When the Audi S3 debuted, we noticed its numbers were curiously close to the B5 S4 of the late 1990s. Length, width, height, wheelbase, output, and even curb weights are within spitting distance of each other. There are tweaks and stretches here and there, but the new car is a dead ringer at the end of the day. Imagine if the performance-oriented S4 had an 18-year product cycle. After 18 years worth of advancement in chassis dynamics, material science, engine and transmission development, interior design, and stability control, what would Audi debut as a replacement?
Precisely what we have in the S3. Read on to find out what makes it go.
Around the time my predecessors at Motor Trend were testing the 2004 Audi S4 – pitting it against the Mercedes-Benz C32 AMG in a head-to-battle battle in which the Audi handily triumphed – I was driving it for another car mag, in a comparison against the Benz as well as the BMW M3. While both the C32 and M3 came with high-output six-cylinder engines, the S4 boasted a rip-roaring, naturally aspirated 4.2-liter, 340-horsepower V-8 – unheard of for the day in a compact luxury sedan, certainly one paired with a six-speed manual and all-wheel drive.
Fast-forward 11 years and Audi is at it again, though in this go-around the engine has shrunk by more than half. The all-new 2015 S3, the first S-badged A3 to make it stateside, comes with VW Group’s tiny but potent 2.0-liter TFSI (turbocharged, direct injection) inline-four, good for 292 horsepower and 280 lb-ft of torque, and paired exclusively to a six-speed S Tronic DCT. And guess what? It’s quicker and better in just about every performance measurement than that 3,825-pound V-8-powered S4. At our test venue (the balmy Hyundai Proving Grounds in the Mojave desert), the 3,467-pound S3 launched from 0-60 in 4.7, through the quarter in 13.4 at 102.4, stopped from 60 in 112 feet and, thanks in part to sweet split-spoke 19-inch alloys shod in sticky 235/35 Continentals, pulled max lateral accel of 0.92 g. Not too shabby for a little four-banger.
At $41,995 to start, the S3 undercuts the $48,375 CLA45 by a significant chunk of change. Even our loaded test car, at $49,945, barely crests the Benz’s opening bid, which, with a host of options, can easily swell to 60 large. As for that ol’ S4, well, its 2004 base price of $45,650 would be equivalent to around $57,500 in 2014 dollars. And don’t forget that the big 4.2-liter chugged gas at a rate of 13/20 mpg city/highway, not quite the sipper of the 2.0-liter S3 (23/31). Back in the day, I recall that V-8-powered S4 being the rightful king of its class. Now it’s the S3’s turn to wear the crown.
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