot of its points. Audi still understands how to make a cabin feel expensive without needing to shout about it. Everything you touch, pull or glance at has a polished, engineered precision to it. It’s premium in the old-school Audi sense of the word. Tight shut lines. Dense switchgear. Crisp graphics. Zero gimmicks for the sake of gimmicks.
The facelift has sharpened things up too. The updated steering wheel feels more purposeful in the hand, the revised Virtual Cockpit remains one of the best digital clusters in the business, and the RS-specific displays give the cabin enough theatre without descending into arcade-game chaos. The ambient lighting additions, including the illuminated door inserts, sound gimmicky on paper but genuinely elevate the atmosphere at night.
Then there are the seats. Superb. Properly supportive when pressing on, yet still comfortable enough over long distances. Combined with the excellent driving position and near-perfect ergonomics, the RS 3 nails that elusive balance between compact sports sedan and everyday premium product.
And that’s perhaps the Audi’s greatest strength. Unlike some rivals that constantly remind you they’re trying to be hardcore performance cars, the RS 3 still remembers it has to function in the real world. It’s refined when cruising, practical enough for daily use and packed with enough tech to justify its lofty asking price. In terms of execution, this still feels like the benchmark in the segment.
Living with the RS 3 is surprisingly easy considering its performance envelope. The compact dimensions make it effortless around town, visibility is decent enough and the quattro system gives it genuine all-weather usability. In heavy rain or poor road conditions, few performance cars inspire confidence quite like this Audi.
Of course, the compromises still exist. Fuel consumption isn’t exactly subtle, especially once you start leaning on that glorious five-cylinder engine. At over R1.5 million, the RS 3 now sits in dangerous territory, where buyers inevitably start cross-shopping larger and more powerful machinery.
But the Audi counters with an ownership experience that feels mature and premium throughout. The tech works well, the cabin quality should age gracefully and there’s still something deeply special about owning one of the last charismatic five-cylinder performance cars on sale today. That engine alone gives the RS 3 a layer of personality many modern turbocharged performance cars struggle to replicate.
The facelifted RS 3 is still deeply impressive. Fast, secure, beautifully built and blessed with one of the great modern performance engines, it remains an immensely desirable thing. But this update also reveals a car caught between identities. One moment it wants to be a playful rear-biased hooligan, the next it wraps itself in layers of electronic caution. Unlocking its best requires effort, experimentation and a willingness to dig through its many personalities.
And therein lies the problem. At this level, against rivals like the BMW M2, brilliance alone isn’t enough anymore. The RS 3 feels slightly outgunned dynamically and perhaps even a touch underpowered considering its price point and the company it now keeps.
Still, there’s no denying its appeal. The interior is exceptional, the tech integration is superb and that charismatic five-cylinder soundtrack continues to give the RS 3 an identity all of its own. It’s a polished, premium and seriously capable performance sedan.
Just not quite the complete knockout we hoped it would be.
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