Welcome then, to the inside of an Audi RS3. You join me on a small circuit, in Wales and
behind me is a BMW 140i. So this everyone, is the BMW M140i, and it was and still is
the bargain Hot Hatch of the moment. And let me tell you why it’s not just a hot hatch,
it’s a super hatch because, it’s front engined and it’s real-wheel drive. 335 horsepower,
it’s got a straight 6 turbocharged engine and I’m going to be chasing Matt in the
new Audi RS3. The advantage plays into the RS3's hand, this is, if you like is the mid-life
facelift of the RS3, it’s got more power, it’s got less weight...400 ish horsepower.
394 of the Queen's horsepower, which it gets from its 5 cylinder engine which now has
an aluminium block, rather than an iron block. Weight is down by 26 kilos and of course that’s
all in the nose, so it’s quite handy in balancing up the weight distribution between
front and rear. Now, I think Matt’s probably going to be quicker than me because, well
he’s going to have the traction advantage of a four-wheel-drive car drive car. But,
he won’t be having more fun because this is rear wheel drive and it will do big skids
and, I enjoy big skids. Still drives through a 7 speed twin clutch transmission which can
put between 50 and 100 percent of power to the back if it wants to, and this monsters
it in terms of 0-60 times, you know this is sub 4-seconds 0-60, sub 4! That’s fast isn’t
it, for what is a hot hatch back. It is, a £44K car, now that is quite a lot more than
the 140i behind us. Price wise, again that thing is so much more expensive. These things
are 31 thousand pounds. Gear box is alright, sometimes you need to have a couple of stabs
at getting this ZF 8 speed to get your, get the cog you want, but there we are. Beautiful,
bit of oversteer, I could do this all day! Already he’s gone, because he’s got so
much more grip than me, but I’m going to catch him up hang on… here we go. Makes
a great sound doesn’t it! Makes peak power between 5800 and 7 thousand, it’s a really
characterful engine, I’m really glad that, despite these days of ever tightening emissions
standards, I like the fact that audi’s persisting with this really grunty, 2.5 litre 5 cylinder
engine, been very easy to, you know, down-size it, strap a bigger turbo on, but they have
not done that. That’s a low second gear corner there, already feel a bit of understeer
kicking in, but crikey it's responsive. And on the way out, it’s not bad. Yeah, sorry,
I got distracted there by the fact that, by the fact that an Audi handles. Turn late,
hold off the throttle, wipers on, ok onto the main straight and he does pull away a
bit, but not by as much as much as I thought it was going to. Hang on, I reckon I can brake
later, yeah I definitely can, okay so he’s definitely got a grip advantage, there’s
a small power advantage down the straight, but I haven't seen him apply one bit of corrective
lock yet so, he’s definitely not having as much fun as me, you’ve just got to be
really delicate, take a bit of curb, not be too aggressive on the throttle, try and get
the weight, maybe short-shift, use the torque, a bit of curb! What’s interesting, I’ve
just let Mara catch up a bit, and then through this complex as this thing just grips and
goes, it just pulls out, yards over the 140i and in these conditions, unsurprisingly, you
know, you can just forget about the two as a timed comparison, this would walk away from
it all day long. I would definitely put the diff on this car, you can get it with a BMW
LSD. It’s much nicer to drive, the handling’s much sweeter with the LSD, the breakaway's
a bit more progressive, though in the wet today, I have to be honest, I’m not really
noticing a lack of LSD because it hasn’t got loads of grip anyway so it’s quite easy
to get those wheels spinning and, turn in, come on, use the weight transfer, the trick
is to get the weight off those back wheels on the way to the corner. Come on matt, I’m
catching you baby… just Colins 140i, completely sideways in my mirror, I’ve just eased off
a bit to let him catch up, I could probably drive at about a 6th or 7th tenths and keep
it behind me, but you are fighting a bit, always, the understeer I’ll be honest. It’s
still about managing that front end, even if you’re just turning, I suppose in a higher
grip condition I’d be able to turn in a bit faster, maybe use the momentum of the
car to turn it around a bit but in these conditions, it’s still mostly around the front end,
but you can feel the rear coming into play... This is a good car, bearing in mind, you could
easily just take the fan in here, I’ve got a 5 year old, I get him all of this junk,
his bike, his footballs, his boots, everything in the boot, but now I can still bring it
to a track where we are today, and have a laugh. Brakes are really good, the pedals
getting slightly long now but I have done 5 or 6 laps trying to keep up with Matt in
the much faster, much more powerful Audi RS3, he’s definitely quicker than me. I say,
he’s definitely quicker than me, his car’s quicker than my car! Every time I look at
my mirrors, the BMW’s got an angle on it, and there’s something to be said for that
isn't there, if you want, in slightly crummy conditions, to go from one place to another,
faster than you possibly think, I’m just, he’s down the other end of the straight
and I’m at the other end of it and have a bit of fun on the way, then this is the
car to have, but, I suspect the conclusion being drawn, probably 200 yards away from
me now, is that you might be having more fun in a naturally balanced, 50-50, 6 cylinder
rear-wheel-drive, something you’d call a sports coupe rather than a mage-hatchback.
Yeah this thing is good fun, they’ve always been good fun BMW and this isn’t a trend
car but you can do transitions like, I just love that rear wheel drive front engined balance,
it's just tipping on and off the edge of grip. And too many sports cars, they should be rear
wheel drive, I love the engagement you get from a real wheel drive car, that RS3 is absolutely
fantastic, it’s a brilliant car as an engineering piece, it’s fantastic, but it’s not all
about how fast you’re going, I’m definitely having more fun in here. Would I buy one of
these? Yeah I think I would, it does everything I need from a hatchback, but it's amazing
fun when you turn it up. So there we go, there is the verdict from the sideways meister,
he’s having quite a lot of fun, I was having a bit of fun, I’m not sure I was having
quite as much fun as he seemed to be. Horses for courses, I could see why you’d have
one of these I can really see why you’d have one these, because it’s nice. It’s
lovely inside, it’s good outside, makes a good noise, the overall victory goes to
the Audi, moral victory… perhaps goes to the ultimate driving machine
...maybe.