At this point, almost halfway through a decade in which Electrification is accelerating at a rapid pacemost combustion engines are fairly similar configurationsespecially when it comes to performance cars. There are many single-turbo inline-foursturbo six-cylinder, twin-turbo V8 engines with a displacement of usually four liters… And that’s about it, at least until you enter supercar territory.
However, there is one car that breaks this trend, and it is in a surprising segment. The AudiRS3 has a mega-powerful turbocharged inline-5, one of the most characterful and interesting engines you can buy, made even more fun by the fact that it’s in a compact sedan. In a world of great, yet all too similar engines and EVs that exceed their performance figures, the RS3 stands out for all the right reasons, advocating internal combustion.
Full disclosure: Audi delivered an RS3 to my apartment with a full tank of gas and let me drive it around for a week. My loan was due earlier this year and I’ve had this review in my backlog, finally getting it published prior to my first trip to the updated RS3 from 2025 that will come next weekend.
Audi has a long history of five-cylinder engines this particular engine has been around since the second generation of both TT RS and RS3. In the 2024 RS3, the turbocharged 2.5-liter inline-5 produces 401 horsepower and 369 pound-feet of torque, making it one of the most powerful compact cars ever made. That’s double the power of the standard A3and an increase of 95 hp and 74 lb-ft over the four-cylinder S3. Audi connects the five-cylinder to a seven-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission, linked to the Quattro all-wheel drive system.
And my God, is it fast? Audi says the RS3 will go from 0 to 60 mph in just 3.6 seconds, and even without using the launch control which feels underrated. (Car And Driver gets one to 60 in 3.3 seconds.) According to Audi’s figures, that’s faster to 60 than an RS5 coupe, and just a few tenths quicker than an RS6 Avant. It’s not just fast from a standstill, either. Set it to 30mph and the RS3 surges forward with ferocity; do the same at highway speeds and you get EV-like response and speed gains. Even in Comfort mode, the RS3 responds immediately to a press of the right pedal. That speed is a bit unexpected, considering that maximum torque doesn’t come in until 3,500 rpm, and maximum power isn’t reached until 6,500 rpm, 500 rpm before the redline. The RS3’s acceleration is aided by the dual-clutch transmission that fires out snappy shifts, responds quickly to throttle input and downshifts instantly, even in the less intensive driving modes.
The five-cylinder engine feels more special to wring out than the typical turbocharged four-cylinders, and it sounds much more characterful, too. My test car has the $1,000 RS sports exhaust system, which makes the RS3 sound like a vintage rally car, barking sharply and burbling with a distinct warble at idle. It just begs to be driven hard, and it’s hard not to hit it at every stoplight.
Being an Audi, and a cheaper small one at that, the RS3 has a tendency to understeer, but it’s a lot more fun to drive than most of its siblings. In most situations it stays neutral in the corners and only starts pushing when I actually step on it. This is helped by a trick torque splitter on the rear driveshaft that uses a pair of multi-plate clutches to send up to 100 percent of available torque (50 percent of the total) to both rear wheels when necessary. If you enter a corner too hot, the RS3 can easily pull itself out of the apex as it shifts torque around. This isn’t a car that requires a delicate touch; it’s more of a steak knife than a scalpel, where the answer is usually to just use more force. It helps that the RS3’s steel brakes are great, with six-piston calipers and 14.8-inch discs up front and single-piston calipers and 12.2-inch discs at the rear that provide nice bite and barely any fade during a fast canyon run.
The steering is quick and precise, but too light for my taste, an issue I have with most Audis. The Bridgestone Potenza summer tires on my test car provide plenty of grip while barely squealing, and the RS3’s front track is wider than the rear, measuring 265/30 up front and 245/35 at the rear. It also rides quite well and never gets jittery, even with the hydraulically adjustable dampers in dynamic mode, although the softest setting is still quite firm. Audi indicates a curb weight of
If you don’t want to drive around like a rally driver, the RS3’s Comfort mode basically makes it feel as comfortable and quiet as a normal A3, or you can put it in Dynamic for sportier everyday driving. A highly configurable Individual mode can be activated with an RS button on the steering wheel, which can also switch to RS Performance mode which offers the most aggressive powertrain and chassis tuning with looser stability control. It’s less fussy than many other cars’ performance modes, and as you click through each setting you get really noticeable differences.
The RS3 looks pretty cool too. This generation of A3 sedan is already more muscular than the previous model, with the flared fenders doing much of that work. The RS3 has an even better appearance thanks to a 1.3 inch wider front track and real air vents in the front fenders just in front of the doors. The grille and air intakes at the front are even larger, the headlights have a nice checkered flag motif, the side skirts are more pronounced and the rear bumper has a full-width faux ventilation element above a diffuser with a giant oval exhaust tip on each side. . You can even buy the RS3 in real colors, like my test car’s $595 Python Yellow or the scorching, no-cost Kyalami Green, and the $250 black is a nice accent.
It’s just a shame that the interior isn’t that attractive. Sure, the front seats are aggressively bolstered, the perforated leather steering wheel offers plenty of grip, and there are plenty of suede and carbon fiber accents, but there’s not much character. Audi’s angular interior design language has stuck with me more and more, but finished in all black it’s just not an exciting place to be. (You can at least specify bright green or red stitching to liven it up.) I’m glad the RS3 doesn’t get the dual-screen MMI setup, relying on a 10.1-inch touchscreen with a few rows of physical buttons for things like climate control. Audi’s 12.3-inch digital instrument cluster with virtual cockpit remains great, especially in the sporty driving modes where it gets race-inspired graphics, and both screens can display plenty of performance information.
The 2024 RS3 starts at $63,395 including destination, a 63 percent increase over a base A3 sedan. That’s far too little for a compact car… Or is it? The cheapest BMW M2 amounts to $66,075, the Cadillac CT4-V Blackwing starts at $62,890, and you can’t get any Mercedes AMG CLA45 for less than $68,200 now that the S version is the only one available. With items like the $2,500 RS Technology package (navigation, a 3D Bang & Olufsen sound system, a head-up display and traffic sign recognition) and the $500 Black Optic Plus package (matte black wheels with summer tires and black badging and other accents) Additionally, my nearly loaded RS3 test car came in at $68,590, a lot less than the competition would be if all the boxes were checked.
If you dare to spend that much on a Volkswagen Golf-based sedan, you won’t be disappointed. The RS3 is a special little car that stands out among its performance cars, and it’s a dying breed. Next the death of the TT it is the only Audi in the US to use the inline-5, and no other brands produce five-cylinders. Now that Audi is moving towards electrification, we may not get a next-generation RS3 with this engine, so we should be happy that it still exists for the time being.
