AUDI S3
The next version is the S3 that Audi should always have made
Where the Audi RS3 sparkles, the S3 that’s positioned one rung below drives like Coke with the top left off – it just isn’t exciting enough. Mission for the new S3, due later this year? Shake the bottle and be more RS3- like, without trampling on big brother’s toes.
We’ve come to Salalah, Oman, to test a pre-production prototype, and barely 10 minutes after I’ve hunkered down low in comfy sports seats the S3 already feels sharper and more energetic through huge sweepers that flow like a summer toboggan run over these barren mountainsides.
Facelifts often bring nuanced improvements, but this is night-and-day stuff, with fundamental changes to everything but the looks, all topped off by Dynamic Plus mode, the calibration equivalent of cranking everything up to 11 and shredding a solo.
The 2.0-litre four gets more pep thanks to small increases of 23bhp and 15lb ft, a higher idle speed to perk it up off the line and a turbo that now keeps spinning at low throttle openings, ready for action.
You feel that extra responsiveness more than the extra power when you dig into the throttle. The S3 still takes 2400rpm or so to get into its stride, beyond which acceleration is more progressive than astonishing, while the gearshifts could be more direct still.
It’s not the amount of horsepower that’s important, it’s what you do with it, and a revised chassis means the S3 can make very good use of that power.
Some of it is straight from the engineers’ usual box of tricks – a new pivot bearing at the bottom of the MacPherson struts allows 1.5º of negative camber on the front axle, more than doubling the previous figure, plus there are stiffer wishbone bearings and new tyres – the standard 19-inch Bridgestone Potenza Sports we’re trying, or optionally a more aggressive Falken Azenis RS820 focused on dry grip (they’re 235/35s all-round, unlike the RS3 with its larger front diameter).
Committing to these fast, smooth curves, it’s like the whole front axle’s been sharpened on a whetstone. The steering is more responsive immediately off-centre and purposefully weighted, the body is nicely supported on turn-in and into the most fiendish of compressions, while the brakes – up an inch to 18 inches, now with two-piston calipers – chip in a lovely bit of bite, easy modulation and strong stopping power.
All good stuff, but most transformative of all is the addition of Audi’s torque splitter. This is lifted straight from the RS3 and uses two clutch packs, one for each rear driveshaft, giving very fine control of how the torque is split between the left
