this is an Audi S3 and this is an Audi RS3 they're both very fast they both have Quattro
all-wheel drive and they are both excellent cars in their own right so why then does one cost 39
000 pounds and the other 53 000 pounds in other words what are the key differences
between my long-term Audi S3 sportback and this Audi RS3 sportback which incidentally
has just finished a run on car Magazine's long-term test Fleet
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because these two clearly look very similar but there are a few exceptions not least because the
S3 is in standard spec while the RS3 is in the now discontinued launch edition spec that in turn was
based on The Voice brung trim however if you were to compare the two base spec models you'd see that
the RS3 gets a wider more aggressive bumper design with enlarged air inlets and the honeycomb Grille
there'd also be much less silver on show with only the front diffuser and side blades getting
a matte aluminum finish move around to the side and there's fled front wheel arches as well as
larger 19-inch Wheels as standard while the side skirt once again is in Black rather than silver
finally the RS3 brake calipers are finished in black as standard and the rear bumper gets
a punchier design as well as just two exhaust tips rather than four like you get on the S 3.
you can also get the black styling pack on the S3 and the RS3 and there's even an option for
a carbon roof spoiler depending on how aggressive you want your hot hatch to look as for the cabins
both cars are very similar however those with an Eagle Eye will spot slightly different seats
perforated leather all round on the RS3 steering wheel aluminum look gear shift paddles different
stitching and rs specific graphics on the virtual cockpit system and although you can't really see
it in the daylight the RS3 also gets the ambient lighting pack fitted as standard
one thing I've got to mention though which stands out is the steering wheel because this is a launch
edition car which is based on The Voice brung spec and that means it has the round steering
wheel rather than the flat bottom option which for me feels far sportier and more exclusive this is
just like a regular Audi A3 but then again it's exactly the same if you got a rorschebron S3 you
still get this round steering wheel apart from that though the differences in here
are really minor and I do wonder if some RS3 owners might kind of wonder where the extra 14
000 pounds has gone over the S3 because I mean let's face it this is where you're going to spend
most of your time and the difference between the cabins is well there's hardly anything the
one response to that though would be that Audi's done such a great job with the A3 and therefore
the S3 cabin that there's only so much they can realistically do to improve it for the RS3 yes
some more exclusive materials or design details would have been nice but for me on a car like this
the interior's most important job is to provide the perfect support act for the Driving Experience
speaking of how each car drives in my two months with the S3 I've been
Amazed by its incredible real world case so I'm intrigued to find out if you're
more aggressive and more powerful RS3 could deliver a discernible difference after all
there's only so much Speed and Performance that you can use on an everyday basis
so I'm in the RS3 now and I'm going to start with the engine because it probably accounts for a lot
of the extra cash over the S3 and the reason for that is because it's a 2.5 liter five-cylinder
turbocharged petrol it makes 400 horsepower 500 newton meters of torque and it accelerated from
North to 62 miles an hour in 3.8 seconds probably quicker but those are the official figures
figures aren't massively different to the previous generation of this car the
8v but what you have got is Peak power and Peak torque being available earlier in the Rev range
and what that does is it makes the Colossal performance just that much more accessible
it's a really brawny meaty engine and because you've got that odd number of
cylinders you've got that offbeat soundtrack which you really don't hear very often I mean
imagine a three-cylinder Engine with that kind of character fall but still fairly weedy sound
but this this has been upscale it's got five cylinders and that's more than enough
why only real criticism of this engine is that I think it used to be wilder and louder on previous
generation rs3s years ago when I was at University I was working part-time in a garage and I had to
go out in a 2012 RS3 and try and recreate a minor fault and I remembered it was the first time I'd
driven one and I put my foot down for the first time and it was like an explosion had happened
under the Bonnet I mean the speed on this car it's still there of course it is it's got a lot
more power than it used to back then but the sense of theater and drama now is still there
but there used to be more and while I accept that this engine has evolved over the last decade and
no doubt been strangled by a numerous amount of regulations to do with emissions for example I
was expecting just a bit more and actually it could also sound a bit better too it's got the
sports exhaust on this car with its fully variable valves but even then when you put your foot down
it could be a little bit Wilder hello maybe I'm looking at it through Rose tinted spectacles but
this engine is still good it's still a very good engine but for me it's just not what it once was
thankfully where the engine feels like it's been toned down over the years the
chassis has gone the opposite way new to this generation of RS3 is a torque splitter system
on the rear axle designed to improve agility and cornering speeds it works together with the
module vehicle Dynamics controller aka the rs3's electronic brain and sends increased
torque to the outer rear wheel when cornering and should the car start to unintentionally
slide at the rear torque can be sent to the inside wheel helping to pull the car straight
I mean you can actually feel it working and hopefully it'll do something to fix that
understeery reputation that fast Audis have had sometimes unfairly for well as long as I
can remember I mean there's even a drift mode that can send up to 50 percent of the car's total power
to just one wheel in order to initiate a slide it doesn't feel that natural but it is effective and
the reason it can do that is because depending on what drive mode you're in up to 50 percent of the
car's total power can be sent to the rear wheels and then the torque splitter will then decide
which of those Wheels on the back needs the power most and in that case it can send up to a hundred
percent of that available power to either wheel it's very clever stuff foreign part of that is
down to the RS adaptive suspension standard on launch edition and voice wrong models and a 960
pound option otherwise the quality of the damping while driving its speed is hugely impressive
overall the car feels very neutral going into corners and while it would be nice to have a bit
more adjustability on the throttle it's clear that you can devour any B Road that's put in front of
you in this thing it really is extraordinary how good it is over an unfamiliar Road
so you've heard what I think of the RS3 and now it's time to get back into my S3 long timer and
take it along the exact same roads all right back in Familia territory back in the S3 and
the first thing I've noticed it's probably unsurprisingly is that there's a definite
feel of less aggression evident in the steering which was going on about in the RS3 in that it's
you know you can sneeze and immediately you'll be going off into the nearest Bush but in this
it's a lot smoother a lot more laid back not so much that it feels like a regular Audi
A3 because that wouldn't be great in a hot hatch but enough so it's noticeably slower
also the brakes some of that initial sharpness on the top of the pedal has gone the road
noise is reduced the engine sound when you're just cruising that's been taken back a notch
it just feels like a more civilized place to be which again is as you'd expect
so after hearing all of that this car is softer and more civilized you're probably thinking well
it sounds a bit boring I thought it was supposed to be a hot hatch well the good thing is it's that
when you do start to press on when you still do drive it like a hot hatch like you might the RS3
everything comes together really rather nicely it's got plenty of grip it's got a huge amount of
grim more than you could really ever want in the real world it's got adjustability at the back end
it almost feels like it's got a little bit more than the RS3 because perhaps it's not quite so
capable the engine with the augmented sound that sounds pretty good it pulls ridiculously hard I
mean 0 to 62 miles an hour is under five seconds it'll probably do it a bit quicker than that as
well if we're talking about the real world figures the gearbox is good the brakes do their job
it just comes together to create a car that in the real world the Gap to the RS3 is not as big
as you might expect it is also worth highlighting that the RS3 as you probably saw was on Trofeo R
Tires which are really quite serious dry weather tires which actually work very well on track and
on road when it's dry whereas this S3 is on Pirelli P Zeros good tires but nowhere near as
focused and that meant that the RS3 had a slightly better bite when the tires were warm on turning
but even with the less sticky tires I don't think you'd ever say that this thing is lacking grip the
biggest difference going through a corner is the lack of a torque splitter with it
rotating that outside rear wheel with extra power obviously you don't have that in this
I'm also a big fan of the engine in the gearbox for everyday use because it always seems to know
what you wanted to do next and it makes a really good companion for when you're just
cruising down a Motorway or an a-road but then suddenly you change your mind you hit a b Road
and you want to start shifting through the gears it gets that balance really spot on
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well driving both the S3 and RS3 back to back confirm that these are some of the
best generations of the model that Audi has ever produced the RS3 is as capable as ever
yet there's an added dose of fun and the same can largely be said for the S3 however I really
felt like the rs3's Adaptive dampers made a big difference as without them the S3 didn't have
as good a body control or as good a ride or refinement as it's more aggressive sibling so
as tested the RS3 is definitely worth the extra 14 000 pounds however give the S3 some adaptive
dampers those Trofeo R Tires and some tweaks to its 2-liter engine something that we'll cover
in a later video and I really think that it would be a very tough decision choosing between the two
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