After they gave us the fastest and most powerful supermini last winter, the 231 hp S1, Audi have now launched the fastest and most potent compact car in the world, their all-new RS3 Sportback. After a web debut last year, the quattro rocket arrived in Scandinavia this week and showed the press just how impressive it is.
For a bit of diversity, the red paint has been dropped for another favorite with Audi fans, Sepang Blue, the color they used for the launch of the R8 facelift and S3 sedan. It has made the RS3 look more discrete, but with a massive front splitter wing and thumping twin exhaust, you still can't help but admire it.
The RS badge is only given to the sportiest models Audi offers, legends like the RS6 Avant. But the little hatchback justifies its moniker using a new 2.5-liter Euro6 turbo engine that pumps out no less than 367 PS. Power would be nothing without control, so they've also engineered a new quattro Haldex-based sports differential to cope with every type of conditions.
Up to 100% of the power can be sent to the rear, which means that this could be the first A3 you can really have fun in, letting the exhausts trumpet away as you drift through the snow.
The all-new RS3 will go on sale in about 3 months and is expected to cost over €55,000. That's a huge increase over the €40,000 S3, but you do get a standard 7-speed twin-clutch, larger performance brakes, bucket leather seats and the best 5-piece orchestra in Germany.
Mihnea's favorite cars have already been built, the so-called modern classics from the '80s and '90s. He also loves local car culture from all over the world, so don't be surprised to see him getting excited about weird Japanese imports, low-rider VWs out of Germany, replicas from Russia or LS swaps down in Florida. Full profile
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