This is the new Audi S3.
And I think it looks fantastic.
So much sharper and more aggressive than its predecessor.
And with big box archers are akin to an RS6.
And that got me thinking S3 RS six, is this half an RS six, divide six by two you get three take R away from S you get S.
S three, half and RS six.
And as it happens, this time last year we went on a bit of a road trip with an RS six.
So why not do the same With this s3 job, we're not in America but who needs America?
middle England we'll have to do.
So switching route 66 for the e6 and swapping out of Hershey through Cadbury's.
We set off on our adventure.>> We've got almost exactly half the power of Nora six, almost exactly half the talk as well and
Four cylinder versus eight cylinder both turbocharged half capacity to
The s3 is exact figures are 306 brake horsepower, and 295 pounds of torque transmitted to the road various seven speed S tronic, dual clutch, gearbox and quattro all wheel drive.
[SOUND] Now, those figures might seem familiar because they are identical to the old s3, which was actually a couple of tenths quicker to 62 as well, possibly because it weighed 35 kilos less.
To be honest, though, that old car felt rather lacking in pzazz in the power train department, and I think it was because the new w LTP regulations It forced it to be don't die.Thankfully, this new one's much better throttle response is noticeably crisper.
And although it's obviously not so in line five or V6 or straight six does sound much more interesting.
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It actually sounds like a bigger engine than a four cylinder.
There's a certain deep chested, quite a grumbly [SOUND] Aside from I think it sounds better in here than it does from outside does actually sound a bit like half an RS six.
In terms of straight line performance, it's certainly quick.
It doesn't feel absolutely rabid, I'd have to say it feels perhaps still a little bit tight.
This isn't that many miles on it yet and it does feel like it could just perhaps Free up a little bit.
Anyway, time for our first stop on this local road trip.
And while we're not covering the vast distances through canyons and across deserts, like we did in the RS six, we have gone round many, many more roundabouts to get here.
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Well, yes, America has its Death Valley National Park.
Here we have the Ooze Valley Park, all 48 hectares of it.
And yeah, fair enough, we saw some extraordinary weather out there in Death Valley with snow, but here too, it's a pretty extraordinary day.
It looked like the sun might break through later.
More cows here too than Death Valley, both real and concrete.
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Talking of concrete, what's the suspension like
The ride is still distinctly Audi has that firm flat feeling but no longer is it that sort of the ring wouldn't fail you had before like it's got its packing springs left in, there is more nuance to it.
Thankfully.
The ride could in fact be even better.
So, you see this is on the standard passive dampers.
And I like passive dampers.
The more I've driven this, the more I thought.
It's just nice turning into a corner and always knowing the response you're going to get.
However, it is quite firm.
And obviously there's no way of adjusting that with these.
There is And just down the setup you can have as an option, and I think that would probably give just a bit more flow a bit more bit more lean perhaps certainly more ride comfort most of the time, but would it feel as nice in terms of handling Well, there's nothing really wrong with it.
It doesn't sort of wallow.
He understood reality like legend would have all fast ideas to be far from it.
It's just very, neat.
very crisp.
In fact.
turning is excellent.
Just carves through corner.
That's thought, there isn't really a lot of adjustability to be heard.
It doesn't exactly trip the light fantastic then, although the optional matrix led lights can do a little dance, just like the RSX.
Another area in which I think the S3 feels at least half like an RSX is inside.
In terms of boot space yesterday is actually more than half an hour six with 325 liters seats up and 1145 liters seats down, representing in case you're interested 57.5 and 68.1% of the larger cars capacity I'd say the rest of the inside is actually very close to the more expensive car to the interior to this is, it's lovely.
It's really, really classy.
I feel like it's gone down the sort of Mercedes route, in a way in terms of while the eighth class has certainly taken a lot of inspiration from the class and really feel Is every bit as special as it's more expensive Brethren, and this is the same, although sort of the stitching along there, the big screen got down here.
touchscreens, obviously I'm not a huge fan, I think it's like having something like the I drive or the MMI that it used to have and I wish it still have that.
However, it's actually still relatively easy just here to get to it.
It's a big screen.
And we've got nice physical controls down here for the air conditioning and things like heated seats and stuff like that.
So they are all still away from the touchscreen and that is definitely a good thing.
So, bit of a compromise perhaps, and not a bad one.
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I love The, architecture around this instrument binnacle here as well these two vents here framing it and then, that screen which goes all the way out to the edges, it's not just set into, a odd shaped hole.
One other thing that, does irritate me is if they, put the Drive Select button all the way, down here.
And then it comes off on screen and then you have to do stuff to just it's actually the way it should be up here somewhere more accessible.
Thankfully, in this because it's on the passive dampers, really, you can just set how you like so set the steering.
Set the engine to balanced are also so they're just always adapt and then [INAUDIBLE] It's most aggressive, and then you can just leave it alone.
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[INAUDIBLE] The controls [INAUDIBLE] Are terrible are nice, it's nice size feels good [INAUDIBLE] Paddles still small and plastic.
Can not my favorite.
Also, you can't no change gear down here because we saw Porsche first with a sorta little shaver or whatever you wanna call it down there, and then VW has gone that way as well and so obvious Literally, already have as well, and it's a long little thing.
It actually feels quite nice to use the way it sorta locks back and forth.
Yeah, feels like a quality item and it's metal.
But I kind of missed the state for just being able to use it like a sequential.
I'm sure it's a cost saving way.
Of course, if you miss that feeling, then you could go and seek out a one armed bandit, and you don't need to go to Nevada for that.
It's basically Vegas.
Sometimes I'm gonna say better right?
And how much would you need to win to buy an S3?
Well, it's just under 37,000 pounds.
The starting price of an S3 is about 40% of the cost of the standard RS six.
So there we are.
RDS three, half an hour, six It's sort of just like, middle England is half of California.
Sort of.
Alright, so comparing the s3 to its much loved larger Avon brother is just a bit of fun reading, although I maintain that the design inside and out bears comparison.
Dynamically the S3 drives very well without being particularly special or interesting.
If I had to describe its dynamics in one word, it would be clean.
Its cousin the GTI Clubsport is certainly more entertaining for similar money.
Here's hoping then that a new RS three arrives very soon.
Those archers deserve it.
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