Audi S3 2024 review – the best S3 yet
The S3 has been injected with a new level of dynamic ability as part of a mid-life update. Is it now a worthy Mercedes-AMG A35 rival?
The hot hatch market may be in decline, but Audi is still committed to the cause with the introduction of its new, facelifted S3. Having driven it extensively in Germany and the UK, we’ve come away impressed; the S3 highlights areas where the Mk8 Golf R has fallen short, and takes a strong fight to Mercedes-AMG’s A35. Although it’s taken a while to reach such heights.
Twenty-five years ago on some very nondescript, featureless roads around the Munich suburbs, we experienced Audi’s inaugural hot hatch: a buttercup yellow S3, with chrome mirrors, a set of flat-faced, six-spoke alloy wheels and a 207bhp, 1.8-litre four-cylinder turbocharged engine driving a Haldex four-wheel-drive system via a rather slow and unremarkable six-speed manual gearbox. It was far from an inspiration to drive; aspirational maybe, but even in the world of lacklustre hot hatches that occupied forecourts in the late ’90s, there was little reason to recommend Audi’s first performance hatch over Subaru’s thrilling Impreza Turbo. Unless soft-feel plastics and electronic climate control were your thing.
Each S3 since that original has always uneventful to drive – fast, yes, but lacking the interaction of anything from Renault Sport, BMW M Sport, AMG, Hyundai N and mechanically related Cupra and GTI models. It’s been a long time coming, but it feels like Audi has put driver satisfaction closer to the top of its priorities with this latest S3, and it’s the best one yet as a result.
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Available as a five-door Sportback hatch (£44,445) or four-door saloon (£45,565, and expected to be more popular in the UK), the S3’s hardware remains the same whichever model you choose. It gets a further development of the EA888 2-litre turbocharged four-cylinder motor that’s as old as time itself but still serves a crucial purpose in the VW Group’s entry-level performance cars. A seven-speed dual-clutch is the gearbox option, and its shifts have been modified to be sharper and quicker as you cycle up the drive modes, of which there are six. New for the S3 is a ‘Dynamic Plus’ setting that makes it feel as close as possible to the RS3 when that car is in its lowest state of tune.
On the subject of the RS3, of which there will be one more generation and the last use of Audi’s charismatic five-cylinder motor, the S3 has gone on a midnight raid of Audi Sport’s store cupboard to steal a few goodies from the flagship hot hatch. Most notably, it gets the RS’s torque splitter rear diff that can send more drive to the outside rear wheel to promote oversteer – a term that hasn’t been associated with any S3 in the last 25 years…
In its Comfort mode the new car feels familiar, and there’s not a great deal to suggest that you’re in an AMG-rivalling hot hatch. The controls don’t bristle with life, the powertrain is slow to react to inputs and it feels more S-Line than all-out S3. But ramp up through the drive modes, work the car harder and some sparkle begins to filter through, the S3 reacting positively to more aggressive inputs, the powertrain waking up (and transmitting an RS3-style five-cylinder howl through the speakers, oddly).
On the passive dampers fitted to our test car (adaptive units come as standard on the £49,920 Vorsprung model), there are some raw edges to the ride, and the S3 feels firm and sometimes brittle at low speeds. It doesn’t have the sophisticated feel of Honda’s (admittedly much more expensive) Civic Type R but the S3 does get better with speed, and there’s a decent level of control to lean on when you start throwing its weight around.
It’s at this point when you start to feel the S3 paying you back in a way the old car just never did. The front end finds great bite as you turn in, and even when you ask too much of the tyres, jumping on the throttle activates the rear torque splitter and neutralises the car, allowing you to commit to your line without bleeding off speed. The effect feels less aggressive and perhaps more natural than it does in the latest Golf R (which gets the same diff technology), and it allows you to wind off steering lock sooner than anticipated.
To get the best from it, you need to get on the throttle early so that the boost arrives at the point you want it, putting more energy through the diff and amplifying its effect. With each sequence of turns you build confidence to commit harder, leaning on the hardware and hunting for the S3’s outer edges. Push beyond this and there’s more progression than you’d expect, but under really high loads you start to feel the limits of the damping, and the S3’s weight (1535kg) doesn’t move in total unison with your inputs.
The S3’s new dynamic confidence isn’t purely down to the RS3’s torque splitter. An increase in negative camber, revised settings for the electric power steering and stiffer front wishbones have all been developed to maximise the S3’s performance, a level of detail not previously afforded to this model. It’s still not a natural communicator – the steering is crisp but mute in your hands and there’s a lack of feel at the top of the brake pedal – but it feels like the S3 now has the Mk8 Golf R licked for engagement and capability. Volkswagen will be hoping it can find similar gains with its Mk8.5 model.
Upgrades to the engine management system have boosted the S3 to 328bhp and 310lb ft of torque, with the turbocharger now preloaded to improve throttle response. The powertrain is crushingly effective and linear in its delivery, but you soon crave a more charismatic motor, one that sounds more polished (an Akrapovic exhaust is optional) and feels less one-dimensional. Not that this holds it back in raw performance terms – the S3 hits 62mph in 4.7sec and hits its limited 155mph top speed with ease, as we found out on the autobahn.
The sharper gearshifts in Dynamic mode are welcome, but they aren’t as quick as you’d like when coming down the ’box. Sometimes the delay after pulling the left-hand paddle leaves you relying on the S3’s uprated discs and four-piston calipers rather than engine braking when slowing into corners, making it feel a little clumsy.
Inside, a flat-bottomed steering wheel and sports seats are the only telltale signs that you’re in an S3, not an A3, and it feels a little underwhelming as a result. Audi’s trademark digital dash is standard-fit, and though the haptic central infotainment screen manages most of the car’s functions, there is at least a physical bank of climate controls below it.
Price and rivals
Despite the new car market currently going through a ‘price realignment’ the S3 still isn’t cheap, at £44,445 for the Sportback and £45,565 for the saloon. Closer to £40k would feel right, high thirties better still. But this new model is a big step on from its predecessors, and after 25 years living in the shadows it feels like the S3 has finally been allowed out to play.
Instantly you think of Mercedes-AMG’s £46,000 A35 when talking about the S3, and the Audi comes in at a handy £1555 cheaper than its rival from Affalterbach. Even so, the AMG is more enthusiastic and willing to roll its sleeves up and get stuck in for a good drive; it’s the more engaging hot hatch.
BMW’s new M135 is cheaper with prices starting at £43,000 – we haven’t driven it yet, but with comprehensive dynamic upgrades it could give the S3 a hard time. Much closer to home is the near identically specced Golf R, which starts at £43,320 in its new Mk8.5 guise.
