Audi S3 vs Infiniti Q50

What's the difference?

There are plenty of historical instances where a particular model within a broader range manages to hit the absolute sweet spot even though it’s not the fastest or most expensive variant. Porsche’s GTS specification across various models is a great example of this.

And at the risk of being proven wrong when the all-new RS3 comes along later this year, this car, the S3, might just pull off that feat.

Yes, the new RS3 will be more powerful and will offer even more grip and sporty flavour, but it will also be more expensive. And we defy anybody to drive the S3 and say that it lacks dynamism in any single area.

It’s also a magnificently balanced car with the right amount of attention paid to every aspect of its trim and performance. That, in essence, is where that `balanced’ label originates and even though it’s felt most in the actual driving experience, it permeates throughout the entire vehicle.

Note: CarsGuide attended this event as a guest of the manufacturer, with travel, accommodation and meals provided.

The Q50 Red Sport is a premium sedan that's great value, with a cracker of an engine. While Infiniti has improved the ride and steering, it still feels to me that the engine is too powerful for the wheels and chassis to handle. But if you're looking for something of an untamed beast, this car could be for you. Just don't say we didn't warn you.

Perhaps the most striking thing about the styling of the new Audi is just how similar it looks to the old model. Okay, this is not a new thing with Audi which has made a point of not throwing a handsome design into the dumpster in pursuit of new for new’s sake.

As such, the exterior lines are taut and typically Audi clean and, with the latest LED headlights and a refinement of the Audi trapezoidal grille, the look is fresh and crisp without being a novelty act.

Inside, the virtual dash display and large, relatively flat centre console almost amount to anti-styling. Or it would if the rest of the deal wasn’t so sharply angled towards a philosophy of less is more.

Again, this is classic modern-era Audi where the game is to make a complex layout look as simple as possible. The face-level air vents also seem to have borrowed a little Lamborghini (part of the Audi family) DNA.

I particularly like the new shift-by-wire gear selector which is a nifty looking switch but works just as intuitively as a conventional shift lever. New tech meets old muscle memory, I’m calling it.

It's worth mentioning (again) just how good Audi’s customisable dashboard display is. With sharp, clear graphics and the ability for the driver to prioritise the information on display at the time, the S3’s display is still about the best in the business.

Overall, ergonomics have always been a long-suit of this brand and there’s been a clear intention to follow that tradition this time around.

The Q50 Red Sport looks cranky from front on, which I like in a car. Yes, the grille is simplistic and gaping, the nose is a bit bulbous, and sure, side on the car looks like a Lexus IS 350, but those rear haunches and the aggro body kit with its front splitter and boot lid spoiler make for an impressive looking four-door sedan.

The update brought restyled front and rear bumpers, those red brake calipers and the dark chrome 20-inch rims and new LED tail-lights.

Inside, the cabin is an asymmetrical paradise (or hell, if you're a bit OCD like me) full of sweeping lines, angles, as well as different textures and materials.

The red stitched quilted leather seats are an addition that came with the update, so is the new steering wheel and the ambient lighting.

The 'Sunstone Red' colour of our test car is also a new hue which looks a bit like Mazda's Soul Red. If red is not you, there are other colours – hope you like blue or white or black or grey because there's 'Iridium Blue', 'Midnight Black', 'Liquid Platinum', 'Graphite Shadow', 'Black Obsidian', 'Majestic White' and 'Pure White'.

The Q50 has similar dimensions to the IS 350: both are 1430mm tall, the Infiniti is 10mm wider at 1820mm,  120mm longer at 4800mm, and has a wheelbase that's 50mm longer at 2850mm.

While SUV owners are often quick to tell you that they bought their car for its interior space, the truth is sometimes different. And without the huge wheel-wells and suspension towers of a high-riding SUV, the conventional hatch or sedan often has an advantage.

Certainly, there’s no lack of room in the S3 and the hatchback version has a wide hatch opening to make loading easier. The sedan, however, is a full 150mm longer than the hatch and that extra is all behind the rear seat.

So the boot is actually very useable with a capacity of 325 litres. Audi claims the same 325 litres for the Sportback, but that figure jumps to 1145 litres with the rear seat folded flat.

The rear seat in either variant is handily split 40/20/40 and there are storage nets on the back of each front seat, luggage nets in the cargo area and 12-volt outlets in both the centre-rear and luggage compartment. Even floor mats are standard.

The Q50 Red Sport is a five-seat four-door sedan and is vastly more practical than its two-door Q60 Red Sport sister, in that I can actually sit in the back seat. The Q60's coupe styling looks amazing, but the sloping roofline means headroom is so severely limited that it reduces the rear seats to a place to throw your jacket.

True, I'm tall at 191cm, but in the Q50 Red Sport I can sit behind my driving position with legroom to spare and more than enough headroom.

Boot space is good at 500 litres, which is 20 litres more than the luggage capacity of the IS 350.

Storage throughout the cabin is good with two cup holders in the rear centre fold-down armrest, two more up front and bottle holders in all doors. A large centre console storage bin and another big storage area in front of the shifter are great for keeping junk under control and your valuables covered.

Maybe sit down for this next bit. The Q50 Red Sport lists for $79,900. Are you okay? Do you want a moment? Remember, though that only seems like a lot because it's not a Benz or a BMW. Truth is the value is pretty good – better than a German car of the equivalent size and grunt.

Look at the standard features list: 8.0-inch and 7.0-inch stacked touchscreens, the 16-speaker Bose 'Performance Series' stereo system, digital radio, road noise cancellation, sat nav, 360-degree camera, leather seats, power adjustable from sports seats, dual-zone climate control, proximity key, sunroof, auto wipers and adaptive LED headlights.

The 2017 update brought new standard features to the Red Sport including, red stitching on the seats and dash, quilted leather seats, new 19-inch alloy wheels and red brake calipers.

Don't forget that the bang-for-buck factor is strong with the Red Sport, too. In that nose is a twin-turbo V6 that makes almost as much grunt as the BMW M3 for about $100K less. Even the 340i, which Infiniti says is a Red Sport rival, is $10K more. Truth is though, the Lexus IS 350 is the real rival to the Q50 Red Sport.

Here’s where a lot of the extra currency demanded for the S3 goes. Forget the 1.5-litre engine in the base-model A3, and instead move to the two-litre four-cylinder as seen in the A4 40 TFSI. Then, add extra turbo-boost (up to 1.8 bar thanks to an efficient intercooler) different variable valve timing protocols, and a direct fuel-injection system with a specific calibration and the potential to create injector pressures of up to 350 bar, and you have the S3’s powerplant.

Maximum power is 228kW at anywhere from 5450 to 6500rpm, and maximum torque of 400Nm produced in a broad range between 2000 and 5450rpm.

Transmission is a seven-speed dual-clutch unit driving through all four wheels as per Audi’s Quattro mantra, although it’s important to note this version of Quattro is the simpler, arguably less pure, on-demand system where the car behaves as a front-drive platform until the all-wheel-drive system is required to step in.

That said, with 228kW under its wheels, that’s a fair bit of the time. And compared with previous systems, this one takes more notice of driver inputs and wheel-speed to be less reactive and more active.

Inside the Q50 Red Sport's nose is a 3.0-litre twin-turbo V6 petrol engine and it is a beautiful thing. To me this car is piece of technologically sophisticated jewellery that cradles a precious gem that pumps out 298kW/475Nm.

But I have my concerns... you can read about those in the driving section.

Shifting gears is a seven-speed automatic which delivers drive to the rear wheels.

Audi quotes an official combined cycle fuel consumption figure of 7.4L/100km for the A3 Sportback and 7.3 litres for the sedan.

That difference is a bit of a mystery given the sedan is heavier (by just five kilograms) until you consider that the combined figure includes freeway running, at which point the sedan’s extra 150mm of length and different rear diffuser may be the aerodynamic deal-breaker.

The Sportback emits 170 grams of CO2 per kilometre (166 for the sedan) and with the 55-litre tank fitted, both variants should have a range of around 750km between fill-ups.

Infiniti says the V6 petrol engine in the Q50 Red Sport should use 9.3L/100km if you're using it on a mix of highways, urban streets and country roads. We only had the Q60 Red Sport for 48 hours and after a couple of days of Sydney city commutes and a trip to the Royal National Park our trip computer was reporting 11.1L/100km.

Some cars take a few minutes at the wheel before they start to get chatty. Not so the S3. From the moment you grab the lovely leather tiller, haul it into gear and give the perky little turbo-motor a squeeze on the throttle, the Audi is making all the right noises and giving clear, precise feedback on its every move.

Sometimes, cars with lots of tyre, lots of all-wheel drive grip and the sort of sharp steering fitted here, can start to feed back so many responses that it becomes difficult to know which one to respond to.

Not the S3, which seems tuned to a keener driver’s priorities (as it should be, of course). As a result, the steering feedback is distinct from what the rest of the front end is doing and everything else going on is clear, quantifiable and designed to improve the experience.

That even extends to the soundtrack which, Audi told us does not use any electronics to improve it beyond amplifying the engine-bay harmonics which use the windscreen and scuttle as their 'speaker.'

Combined with the active exhaust system, this car honestly sounds like a five-cylinder engine (I opened the bonnet to count the spark plugs to make sure it wasn’t. It isn’t.)

If you’ve ever driven a five-cylinder Audi or a V10-powered R8 (two in-line fives, really) the tune will be a familiar one. Lovely, and – again - such amazing attention to detail.

The 2.0-litre engine runs fairly high boost levels, but that doesn’t seem to have affected the way it storms off the mark. Neither does the dual-clutch transmission contribute any delay, provided you haven’t managed to stand on the brake and throttle at the same time (as many left-foot brakers might).

At that point, the driveline goes into sulk mode and will force you to wait a heartbeat or two before full power is restored. This can be an issue when trying to dart across a busy intersection or merge into a traffic flow.

It’s not a new thing to Audis, but remains an annoyance to those of us who equate having two pedals with having two feet.

The driver-selectable drive modes fitted to the S3 are interesting inasmuch as they actually make a meaningful difference to the way the car operates. They alter the transmission shift points, the throttle sensitivity, steering weight and damper settings.

'Comfort' mode will be the default for most owners, and while 'Dynamic' does sharpen up the dampers ever-so-slightly beyond an acceptable day-to-day level of firmness, it also adds weight to the steering feedback.

Frankly, I don’t think it needs it and simply adding resistance feels like a token gesture. And since the steering has a (non-negotiable) variable rate in the first place, bigger inputs equal a bigger proportionate change of direction anyway.

The damping control is now the more sophisticated magnetic-hydraulic type where hydraulic pressure varies the valving rather than the simpler, previous system of energising an electro-magnet to alter the viscosity of the damping fluid.

This more finite control system has allowed more 'bandwidth' as Audi puts it, between Comfort and Dynamic damper settings.

While the auto mode is almost prescient, it’s not actually pre-emptive but rather takes into account suspension deflection, wheel-speed and driver inputs to come up with a combination of settings to make the most of the situation.

And if you really want to fiddle, you can choose 'Individual' and create an overall setting that combines bits of Comfort and Dynamic with a smattering of 'Efficiency' thrown in.

Toggle down to Dynamic and throw the S3 at some bends and it soon emerges as a pretty gripped-up piece of equipment. The front-drive bias is not really noticeable, but then neither is the transition where the computer begins to engage the rear multi-plate clutch to turn the rear axle into an active participant.

There’s certainly no lack of grip at any stage of a typical corner, and even the odd unexpected damp patch poses no awkward questions. Perhaps the biggest grumble would be the tyre roar at highway speeds, but that’s often the price of performance rubber.

Perhaps the biggest complaint we had about the previous Q50 Red Sport, which launched in 2016, was that it felt as though the chassis wasn't up to the amount of grunt running through it, and those rear wheels struggled to transfer the oomph to the road without losing traction.

We experienced the same issue again in this new car. I was breaking traction, not just in 'Sport+' and 'Sport' modes, but in 'Standard' and 'Eco', too. That was happening without pushing it hard and with all electronic traction and stability aids on.

If I was 18 I'd declare to the world I'd found my dream car - something that always wants to 'light 'em up' given half a chance. But like that one mate who always gets into trouble on a night out it's only funny when you're young.

A truly great performance car is planted, balanced and able to deliver the grunt to the road effectively. The Nissan R35 GT-R is the perfect example – a brilliant piece of machinery, a weapon of a performance car and with a chassis matched perfectly to its engine.

And that could be the issue with Q50 Red Sport - that engine feels overpowered for the chassis, and wheel and tyre package.

We also felt the previous Q50 Red Sport's ride, with its constantly adapting 'Dynamic Digital Suspension', was overly busy. Infiniti says it has developed the suspension system further and it does feel as though the ride is more comfortable and composed.

Steering was another area that we weren't overly impressed with when we drove the previous car. Infiniti's 'Direct Adaptive Steering' (DAS) system is super sophisticated and was the first in the world not to have any mechanical connection between the steering wheel and the wheels – it's all electronic.

The new Q50 Red Sport uses the upgraded 'DAS 2' and while it feels better than before, it's only in Sport+ mode that it seems most natural and accurate.

The Q50 was given the maximum five-star ANCAP rating in 2014 and the amount of advanced safety equipment which comes standard on the Red Sport is impressive. There's AEB, that works forwards and when you're reversing, forward collision and blind spot warning, lane keeping assistance and moving object detection.

There are two ISOFIX points and two top tether anchor points in the back row, for child seats.

The Q60 Red Sport doesn't come with a spare tyre because the 245/40 R19 tyres are run flats, which means even after a puncture you should be able to keep driving for about 80km. Not ideal in Australia where distances are seriously vast.

Audi has finally had to cave in and extend its warranty to match its competition. So, any new Audi sold after January 1 this year moves up to a five-year/unlimited kilometre factory warranty; a big step up from the previous three years of cover.

S3 buyers can also opt for Audi’s five-year service plan which costs $2580. Servicing is set down for every 15,000km or 12 months.

The Q50 Red Sport is covered by Infiniti's four year/unlimited kilometre warranty with servicing recommended every 12 months or 15,000km.

Infiniti has a scheduled servicing program which will cost $1283 (in total) for three years.