2016 Audi RS3 vs 2017

What's the difference?

Tim Robson road tests and reviews the new Audi S3 Sportback with specs, fuel consumption and verdict.

Audi's line-up of lunatic versions of its broad range of cars is long and distinguished, and includes some truly insane metal. RS7, anyone?

The recently updated all-wheel drive (AWD) S3 is the entry point into Audi's array of hotness since the demise of the baby S1, and it's a very good foil for both the stock A3 and the bonkers RS3.

The idea of paying upwards of $80,000 for a small sedan - even if it were trimmed with the fur of baby seals - seemed laughable not that long ago. Then the Mercedes A45 and CLA45 came along with its poppy-bangy turbo four-cylinder and changed the game forever.

Audi's RS3 joined the game in 2011, to great fanfare but in Sportback form. Whether Audi is being cutesy or not we'll never know, but the five-cylinder turbo fits well between its four and six-cylinder rivals while cranking out the right amount of power and driving all the wheels.

Completing the A3 upgrade that landed late last year, we now have a new, upgraded RS3 to rejoin the fray after the second generation's debut in 2015. And for the first time, RS is slapped on the boot of a small sedan.