Audi RS3 2024 review – can it topple Mercedes-AMG’s A45 S?

Hot hatches are dead. We know this because everyone keeps saying it, so it must be true. Except that no one appears to have told a handful of manufacturers. BMW has recently updated the M135, Mini the John Cooper Works. Mercedes-AMG still sells its A35 and A45 S models, and Toyota has recently updated its GR Yaris. And then there’s the VW Group, who signed off on an update for the popular Cupra Leon this year, has overseen the introduction of three hot derivatives of the Mk8.5 Golf in 2024 – GTI, GTI Clubsport and R – and made sure Audi gave its hot A3s a little boost, too, first with the S3 and now with the RS3. All while the daddy of them all, Honda’s Civic Type R, kicks back and invites them to bring it on.

Audi’s latest RS3, as with its predecessor, is dripping with big numbers. A few of the defining ones remain the same: five cylinders and a single turbo for the 2.5-litre engine that produces 394bhp and 369lb ft are unchanged from its predecessor. It’s still furiously quick as a result, with a 174mph top speed and a sub four-second 0-62mph sprint time, and it’s now five seconds quicker around a certain circuit in Germany, completing the near 13-mile lap in 7 minutes and 33.12 seconds, obliterating the previous record for compact cars held by the BMW M2 by more than five seconds.

Then there are the numbers the accountants enjoy, such as the nearly 80,000 RS3s that have been sold since the model was first introduced in 2011, making it far and away the biggest-selling Audi Sport model globally, and the UK’s too, outselling the RSQ8, RS6 and all other Audi models with RS in their name. With the five-door Sportback costing from £59,510 and the four-door saloon from £60,510 (each body style is also available in premium Carbon Black and Carbon Vorsprung trim) that’s a healthy margin over a base model A3, of which Audi currently builds over 200,000 examples a year.

Partly because it’s still such a strong seller, the changes for 2025 are mild rather than headline-grabbing. So that means adjustments, updates and fine tuning of the core components that elevated the original 2011 RS3 from an okay hyperhatch to new dynamic heights when it was thoroughly updated in 2021. 

Key to that shift was the fitment of what Audi Sport calls its ‘torque splitter’ rear diff to apportion torque across the rear axle depending on which wheel requires it and can handle it. As a result the RS3 went from a big-numbers, straight line speed-focused hatch to one that could be manipulated, tweaked and adjusted, one that actually relished being played with through any given corner. If you found an empty car park or a circuit that turned a blind eye to drifting, the RS3 could be made to slide around until its tyres delaminated. 

On the flowing curves of Spain’s Circuit Parcmotor Castellolí, this latest RS3 feels comfortably at home. The five-cylinder motor still delivers its rich, broad torrent of boost-fuelled power and torque, firing it along the straights to a baritone soundtrack. Even without ceramic brakes, and with a claimed 1565kg kerb weight, it shreds speed with consistency lap after lap, allowing you to make the apex with little hesitation. There’s some weight to manage on the nose, but the adjustments made to the torque splitter were aimed at reducing understeer further still, allowing the tyres to work harder. Speaking of which, both cars we drove were wearing Pirelli’s P Zero R, one of the two tyres that will be fitted to UK cars, along with Bridgestone’s Potenza Sport. The Pirelli P Zero Trofeo R, used for the Ring record, will be available in other markets but won’t be offered by Audi UK.

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The reduction of turn-in understeer provides the RS3 with greater apex speed and therefore a higher speed on corner exit – indeed it was quicker at the exit of 90 per cent of the corners around the Ring when setting its headline lap time. At Castellolí it makes for a very fluid car and one that instils confidence. In fact on the first couple of tours you initially take off too much speed before reaching the quicker corners. That’s because instinct and experience suggests a nose-heavy RS3 will want to push that nose well wide of the apex, even though this trait was dialled out at the turn of the decade; now it’s sharper still, a more direct tool when committing to quicker corners. 

Under heavy braking for tighter, second-gear corners the weight transfer over the front axle is still very noticeable as you feel the rear lighten and rise up, the RS3 lacking the flat consistency of an AMG A45 S. Revisions to the torque splitter are less effective here too, and you need to be patient with your right foot and wait for the corner to open fully before calling on that five-cylinder engine. 

Go early with the throttle and, depending on the level of assistance dialled in, there are three possible scenarios. With all aids active you’ll get a steady push across the front axle and some nagging electronic interference. Turning traction off but leaving ESC on allows for movement between front and rear axles, requiring a few degrees of correction before the electronics gather it up. Turn everything off and you’ll need to push both yourself and the car to engage the torque splitter and bring real agility and mobility. At higher speeds it means you can balance the RS3 through the core of the corner; in slower bends you can turn in much earlier and harder and use the throttle and rear axle to provide a looser but far harder drive out of the exit. As with the outgoing model, it’s a more expressive and exploitable car than many would expect. 

On track the RS3 impresses with its speed on the straights, the five-cylinder pulling heartily from low revs and delivering a mid-range sucker punch that makes its rivals’ four-cylinder engines feel flat and undercooked. The shifts of the S‑tronic gearbox aren’t as quick, however; both up- and particularly downshifts suffer a slight delay, so that on more occasions than not you’ll pull the left paddle twice, thinking the first command for a lower gear didn’t get through. 

On the road the RS3’s manners are shown in the best possible light on the smooth routes of northern Spain. That said, sharp undulations can catch the damping out, resulting in some unexpected additional vertical movement through the car, and switching the dampers out of Comfort mode doesn’t really address the issue. Yet the RS3’s overall ride quality feels well judged, and where it excels on the track with its directness and energy, that’s replicated on the road, the P Zero Rs biting tenaciously into the surface to provide more front-end grip than you’re perhaps expecting. It takes only a corner or two to adjust to not being on track, and then everything the RS3 demonstrates on the circuit also makes for a quick and engaged, point-to-point road car. It’s not as effervescent nor as engaging as Honda’s Civic Type R or Toyota’s GR Yaris, but find yourself on a good road or at the exit of a pitlane on a trackday and you won’t be disappointed (as you would have been with the very first RS3). 

Optional carbonfibre-backed bucket seats (circa £2000) and some new interior lighting and trim finishes complete the 2025 makeover, one that keeps the RS3 near the top of the rankings as both a hyperhatch and a hot saloon, and makes it an attractive alternative to either an A45 S or an M2. As numbers go, that’s high praise for the RS3. 

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Price and rivals 

As outlined at the very beginning the hot hatch market is in rather rude health at the moment, and even if you discount the less extreme models from Volkswagen, Cupra, BMW and AMG, the RS3 still has a handful of very strong rivals. 

Available as a five-door Sportback (£59,510) or four-door saloon (£60,510), the latter lines-up alongside BMW’s M2, which starts at £65,915 and is available with a six-speed manual gearbox. Unlike the Audi, however, it only comes with two doors and rear-wheel drive.

In the traditional hatch sector, the Mercedes-AMG A45 S starts at £63,445 and offers a more focused drive than the Audi, at the expense of ride quality. What Toyota’s GR Yaris lacks in headline performance figures (and doors) it makes up for with thrilling cross-country pace and a just-driven-off-the-rally stage vibe. If you can get one, Toyota charges £44,250. Staying in Japan, Honda’s seemingly unbeatable £50,050 Civic Type R might only be front-wheel drive, but this doesn’t hold it back when it comes to claiming performance car scalps.