Audi RS3 2015 News

Even below six figures, there are styling and performance high-flyers.

The Audi RS3 was one of the 11 finalists chosen to compete for the 2015 CarsGuide Car of the Year crown.

Kia's family seven-seater stands out, setting a precedent in a singular field.

There are few bad cars on the road these days, which made it tougher than ever to pick a field for CarsGuide's 2015 Car of the Year award.The process started in December last year. A week after we awarded the Mercedes-Benz C-Class our gong, we were on the launch of the new Subaru Outback.It was the first of more than 300 new cars we pored over before arriving at 11 finalists. In between there were head-to-head battles and three-way shootouts between the most impressive of the newcomers and the existing benchmarks.Comparison tests are vital because it's easy to come away from a new car launch impressed by Brand X's latest and greatest. But it takes back-to-back testing — on the same stretch of bitumen, same potholes, same freeway — to sort the winners from the also-rans.This year's COTY judging threw up a few surprises. The first was the CX-3. It felt good to drive on the launch and when we tested it against the best in its class, it also came out on top. Up against our other finalists, it felt underdone and overpriced. The conclusion? The mini-SUV may be the new "must-have" automotive accessory but none of the new breed — there have been six all-new arrivals this year — is as practical or fun to drive as a humble hatchback.Next was the BMW X1, which fellow judge Joshua Dowling called "the most un-BMW BMW I've driven". An SUV from a German luxury brand for a tad over $60,000 sounds like a good deal, especially when a Toyota Kluger can cost similar money.While much improved over its predecessors in some areas, the X1 was underdone in others. The seats, usually a BMW highlight, were flat and unsupportive, while the front suspension crashed rudely over bumps.To a much lesser extent the same criticism could be levelled at our runner-up, the Mercedes-Benz GLC. It is still an impressive vehicle but not as well sorted as the C-Class. In their quest for new buyers, are the luxury brands losing their luxuriousness?The surprises weren't all bad, though. The fact that the Ford Ranger made our final five is testimony to the huge advances made in one-tonne utes in recent years. The Ranger didn't feel a million miles off the rest of the field on our road loop.A decade ago, jumping out of a Volvo into a Ford ute would have been like trading the Merc for a Massey Ferguson. Not now.Which brings us to the last — and most pleasant — COTY surprise: the winner, Kia's Sorento. Ever since the Koreans pinched Audi's head designer, Kia cabins have looked a cut above their competitors. Local suspension tuning has made them ride better, while their diesel engines are on par with some of the best for refinement. Add an industry leading seven-year warranty and there's plenty to like.If you're put off by the badge on the nose, it's your loss. 

This year's line-up is a dream team of pace machines, heavy-hitters and all-rounders.

The A45 AMG’s hot hatch crown is under threat with the 270kW new Audi RS3.Audi has taken the wraps off the new RS3 hyper hatch ahead of its public debut at the Geneva motor show in March. Powered by a retuned version of the RS Q3’s 2.5-litre five-cylinder turbo motor (also used in the last-gen RS3 which wasn’t sold in Australia), the new car packs as much power as an SS Commodore and is quicker than any HSV from 0-100km/h.Headline figures are 270kW, 465Nm and 0-100km/h in 4.3 seconds thanks to the RS3’s clever Quattro all-wheel drive system and 7-speed S-Tronic dual-clutch gearbox with launch control.The top speed is ordinarily limited to the usual 250km/h, but can be raised to 280km/h if the right option boxes are ticked – those are supercar-bating numbers.For comparison the RS3’s main rival, the Mercedes A45 AMG, packs 265kW/450Nm and officially takes an extra three tenths to reach 100km/h at 4.6 seconds.And where the A45 AMG can only send up to 50 per cent of its engine’s torque to the rear wheels, the Quattro RS3 can send everything its got rearwards -  depending on the drive mode selected and grip available. Audi even claim the RS3 is capable of drifting, using the car’s ‘Dynamic’ drive setting and the stability control set to ‘Sport’ (not fully off).Compared to a standard A3 Sportback, the new RS3 rides 25mm lower and features a 24mm wider front track, while the multi-link rear suspension has been modified to house the gearbox’s clutch which is located rear-wards for better weight distribution.A passive suspension setup is the standard offering in Europe with adaptive dampers available as an option. Australian specs will be confirmed closer to the car’s 2015 launch.Stopping power is supplied by Audi’s unique ‘wave’ shaped discs, measuring 370mm up front and 310mm at the rear, while a carbon ceramic brake package will be available as an option.Visually, the RS3 can be differentiated from the 210kW S3 by its more aggressive front bumper with the typical Quattro fangs fitted to the lower cooling ducts. At the rear there’s a new roof spoiler and muscular rear diffuser which incorporates the trademark twin oval exhaust tips.The standard wheels are 19-inch items wrapped in 235/35 rubber, though larger and wider alloys will be available as options. Indoors, there’s a carbon fibre dash and door accents, a sports steering wheel with Alcantara inserts and sports seats with unique RS3 branding.Lightweight carbon-backed bucket seats which shave 7kg off the car’s 1520kg curb weight will also be available as an option.The new RS3 will make its public debut at the Geneva motor show in March, and is tipped to go on sale in Australia for the first time towards the end of 2015.

This is Audi's hot RS3 Sportback - its first small-car RS and designed to hit the track alongside Ford's Focus ST and RS.As Ford's ST flicks its five-cylinder Volvo engine in favour of a 2-litre four, Audi reverses the trend by slipping in the TTRS's 2.5-litre direct-injection turbo for 250kW and 450Nm of torque. It meets the five-cylinder RS in power stakes - 225kW/440Nm - but the Ford has only three doors and an Australian delivery ration of only 315 cars. The Audi gets five doors, so there's no excusing the family.The RS3 this week was launched in Britain - yes, that means a right-hand drive - for pound 39,900 that compares with the Focus RS at pound 28,000. In Australia, the RS sells for $59,990 indicating the Audi RS3 would logically land at about $86,000.But don't be fooled by logic. The less-feral S3 Sportback is $70,000 but the RS3 hottie would in fact climb to around $100,000 and closer to the TTRS coupe's $137,000 price tag by the time it gets here. Audi Australia isn't giving anything away. In fact, it says it has no information ...Britain gets the right-hand drive RS3 in April and it could be mid year by the time the hot hatch gets here. Audi Australia's philosophy of filling every market niche with a product indicates the RS3 Sportback is a very likely showroom addition. It will be worth the wait - especially for those who missed out on the limited edition Focus RS.The RS3 gets the TTRS engine, seven-speed DSG box and quattro all-wheel drive system. Audi claims a 100km/h sprint of 4.6 seconds and a top speed limited at 250km/h, while drinking an average of 9.0 litres/100km and a CO2 emission of 212g/km. By comparison, the front-wheel drive Focus RS accelerates to 100km/h in 5.9 seconds, tops at 250km/h and averages 10.4 l/100km and 246g/km CO2.Features include 19-inch alloy wheels, flared lightweight carbon fibre-reinforced plastic wings, widened track and a sport button that controls throttle response and exhaust note. Press this button and a flap in the exhaust system opens to intensify the sound.Maximum torque is from around 1600rpm and remains constant up to 5300rpm. The turbocharger generates up to 1.2 bar of boost pressure, and downstream of it is an intercooler which achieves an efficiency rate of more than 80 per cent, Audi says."The combination of the latest forced induction technology with FSI direct injection facilitates a high compression ratio (10.0:1) along with a correspondingly high efficiency ratio."Audi says the RS3 Sportback's fuel efficiency is attributed to an on-demand oil pump and a regenerative system that recovers energy as the car decelerates. It also uses strong but light vermicular graphite for the engine block and carbon fibre-reinforced plastic (CFRP) for the front wings. These help to keep the kerb weight to 1575kg (the Focus RS is 1492kg).The A3 Sportback chassis gets revised suspension and a widened 1564mm track (up from 1534mm) with wider front tyres at the front. It has 235/35R19 tyres at the front and 225/35R19 at the rear to aid road grip.Steering is electro-mechanical rack and pinion with a fast rack. The brakes are four-wheel ventilated discs with four-piston calipers and electronic aids include stability control with a "sport" function that activates later intervention of the braking and acceleration retardation functions "to enable greater adjustability without compromising safety." Audi says it can be switched off entirely for circuit use.Standard equipment in UK-spec includes the Sport button, acoustic rear parking sensors, electronic climate control, DVD-based satellite navigation with MMI (Multi Media Interface) functionality and xenon-plus headlights with LED daytime running lights.

Audi is working hard on a compact A3 hatch which will have all the go of the TT-RS, racing it through development testing at the Nurburgring in front of lurking cameras from Carparazzi.  The newcomer will be called the RS3 and should beat the upcoming RS1 - based on the baby A1 starter car - into showrooms.The newest member of Audi's go-fast RS family will, says Carparazzi, use the same 2.5-litre inline five-cylinder turbo engine already fitted to the TT-RS. Power should be around 253 kiloWatts with 450 Newton-metres of torque.The bodywork of the RS3 is not much different to the regular A3 hatch at the moment, although the mis-matched alloy wheels - with painted alloy at only one end - are a giveaway to its development work. It is likely to grow some aggressive body bits before production begins, probably later this year.Audi's technical development chief, Michael Dick, confirms there will be a new RS3 and Carparazzi currently pegs the car's performance at 4.6 seconds for a 0-100km/h sprint with a top speed of 288km/h.