S TO THE POWER OF THREE (some text hidden) SECTIONED_new_audis3_2017

By Jonathan Crouch

Introductionword count: 103

Audi's S3 has always championed subtlety, but over the years, some have seen this car's driving dynamics as being perhaps a touch too subtle. Those people might like this improved post-2016 version of the third generation 'Typ 8V' design, with offered more power and greater capability along with an even more appealing cabin. All without delivering the kind of showy exuberance of some of its rivals. As before with an S3, there's a choice of three or five-door hatch body styles, plus a Saloon or a Cabriolet too. Either way, you get a very complete performance package that's cool, understated and very Audi.

Modelsword count: 10

Models Covered: 5dr Sportback / 4dr Saloon (2.0 TFSI petrol)

Historyword count: 379

Once upon a time, a hot hatch didn't have to be a mature, sensible thing. That wasn't the point of buying one. You got a shopping rocket because it was fun - with just enough practicality to enable you to justify the purchase to your other half. With the Audi S3 though, it was different. Here was an aspirational premium GTi with a price tag to match. A hot hatch for people who ordinarily, would have grown out of hot hatches We first saw it way back in 1999 at a launch over-shadowed by an Audi TT sportscar that shared the S3's quattro 4WD system and got a slightly pokier version of its 2.0-litre turbocharged unit. That's a basic mechanical configuration the German brand has stuck to ever since - but of course power has spiralled since then. The early 210PS output figure was quickly upgraded to 225PS in the first generation version, then boosted again to 265PS for the MK2 model introduced in 2006. By 2013 though, it was clear that even that kind of power was going to be insufficient for admission into the premier league of hot hatches, so the 2.0-litre turbo engine was redeveloped from the ground up to make 300PS and plumbed into the lighter, stiffer MQB platform that had offered so much extra agility and efficiency to more mundane third generation A3 models. A lot's changed since 2013 in the superhatch segment though and by 2016, the arrival of cars like Ford's Focus RS and Honda's Civic Type R offered buyers more exciting ways to own a practical sporting car with around 300PS at this price point. So Audi did what it could to make hatch, Saloon and Cabriolet versions of this S3 a little more engaging to drive, primarily with some careful changes to its quattro 4WD system. There were also yet more developments for the 2.0 TFSI powerplant, with power this time boosted to 310PS. And the old optional 6-speed S tronic auto paddleshift gearbox was replaced with a freshly developed 7-speed unit that got the car away from rest a fraction more quickly. Subtle but significant changes then, in a car you'd rate as subtle but significant in its segment. It sold until a new generation model arrived in 2020.

What You Getword count: 386

A word we keep coming back to when discussing this S3 is 'subtle'. Some might feel this car is too pared back and that for the kind of money being asked, you should be rewarded with a bit more drama. That's one view. Another might well be that if you've got to the point in life when you can afford to spend a substantial amount on a very fast performance hatch, saloon or cabriolet model, you might well be done with worrying who notices you and what they think of your purchasing decisions. And it's with this kind of customer in mind that the S3 wears its ornamentation lightly, whichever of the four available body styles you choose. We should cover the visual changes made to this revised third generation model. They start at the front, where the familiar Singleframe grille is in this post-2016 facelifted form wider and more sharply contoured. The headlamps were subtly different too, flatter and more distinctive than before, with more modern full-LED lighting replacing the previous xenon units. Behind the wheel, you can let Audi weave the little spell it likes to lay on you before you've even turned the key of this S3. It's all in the details. There's black headlining with contrast stitching. An aluminium-look pedal set. And classy 'S' logos on the door sills, the steering wheel and the gearknob, all nicely setting off the soft-touch tactility and exquisite dashes of chrome. Nobody does this better than Ingolstadt. Once comfortable, you grip a lovely flat-bottomed, chunky S3-embossed leather-trimmed sports steering wheel and through it on a standard model, view grey-faced, white-needled instruments. Most S3s from this period though, were sold with the optional 'Audi Virtual Cockpit'. This is a real cabin talking point, the set-up replacing the entire instrument binnacle with a 12.3-inch colour TFT screen that's fully digital and customisable, with smart 3D graphics and highly detailed effects. And in the back? Well here, a six-footer can sit behind an equally lanky driver but it's a fairly snug fit and, as you'd expect from this class of car, three across the back here only really works if the people concerned are of school-going age. Finally, the boot: it's 365-litre in size in the three-door model or 380-litres if you go for the slightly lengthier Sportback variant.

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