The 2022 Audi RS3 can spring from a stop to 62 mph in just 3.8 seconds, looks vicious even when standing still, and spells out its own name in its LED headlights when you approach the car.
Audi’s high-performance compact car will reach U.S. dealerships “in early 2022.” The company hasn’t named a price yet. The last edition of the car (the 2020 – Audi didn’t release a 2021 version) carried an asking price of $56,200, plus $995 shipping and handling.
We’ve known mechanical details on the little beast for a while. To briefly recap, it’s moved along by a 401-horsepower, turbocharged 5-cylinder engine. The only transmission offered shifts for you – a 7-speed, dual-clutch gearbox. It’s all-wheel drive, of course. This is Audi we’re talking about.
But the car’s personality comes from its astonishing trick differential. It uses a new design involving a multiple-disc clutch on each drive shaft, allowing it to shift up to 100 percent of the vehicle’s torque to either rear wheel. Adjustable settings let the driver use this to sharpen grip in the corners or loosen it. There’s even a drift mode.
Audi revealed all of that information last month. It’s the car’s appearance that is new.
Based on A3 Redesign
The new A3 features muscular fenders, making it arguably Audi’s best-looking car. The RS3 gets bigger bulges. It adds a much larger grille with a slit above it. Larger air intakes frame the sides. A pair of huge tailpipes, a subtle lip spoiler, and a rear diffuser set it aside from the back.
Buyers will have to opt for the matrix LED headlights to get the spelling trick, but it’s a cute one. As the driver approaches with the key, the headlights will spell out “R-S-3” before reverting to a checkered flag pattern.
Inside, well-bolstered sport seats and a flat-bottom wheel announce the car’s sporting intentions. Unless that is, you check the box for the optional round steering wheel with capacitive touch buttons. Or the Porsche-style steering wheel with a bright 12 o’clock marking. The driver’s instrument display – an unusually large one for a small car – can display g-forces, lap times, and quarter-mile times.
The RS3 should give BMW’s M2 a hard fight for the title of best teensy sport sedan. But Americans are limited to the sedan model. A hatchback sold in Europe, Audi tells us, will not make its way to the States.
