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Written by Vijay Pattni
"It was born on the track, built for the road," explains new Audi quattro boss Stephan Winkelmann. What he"s talking about is the brand new 400bhp Audi RS3 saloon. Sorry, sedan. Because it"s built - as TG.com told you a while back - for the United States. And China.In fact, Audi reckons it"ll sell more of these RS3 saloons in the USA and the Asia Pacific region than in Europe. And what they"ll get is a whole dollop of speed.The RS3 saloon packs the lovely 2.5-litre turbocharged five-pot engine up front, with a whopping 400bhp and 354lb ft of torque. Which means yes, it is the most powerful five-pot engine in production today.That engine is 26kg lighter than before, and uses dual injection and Audi"s valvelift system for variable control of the exhaust valves. In non AudiSpeak, this is claimed to translate to "optimal power development at a reduced consumption level".But you don"t want to hear about reduced consumption, you want to hear about optimal power development. Speed, basically. Allied to a seven-speed dual clutch gearbox and permanent four-wheel-drive (naturally), the RS3 saloon is capable of accelerating from 0-62mph in just 4.1s, and derestricted, will run onto 174mph. Sheesh.There"s lots of dynamic handling adjustment here too, along with new software for the ESC that brakes the inside wheel during fast cornering helmsmansry. We"re even promised "controlled drifting" in Sport mode.It"s 25mm lower than the basic A3, gets monster 370mm discs and eight-piston calipers up front, and 310mm discs at the back. 19ins are standard, though you can spec wider tyres at the front.The track is wider than standard of course, with those flared arches present, and it sports a singleframe Audi grille with the all-important quattro badge, along with massive exhausts at the back. The Paris show car blipped the engine to give the audience a taste, and it sounded rather fruity. Good fruity.Inside you get the usual Audi RS treatment which is a good thing including a 12.3in high res monitor, and the option of the virtual Audi cockpit as seen in the R8. There are many connections too, to things like Google Earth and what have you, though you"ll be too busy doing those controlled drifts to care.Interestingly, it"ll be launched in the USA and China next summer as an Audi Sport" model."This is a perfect combination of a car that is very usable on a daily basis," explains Winkelmann.Share this page: FacebookTwitterGoogle+WhatsAppMailtoCopy link
Date written: 29 Sep 2016
More of this article on the Top gear website
ID: 5228
"It was born on the track, built for the road," explains new Audi quattro boss Stephan Winkelmann. What he"s talking about is the brand new 400bhp Audi RS3 saloon. Sorry, sedan. Because it"s built - as TG.com told you a while back - for the United States. And China.In fact, Audi reckons it"ll sell more of these RS3 saloons in the USA and the Asia Pacific region than in Europe. And what they"ll get is a whole dollop of speed.The RS3 saloon packs the lovely 2.5-litre turbocharged five-pot engine up front, with a whopping 400bhp and 354lb ft of torque. Which means yes, it is the most powerful five-pot engine in production today.That engine is 26kg lighter than before, and uses dual injection and Audi"s valvelift system for variable control of the exhaust valves. In non AudiSpeak, this is claimed to translate to "optimal power development at a reduced consumption level".But you don"t want to hear about reduced consumption, you want to hear about optimal power development. Speed, basically. Allied to a seven-speed dual clutch gearbox and permanent four-wheel-drive (naturally), the RS3 saloon is capable of accelerating from 0-62mph in just 4.1s, and derestricted, will run onto 174mph. Sheesh.There"s lots of dynamic handling adjustment here too, along with new software for the ESC that brakes the inside wheel during fast cornering helmsmansry. We"re even promised "controlled drifting" in Sport mode.It"s 25mm lower than the basic A3, gets monster 370mm discs and eight-piston calipers up front, and 310mm discs at the back. 19ins are standard, though you can spec wider tyres at the front.The track is wider than standard of course, with those flared arches present, and it sports a singleframe Audi grille with the all-important quattro badge, along with massive exhausts at the back. The Paris show car blipped the engine to give the audience a taste, and it sounded rather fruity. Good fruity.Inside you get the usual Audi RS treatment which is a good thing including a 12.3in high res monitor, and the option of the virtual Audi cockpit as seen in the R8. There are many connections too, to things like Google Earth and what have you, though you"ll be too busy doing those controlled drifts to care.Interestingly, it"ll be launched in the USA and China next summer as an Audi Sport" model."This is a perfect combination of a car that is very usable on a daily basis," explains Winkelmann.Share this page: FacebookTwitterGoogle+WhatsAppMailtoCopy link
Date written: 29 Sep 2016
More of this article on the Top gear website
ID: 5228