Audi RS3 review
The Audi RS3 isn’t the sharpest hot hatch, but no rival can match its all-weather pace and high quality interior.
RRP £61,975
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Available now from: £58,925
RRP from: £61,975
Available now
From £58,925
Leasing deals
From £648
About our price indicator
What Car? indicative Personal lease example (subject to status)
Audi RS3
Expected annual mileage 5000 Term months 60 Deposit months 12 Monthly payment £647.92 Initial payment £7,775.04
Step-by-step
Leasing works a bit like a long-term rental. You drive it, but you don’t own it.
- Choose your car, pick your terms and apply for lease credit online
- Pay monthly rental payments for your chosen term length
- Drive it, enjoy it, then give it back at the end
What you get
When you lease with Autotrader you get all of this:
- Full manufacturer’s warranty
- Road tax and roadside assistance included
- Free returns within 30 days*
Excess mileage charges and return conditions apply. Subject to availability and credit status. 18+ T&Cs apply.
In partnership with
£8,020 total upfront (£7,775 initial rental plus £245 processing fee) | 5000 miles | 60 months
- Lower total monthly cost than PCP/HP
- No balloon payments
- Road tax included
Power
395 bhp
0-62 mph
3.8 s
Efficiency
30.4 mpg
Figures for 2.5 TFSI Carbon Black Sportback S Tronic quattro Euro 6 (s/s) 5dr
Hatchback
Hot hatch
Performance car
Jump to:
Introduction
Performance & drive
Interior
Passenger & boot space
Buying & owning
Lawrence Cheung
Updated: 11 July 2025
How we test cars
Are you struggling to get excited about your next new car because they all seem a bit, well, samey? Then how about something with a USP – like the Audi RS3 we're reviewing here? And what is its USP, you might ask? Its rather wonderful 2.5-litre turbocharged five-cylinder engine.
The RS3 is currently the only car on the market boasting five cylinders. And why’s that something to get excited about? Well, noise. Glorious noise to be precise. The RS3’s engine sounds unique and distinct from all the other hot hatches out there. When you rev it out you just can’t help but smile.
New car deals
Best price from £58,925
What is What Car? best price?
The What Car? best price shows you the cheapest way to buy your new car, whether it's by choosing an in-stock car through our partner Autotrader or placing a factory order.
Available now from: £58,925
RRP from: £61,975
Available now
From £58,925
Leasing deals
From £648
About our price indicator
What Car? indicative Personal lease example (subject to status)
Audi RS3
Expected annual mileage 5000 Term months 60 Deposit months 12 Monthly payment £647.92 Initial payment £7,775.04
Step-by-step
Leasing works a bit like a long-term rental. You drive it, but you don’t own it.
- Choose your car, pick your terms and apply for lease credit online
- Pay monthly rental payments for your chosen term length
- Drive it, enjoy it, then give it back at the end
What you get
When you lease with Autotrader you get all of this:
- Full manufacturer’s warranty
- Road tax and roadside assistance included
- Free returns within 30 days*
Excess mileage charges and return conditions apply. Subject to availability and credit status. 18+ T&Cs apply.
In partnership with
£8,020 total upfront (£7,775 initial rental plus £245 processing fee) | 5000 miles | 60 months
- Lower total monthly cost than PCP/HP
- No balloon payments
- Road tax included
It’ll make you smile in other ways too. For one thing, it produces 394bhp – and that’s a heck of a lot. Flared arches make the RS3 look beefier than your Sunday joint, and quattro four-wheel drive helps make the mighty performance all the more deployable, even in tricky conditions.
Audi RS3 video review
Last year Audi gave the RS3 a mid-life refresh, with styling tweaks inside and out, plus – more importantly – updated torque-splitter settings to make this latest version even better to drive.
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So is the new Audi RS3 better than its chief rival – the similarly maniacal Mercedes AMG A45? Read on to find out as we put it to the test against the best hot hatch rivals...
What’s new
- September 2024: Facelifted RS3 Sportback and saloon on sale with revised design, retuned
suspension, new front seats, updated dashboard
- November 2021: First UK deliveries of RS3 take place
- August 2021: RS3 on sale with standard quattro four-wheel drive, seven-speed dual-clutch
automatic transmission. Sportback (hatch) or saloon bodystyles, RS3, Carbon Black, Launch Edition,
Vorsprung trims
- June 2021: RS3 revealed with 394bhp 2.5 TFSI five-cylinder engine. Capable of 0-62mph in 3.8sec, 180mph top speed
Verdict
The Audi RS3 is a proper performance car in a hatchback or saloon body. It offers staggering performance and grip, and the five-cylinder engine sounds wonderful. It's not cheap and some rivals have more engaging steering feel, but otherwise the RS3 is tough to fault.
Best buy
2.5 TFSI Carbon Black Sportback 5dr Petrol S Tronic quattro Euro 6 (s/s) (400 ps) review
RRP £66,290
Pros
- Bonkers acceleration
- Sounds fantastic
- Remarkably comfortable on adaptive suspension
Cons
- Expensive to buy
- The Mercedes AMG A45 has sharper steering
- Adaptive suspension is only available on the top trim
Best buy
2.5 TFSI Carbon Black Sportback 5dr Petrol S Tronic quattro Euro 6 (s/s) (400 ps) review
RRP £66,290
Trims available
Carbon Black
We reckon Carbon Black trim makes the most sense. It adds a sports exhaust but also more aggressive looks and more advanced LED headlights over the entry-level car. You’ll still want to stump up for adaptive suspension and potentially the Comfort and Sound Pack, but this is cheaper than going for range-topping Vorsprung trim.
New car deals
Available now
Leasing deals
Performance & drive
What it's like to drive, and how quiet it is
Strengths
- Five-cylinder engine sounds uniquely glorious
- Handling can be set to playful or precise
- Supple ride with adaptive suspension fitted
Weaknesses
- Mercedes-AMG A45 has more engaging steering
- Gearbox can be slow to respond in manual mode
- Adaptive suspension only fitted to the top trim
The Audi RS3's 2.5-litre, five-cylinder turbocharged engine is the same basic engine as its predecessors used, and that's great news because it's a belter.
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Its peak power output of 394bhp isn’t quite a match for the Mercedes AMG A45 but that doesn’t matter. Firstly, that’s still a huge amount of power for a car of this size, which is why the RS3 delivers phenomenal pace. And secondly, the RS3 is as quick as the A45 in a straight line.
Indeed, the RS3 is faster than a BMW M2 and not far behind a BMW M3. In our tests, it managed to hit 60mph in a staggering 3.8 seconds.
The beauty of the RS3 is that any driver can match that time thanks to its standard launch-control system. It allows you to make the perfect getaway every time, and the seven-speed dual-clutch automatic gearbox pings up the gears quickly – and far more consistently than anyone could hope to with a clutch and manual gearbox.
The gearbox isn’t perfect, mind. While it changes smoothly and speedily in auto mode, if you use the paddles behind the steering wheel to change down the gears manually – say, when you’re approaching a corner hard on the brakes – it doesn’t always give you the gear you want, when you want it. That tardiness on downshifts can be frustrating.
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What isn’t frustrating is the standard-fit switchable RS Sports Exhaust. When it’s set to Quiet it sounds fabulous, but in its louder setting it’s, well… wowsers. The tone and aural drama is right up there with the best in modern motoring. The Mercedes AMG A45 sounds great too, but its four-cylinder soundtrack isn’t as evocative, and neither is the sound of a Volkswagen Golf R.
The RS Torque Splitter technology means there are two electronic clutches on the rear axle. They allow drive to be sent to each rear wheel completely independently depending on what the car’s electronic "brain" thinks is best. For example, more power can be sent to the outside rear wheel when you’re entering a corner hard, helping the RS3 turn in to bends quicker and keeping the front wheels gripping for longer.
That allows you to carry more cornering speed in RS Performance mode, which is the most purposeful driving mode, but there’s also a mode called RS Torque Rear. Think of that as the fun mode – with a capital F. It makes the RS3 more playful so you can do rear-wheel drifts. It makes the new RS3 so much more fun than the previous versions.
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When you drive the RS3 at a moderate pace in the most relaxed setting (Comfort mode), the steering is light and naturally weighted. Dynamic mode adds more steering heft if you want it.
The problem with the RS3’s steering is you don’t get a huge amount of feedback streaming to your fingertips. It doesn’t rob you of confidence as such – the steering is always very accurate – but it makes the RS3 slightly less rewarding to drive than a Mercedes AMG A45 along a twisting road.
The braking is great though. The pedal feels a little soft but the brakes really bite hard when you need them to and they’re very progressive.
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The entry-level RS3 and the Carbon Black trim version have passive dampers and a ride that’s firm but not harsh. The top-spec Carbon Vorsprung trim has adaptive suspension as standard, allowing you to make the car softer or firmer at the touch of a button.
The ride is remarkably supple in Comfort mode – in fact, the RS3 is barely any less forgiving over potholes than regular versions of the Audi A3. There’s a slight shimmy on less-than-perfect motorway surfaces but it’s not overly annoying. There’s very little wind or road noise at 70mph.
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"The Audi RS3’s grip and poise make it both enjoyable and forgiving to drive quickly on road or track. I find its ability to resist understeer (when the front wheels want to push wide) remarkable.” – Lawrence Cheung, New Cars Editor
Interior
The interior layout, fit and finish
Strengths
- Great driving position
- Very supportive optional RS Bucket seats
- Infotainment system is generally easy to use
Weaknesses
- Interior quality isn’t that great for the price
- RS Bucket seats are expensive
The Audi RS3 has a great overall driving position. There’s lots of manual adjustment for the steering wheel and seat, plus four-way electric lumbar adjustment (Carbon Vorsprung trim adds full electric seat adjustment).
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The standard front sports seats are comfortable on long trips but also offer decent side support in corners. If you fancy the kind of full-on bucket seats you get in some hot hatches and performance cars, they’re available on the RS3 and are really enveloping. The only issue is that they’re pricey.
You get some RS-specific touches to differentiate the RS3 from a regular Audi A3. For example, there’s a new RS steering wheel as part of the mid-life update, which has a flat top and bottom section and two red buttons to access the driving modes quickly.
However, if you’re the proud owner of a 2015-2022 RS3, you might be a little underwhelmed by the quality of this generation RS3's interior. It’s pleasant enough and broadly on a par with the Mercedes AMG A45 but doesn't have the high-grade materials you'd find in older Audi car models.
You get faux-suede trim on the dashboard, RS embossed in the part-nappa-leather seats and contrasting seat stitching. Another RS touch is the bespoke graphics for the 12.3in digital driver's display, including a G meter, lap timer and flashing lights to indicate that it's time to change gear.
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The infotainment system is controlled using a 10.1in touchscreen and is quite easy to operate. The screen itself is within easier reach than the Mercedes AMG A45’s, while the menu layout is more intuitive to use than the one in a VW Golf R.
However, what gives the RS3 the edge on usability is the row of physical switches for the climate controls, which makes them much easier to adjust than the touch-sensitive pads in the Golf and the touchscreen-based controls in the A45 and BMW M2.
A 15-speaker Sonos stereo is standard, although the sound isn’t particularly punchy or immersive.
"The interior of the latest RS3 has just enough touches to make it feel bespoke compared with a regular Audi A3. It’s just a shame the quality doesn’t quite match the car’s high price." – Lawrence Cheung, New Cars Editor
Passenger & boot space
How it copes with people and clutter
Strengths
- Plenty of space up front
- Sportback version has decent rear-seat space
- Flexible 40/20/40 split-folding seats
Weaknesses
- Smaller boot than the regular A3
- Rear head room is tighter in the RS3 Saloon
The Audi RS3 is based on the A3 so if you want lots of detail about how much space there is for passengers in each body style, visit our detailed reviews of the Audi A3 Sportback (hatchback) or Audi A3 Saloon.
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In short, you get rear doors on all RS3s, making it easier for people to get into the back than a BMW M2. Once inside, those passengers will find a similar amount of room as in a Mercedes AMG A45.
If you're planning to put tall people in the back, it's worth noting that the RS3 Sportback has slightly more head room than the Saloon. It’s also worth bearing in mind that the optional bucket seats have a thicker backrest than the standard seats, reducing rear leg room.
There is one big compromise over the regular Audi A3 though: boot space. The RS3's complex four-wheel-drive system raises the height of the boot floor and makes the load bay very shallow. We managed to fit just four carry-on suitcases below the parcel shelf, compared with five in an AMG A45.
Mind you, all RS3s come with 40/20/40 split folding rear seats as standard, so you can carry more clobber when you need to.
“I find the RS3 pretty practical for a hot hatch. There’s enough room for four tall adults in the Sportback, although rear head room in the Saloon is a wee bit tight.” – Lawrence Cheung, New Cars Editor
Buying & owning
Everyday costs, plus how reliable and safe it is
Strengths
- Generous standard equipment levels
- Relatively good fuel economy if you drive sensibly
Weaknesses
- Expensive list price
- Audi’s recent reliability record isn’t great
If you’re someone who thinks hot hatches should be about cheap thrills, the Audi RS3 isn’t for you. It starts at more than twice the price of an entry-level Audi A3 and you can spend a lot more than that if you go for range-topping Carbon Vorsprung trim or add a few options.
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Then again, the RS3’s main rival, the Mercedes AMG A45 is priced roughly in line with a mid-level Carbon Black RS3, while the BMW M2 costs about the same as a Carbon Vorsprung model.
Ways to buy
Cash from £58,925 Own the car outright. No monthly payments.
Lease from £648pm Drive a new car every few years. Lower upfront costs.
£7,775 initial payment , 60 month contract , 5000 miles p/a . Subject to status and conditions.
Available Now from £58,925 Choose a car from stock. Drive away today!
The entry-level trim is reasonably well-equipped, giving you RS-specific features including 19in alloy wheels and an RS sports exhaust, plus Nappa leather upholstery, heated front seats, three-zone climate control, a head-up display and adaptive cruise control.
Options include bucket front seats and the Technology Pack Pro, which adds extras such as a panoramic sunroof, matrix LED headlights, electrically operated front seats and a more advanced adaptive cruise control system.
Carbon Black trim includes the matrix LEDs and carbon exterior details, including a front and rear spoiler, side skirts, door mirror casings and rear bumper diffuser.
The top-spec Carbon Vorsprung trim is expensive but the one that we'd go for. You see, not only is it well kitted out, but it's also the only version with adaptive suspension, helping to increase ride comfort and make the RS3 really easy to live with.
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The RS3's fuel economy isn’t terrible for something this fast – you can expect a little more than 30mpg on a gentle motorway cruise. That said, don’t expect parsimonious running costs because new tyres won’t be cheap, and the RS3 is in the highest (37%) company car tax bracket.
Audi finished 24th out of 31 manufacturers in our 2024 What Car? Reliability Survey. Not a brilliant showing, then, although Mercedes only finished slightly higher up in 22nd spot. BMW had a much better showing in eighth place.
“The Audi RS3 does look very expensive as a hot hatch but it’s all relative. Its closest rival, the Mercedes AMG A45, is similarly priced, while performance cars like the BMW M3 are even more expensive.” – Lawrence Cheung, New Cars Editor
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Audi RS3 specifications
Best buy
2.5 TFSI Carbon Black Sportback 5dr Petrol S Tronic quattro Euro 6 (s/s) (400 ps) review
RRP £66,290
RRP price range
£61,975 - £92,855
MPG range across all versions
30.1 - 30.4
Available fuel types (which is best for you? )
Petrol
Available colours
Number of engines (see all)
1
Number of trims (see all)
4
Warranty
3 years / 60,000 miles
Company car tax at 20% (min/max)
£4,329 - £6,614
Company car tax at 40% (min/max)
£8,658 - £13,228
FAQs
How much does an Audi RS3 cost?
Quite a lot. In fact, it’ll cost you almost double the price of the standard Audi A3. It will, however, the entry-level RS3 will cost you a little less than the Mercedes AMG A45 and a fair bit less than the BMW M2.
Is the Audi RS3 a supercar?
Not exactly. We'd describe the RS3 is a hot hatch – but it has near supercar performance. It’s really quick, with a 0-62mph sprint time of 3.8 seconds and a top speed of 155mph.
Why is RS3 so fast?
The key to the RS3’s pace is a mixture of things, including its powerful five-cylinder turbocharged engine, four-wheel drive and torque-splitting differential.
Is the RS3 dual-clutch?
Yes, every RS3 comes with a lightning fast seven-speed dual-clutch automatic gearbox.
New car deals
Best price from £58,925
What is What Car? best price?
The What Car? best price shows you the cheapest way to buy your new car, whether it's by choosing an in-stock car through our partner Autotrader or placing a factory order.
Available now from: £58,925
RRP from: £61,975
Available now
From £58,925
Leasing deals
From £648
About our price indicator
What Car? indicative Personal lease example (subject to status)
Audi RS3
Expected annual mileage 5000 Term months 60 Deposit months 12 Monthly payment £647.92 Initial payment £7,775.04
Step-by-step
Leasing works a bit like a long-term rental. You drive it, but you don’t own it.
- Choose your car, pick your terms and apply for lease credit online
- Pay monthly rental payments for your chosen term length
- Drive it, enjoy it, then give it back at the end
What you get
When you lease with Autotrader you get all of this:
- Full manufacturer’s warranty
- Road tax and roadside assistance included
- Free returns within 30 days*
Excess mileage charges and return conditions apply. Subject to availability and credit status. 18+ T&Cs apply.
In partnership with
£8,020 total upfront (£7,775 initial rental plus £245 processing fee) | 5000 miles | 60 months
- Lower total monthly cost than PCP/HP
- No balloon payments
- Road tax included
Audi RS3s available to buy
In partnership with
Audi RS3
2.5 TFSI Sportback S Tronic quattro Euro 6 (s/s) 5dr
RRP £63,955
£61,955
Audi RS 3 Sportback
2.5 TFSI Carbon Black Sportback S Tronic quattro Euro 6 (s/s) 5dr
RRP £66,290
£63,990
Audi RS3
2.5 TFSI Carbon Black Sportback S Tronic quattro Euro 6 (s/s) 5dr
RRP £69,200
£66,700
Audi RS3
2.5 TFSI Carbon Black Sportback S Tronic quattro Euro 6 (s/s) 5dr
RRP £69,505
£66,955
Audi RS3
2.5 TFSI Carbon Vorsprung Sportback S Tronic quattro Euro 6 (s/s) 5dr
RRP £73,823
£68,045
Audi RS3
2.5 TFSI Carbon Vorsprung Sportback S Tronic quattro Euro 6 (s/s) 5dr
RRP £71,765
£68,490
Audi RS3
2.5 TFSI Carbon Vorsprung Sportback S Tronic quattro Euro 6 (s/s) 5dr
RRP £78,280
£75,500
Audi RS 3 Sportback
2.5 TFSI Carbon Vorsprung Sportback S Tronic quattro Euro 6 (s/s) 5dr
£76,580
See all available cars
About the writer
Name: Lawrence Cheung
Title: New cars editor
Follow Lawrence Cheung on
Lawrence Cheung has worked at What Car? as New Cars Editor since 2021. He oversees the first drives section of the site and magazine, commissioning and writing about the latest cars to hit the market. He also contributes to sister magazine Autocar.
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