Seventeen years ago, Audi launched a small but very special estate car to the world. The RS2 Avant was the first Audi to wear the ‘Renn Sport’ badge. Built by Porsche, under the same roof as the 959 supercar and Mercedes’ 500E super-saloon, it was one of the first performance wagons in the world.
Maybe it’s due to lack of opportunity, or out of sheer deference to RS’s founding father, but Audi has never built another car quite like the RS2. Until now. Almost by accident, as a farewell to the humble A3 – a car that has rarely excited keen drivers – Audi performance arm Quattro GmbH has developed a fast, compact pseudo-estate with unmissable similarities to the Audi that Porsche built.
There is less than 25bhp and 50kg of kerb weight separating the new RS3 Sportback and the 1994 RS2 Avant; you could measure the difference in the length of their footprints with your old school ruler. And yet Audi doesn’t mention the legendary old-timer once in the RS3’s press material. Which prompts the question: is this new car of insufficient calibre to deserve a mention on the same bill?
Verdict:
Some people may be surprised that a car as fast as this new RS3, and as capable in isolated areas, should end up with such a mediocre overall rating. However, it isn’t exciting or entertaining enough. At times, it’s borderline boring.
Although technically impressive, by the standards of hot hatchbacks, the RS3 suffers a noticeable shortage of dynamic character. It’s a hard car to take satisfaction from, with its inert steering and a chassis that’s very capable but lacks the agility and finesse to really please on a typical back road. And aside from hot hatches, when you consider the excellent sports cars at the RS3’s price point, that failing seems all the harder to forgive.
With everyday use in mind, we could well understand why you might pick the RS3 over a less practical performance rival, but in our opinion the trade isn’t worth making.
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