The seemingly never-ending battle for hot hatch king rages on with Audi being the latest to take the lead. Minor aesthetic changes aside, the main news here is Audi have bumped power up 33bhp taking the RS3’s total to a whopping 395bhp.
The power is sent through a seven speed dual clutch transmission – no manual option I’m afraid folks – to Audi’s Quattro AWD system. Audi claims the 0-60 dash will be done and dusted in 4.1 seconds but, considering the previous generation cracked the 4 second mark when tested, we suspect the new version will also complete the sprint somewhere in the high 3s. De-restricted the RS3 will run out of puff at 174mph.
To cope with all that speed Audi have fitted 370mm discs at the front with eight piston callipers and 310mm at the rear. Should you still be worried about the business of stopping, carbon ceramics are an optional extra.
