2016 Audi S3 vs 2017

What's the difference?

If you’re not fussed by the underplayed sophistication of the stock A3, but not quite ready for the madness of the RS3, then the S3 is a great foil for both. 

It’s a reasonably practical hatch that is comfortable for four adults, as well, which adds to its appeal.

The S3 Sedan is the perfect midpoint between domesticated and wild. It doesn’t have the sledgehammer performance of the BMW M240i or the bling factor of the Benz CLA 250 Sport, but for many buyers that’s just what they’re after – a low-key, quick, fun, but prestigious car.

Click here for more 2017 Audi S3 pricing and spec info.

The A3's angular five-door shape doesn't require a lot of reworking to give it a harder edge, and a full bodykit, stock 18-inch rims and a massive spring dump instantly adds a degree of refined lout to the stock A3 hatch's mild demeanor.

The S3 is actually 25mm lower than the stock car, which is a sizable drop in ride height.

The full-size map screen in particular is terrific.

LED lights front and rear, quad exhausts and the exaggerated grille all do their part in toughening up the S3, too.

The front bar ends up being quite low to the ground, but front sensors do a good job of keeping it off parking blocks before you find them via braille.

Okay, if you can spot the difference between the new S3 and the previous S3 then you’re an Audi spy or you own one, because the changes are minor.

The grille is now wider and its corners meet at sharper points, while the LED running lights, which are still integrated into the headlights, provide more of a frame around a new intricate lens design, while the outside plastic casing is more angular in its styling. The tail lights have been redesigned and the rear indicators have gone all Vegas and now use strip LED lighting which progressively illuminate in the direction the vehicle is turning. The rear diffuser has also been restyled.

The S3 is a playful and safe-feeling little missile with great pedal feel.

Picking an S3 from an A3 is tricky – they look so much alike. The easiest way to know if you’re looking at an S3 and not an A3 is if it has the beefy rear diffuser and quad exhaust tips.

Apart from those tail pipes, the S3 looks a lot like an A3, which looks a lot like an A4, and an A6, and an A8, only smaller. Which is no bad thing – it’s a sleek good looking shape and the S3 appears perfectly proportioned despite its small size.

It really is small. At 4469mm long, 1960mm wide and 1392mm tall the S3 Sedan is shorter than a Mazda3 sedan. As for its rivals the S3 is 171mm shorter than the four-door CLA 250 Sport and 37mm longer than the two-door M240i.

The cabin is refined and prestigious and shares the same materials and styling as higher-end Audis.

Without a doubt, the star of the all-black S3 cabin is the dash screen. Easy to read and gorgeous to look at, the so-called virtual display has two main views, with each one having an array of options unto themselves.

It essentially renders the retractable centre screen all but obsolete, save for functions like sound settings and the like.

The full-size map screen in particular is terrific, and shows as much - or as little - info about the surrounds as you need.

A note of caution - playing with the screen can get a little distracting initially, and it's no different to being distracted by a phone. Fiddle with the settings at the traffic lights!

The sports focused front seats might not be powered, but they are heated and have full manual adjustment including base height front and rear as well as an extendable base cushion. They aren't massively bolstered, either.

The car's low ride height and relatively narrow rear door apertures will make it a chore to load a kicking toddler.

The rear seats are deep and comfortable according to a 190cm friend, with sufficient leg, head and toe room behind an average sized driver. There are also air vents allocated for rear seaters.

Cargo volume is rated at 340 litres with the rear seats up; it's a 40-litre drop over the front-drive A3, thanks to the S3's AWD components under the rear floor. Total load space with the 60/40 split-fold seats down is 1180 litres.

There are no rear seat flippers, but the backs fold down to an almost flat position. Kudos to Audi for including a cargo net and hooks for the rear boot space, too.

There are ISOFIX baby seat mounts on the outboard seats, but the car's low ride height and relatively narrow rear door apertures will make it a chore to load a kicking toddler.

While there are two cupholders up front, they are shallow and wide, meaning taller bottles aren't very stable. They are also tucked under the centre console, restricting height and making access tough.

The front door bottle holders, too, have sloped leading edges but a flat base, which leaves bottles rattling around in the cavity.

The centre bin is shallow but can easily hold a full size phone.

Yes, it has four doors and five seats but space in the back row is limited. Tall friends won’t be pleased sitting behind you. I’m 191cm and can only just sit behind my driving position. The bigger issue is the lack of headroom and I can’t sit up straight without having my cheek up against the roof. That’s literally a pain in the neck.

Up front you’d never know about the space issues behind you. The cockpit is roomy from the pilot’s seat, with good headroom, plenty of space in the footwell and stacks of shoulder room.

There was somebody that did love sitting in the back seat - my two year old son in his car seat. Apart from him having plenty of space, the low window sill meant he had a better view of the outside world than many other cars I’ve tested lately.

So a young family or empty nesters with grandchildren may find the size suits their life best, or treat it as a two seater with a bonus back row if you need to give people a lift.

Storage throughout isn’t great – there are no cup holders in the back, but there are two up front. You’ll find small bottle holders in the back doors and larger ones in the front.

Boot size is impressive though at 425 litres – that’s just 55 litres less than the A4’s luggage capacity. The M240i’s cargo capacity is 390 litres. It’s even bigger than the boot in the A3 Sportback hatch (340 litres), but the boot opening itself isn’t big and we couldn’t fit the CarsGuide pram in no matter how much violence we directed towards it.

The S3 Sedan 2.0 TFSI quattro S tronic lists for $64,500 and that’s $1600 more than the S3 Sportback, but $7500 less than the S3 Cabriolet.

Standard features in the S3 Sedan include 18-inch alloy wheels, leather seats (sports buckets up front), dual-zone climate control, a 7.0-inch screen, sat nav with six monthly map updates, CD and DVD player, digital radio, 10-speaker 180W Audi sound system, Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, as well as Bluetooth connectivity. There’s also the Audi virtual cockpit – a fully digital instrument cluster.

You’ll also get LED headlights, drive mode selector, front and rear parking sensors plus reversing camera and blind spot warning. There’s also new advanced safety equipment – read about that below.

It’s disappointing that features such as auto parking, adaptive cruise control, lane keeping assistance, collision warning, auto headlights and even hill hold need to be bought as options, particularly when they are offered standard on many Hyundais, Kias and Volkswagens.

Our test car was optioned with Navarra blue metallic paint for $1150, Magnetic Ride dampers for $1600, the $850 black high gloss package and $1350 18-inch five spoke 'Turbine' design alloy wheels, bringing the total package to $69,450.

On the upside, the S3 Sedan’s list price undercuts its rivals, with the CLA 250 Sport selling for $67,600 and the M240i listing at $74,900.

The updated S3's EA888 2.0-litre four-cylinder turbocharged petrol engine gets a slight boost in kilowatts – up three to 213kW – and a useful tweak of torque – up 20Nm to 380 from a low 1500rpm.

The seven-speed dual-clutch gearbox is new and unique to the S3, with shorter low gears for a better getaway and taller gears up high for more comfortable cruising. It also has the ability to decouple itself from the drivetrain – known as coasting - when the throttle is closed to reduce drag and thereby fuel consumption.

A six-speed manual is available, and has the same gearing characteristics as the dual-clutch gearbox.

The S3's suspension is firmer than before, and it rides on front MacPherson struts that are complemented by a four-link rear end and electromechanical steering. 

Its permanent AWD set-up is a Haldex system that's designed to send more drive to the rear end depending on the setting of the five-mode drive select switch.

The latest S3 Sedan is more powerful and quicker than the previous one – by a smidge. Power has been increased to 213kW (+3kW) with torque staying at 380Nm and the claimed 0-100km/h time drops by 0.2s to 4.8s. It’s a better sprinter thanks to the new transmission – the six-speed dual-clutch from the previous version has been swapped for a seven-speed.

Drive goes to all four wheels thanks to Audi’s signature quattro system.

Audi claims the S3 Sportback can return 6.6 litres per 100km on the combined fuel economy cycle in automatic spec, and 7.1 in manual.

Our 220km test saw a dash-indicated figure of 8.2 litres per 100km.

A 55-litre fuel tank nestles underneath the S3, which weighs 1505kg in auto guise.

Audi says the S3 should drink premium unleaded at an average rate of 6.5L/100km when driving under combined conditions. My fuel consumption was a bit more than Audi’s serving suggestion at 11.0L/100km, but I drive like I’m on the run.

There’s a stop-start system which is great at saving fuel but it’s annoying in traffic, particularly with a DSG gearbox. The system will cut the engine when coasting to a stop which I find unnerving, particularly when I’m turning at an intersection. For these reasons, unless I need to save fuel, I’ll switch it off.

There's a bit of theatre to the S3, though it's by necessity not as out there as its truly crazy RS3 brethren. Still, the S3 will ignite its unburnt fuel in the exhaust for a satisfying 'crack' on the upshift in sport.

There's plenty of talent there, but it has to be teased out of it in the right environment.

It's very tied down in its ride, but it doesn't manage to trip over into 'brittle' mode, especially with the optional adaptive dampers doing their part to soften the package around town. It's certainly sharper than a regular A3, though.

The S3 has a good turn of pace, too, with plenty of torque combining with a tight set of lower ratios to give the hot hatch a fair kick along; anything with a sub-five second dash to 100km/h is pretty capable.

Based on the VW Group's MQB chassis, the S3 is always going to be stiff and impressively quiet. It's a bit of a slow burner, the S3; there's plenty of talent there, but it has to be teased out of it in the right environment.

This is a great attribute, actually, because it means for the rest of the time you're enjoying a good looking, well-built car with driveway cred and a bit of practicality to boot.

Just say you were looking for a getaway car then the S3 may be ideal. It’s low key enough for it not to stand out and quick enough to out accelerate mostly everybody else you’ll encounter. A sprint time of 4.8s for the 0-100km/h dash is almost a second in front of Ford’s new V8 Mustang and only 0.2s behind an entry-spec Porsche 911.

The M240i is quicker at 4.6s to 100km/h, but the CLA250 Sport is way back at 6.4s.

The best part of the S3 is the driving. This thing feels sharp, agile and well balanced. There were times I wanted more grunt when climbing corkscrewing hill roads, or coming out of turns onto a straight, but that would begin to encroach into the RS3’s territory.

No, the S3 is a playful and safe-feeling little missile with great pedal feel, and an excellent low seating position. Dynamic mode can be set through the Drive Select function to adjust steering weight, change the throttle mapping and firm the dampers for better handling.

The Magnetic Ride Control system adjusts the dampers continuously to suit the situation. Charged particles in the oil inside the shock absorber align themselves when a magnetic field is applied in connection to the driving conditions – this changes the viscosity of the fluid.

The S3’s sound completes the fun package, although it's slightly artificial. There’s an actuator under the bonnet which looks like a hockey puck and vibrates to enhance the sound to a deeper growl. I’m not a fan and don’t see the need for it when the engine note would still sound great without it. Oh and yes, the S3 lets rip a burp on the upshifts.

The Virtual Cockpit is an excellent feature. You can digitally configure the instrument cluster to your own tastes – the view which reduces the speedo and tacho down and fills the screen with your sat nav map means you don’t have to keep looking across to the main display.

That main display, by the way, is looking dated and small – it’s been the same since the A3 launched in 2013, and tech (as proven by the virtual cockpit) has come a long way since then.

Mechanically, the S3 is closely related to the all-wheel drive Golf R (both being in the Volkswagen Group family), although the current version of that hot hatch is more like the old S3 with a six-speed dual-clutch and 206kW engine.

The S3 Sedan has seven airbags and the maximum five-star ANCAP rating, but that score has really become the new minimum these days, so the way to see if a brand is going further is to look at the advanced safety equipment list. AEB with pedestrian detection (up to 65km/h) is offered for the first time in this S3 and so is rear cross traffic alert. 

For child seats there are two ISOFIX mounts in the back row and two top tether anchor points.

Audi offers a three-year, unlimited kilometre warranty on the S3. There's a service plan that covers the car for three years or 45,000km for around $1700.

The S3 Sedan is covered by Audi’s three-year/unlimited kilometre warranty. Owners can purchase a three-year/45,000km servicing plan for $1700. Servicing is recommended at 15,000km/one year intervals.