The ultimate small hatch? The Audi RS3

[GTaudiophile]

Drool!

2.5L
5 Cylinder
343 lbs-ft
363 hp
0-60, 4.3s
174 mph

http://www.autoblog.com/2014/12/12/audi-rs3-sportback-official/

 

[JulesMaximus]

there are currently "no plans to bring it to the US."

Explain why I should give a crap about this car?

 

[Ferzerp]

Focus RS is far more interesting, what with it being available here now and all

 

[Wuzup101]

Like it... No plans for our market... So meeh... Shame because that engine in the ttrs does very well with tuning.

 

[Insomniator]

I don't get why they even mention the top speed of cars... like anyone that isn't hosting Top Gear EVER gets them to that speed. The top speed of a Corolla could be 2 million mph... who cares?

Car looks awesome though, not surprised its not coming to the US. Its not a retarded 10 seater SUV, so I guess there is no market here.

 

[Dman8777]

People in Germany care about top speed.

 

[iamwiz82]

Leave it to Audi to make it bland and unassuming.

 

[Wuzup101]

I don't get why they even mention the top speed of cars... like anyone that isn't hosting Top Gear EVER gets them to that speed. The top speed of a Corolla could be 2 million mph... who cares?

Car looks awesome though, not surprised its not coming to the US. Its not a retarded 10 seater SUV, so I guess there is no market here.

Um... you'd be surprised... about the top speed part anyway...

 

[JulesMaximus]

Leave it to Audi to make it bland and unassuming.

All of their cars are bland and unassuming.

 

[GregGreen]

All of their cars are bland and unassuming.

THIS. This engine would be great in a Golf R+ or something tho. Even Audi's "fun" cars are too close to fancy appliance level :s

Car looks great tho -- too bad we get no wagon A3/S3/whatever3 here

 

[Jumpem]

It's not coming to America though, so I am trying not to care. Audi always does its best to screw over US customers.

 

[Jumpem]

Um... you'd be surprised... about the top speed part anyway...

Personally, I find acceleration far more important than top speed. I don't think I ever went past 70 in my STi.

 

[fleshconsumed]

Impressive, and decent looking, even if a little bland. However, one, it's not coming to US, two, being Audi it's going to cost a lot to buy, and three, being Audi it's going to cost a lot to maintain after warranty runs out. Pass...

 

[Bacstar]

Impressive, and decent looking, even if a little bland. However, one, it's not coming to US, two, being Audi it's going to cost a lot to buy, and three, being Audi it's going to cost a lot to maintain after warranty runs out. Pass...

Funny you should say this: Last night at a Pre-Xmas gathering friend shows up in his new Audi hybrid crossover kinda similar to the Jeep Cherokee I bought. Audi was pretty impressive, and I was nodding my head when he started clicking off on all the features: leather seats, panoramic sunroof, wifi hotspot, large touchscreen, etc. When he mentioned the price of almost $60k, I thought to myself, " geez, I got all that for half the price on my Jeep." At least he's a pharmacist, so you get what you can afford, and if I made as much as he did, I'd probably do the same.

 

[njdevilsfan87]

Car looks great tho -- too bad we get no wagon A3/S3/whatever3 here

We get a Q3 instead. Which is a crossover and not a hatch.

Some of the base A3s still around look incredibly bland and boring, but an A3 done right is the best looking hatch, imo. Mainly because it's not overdone nor look bad from any angle. If anything is boring, its the sedan they have replaced the hatch with, so it can blend in with the one million other sedans on the road.

But all this thread is, is yet another awesome Audi that will never make it stateside thread. So I agree with others, why even care. They are considering bringing the TDI model over, but VW and Ford are far better options because you know that one model is going to be seriously inflated in cost way more so than the A3 ever was. Luckily Ford has seriously stepped up its game with hatches so we're still fine here in the US, with Audi and possibly Subaru too (WRX) no longer really offering them.

 

[Kushina]

Wow. With all these fast hatch backs recently I'm starting to feel bad about my 335i. RS3 and such being an exception.

 

[T2urtle]

They need to bring that A3 hatch back. (LOL)

Seriously, i really liked it A3 Hatch, it looked clean and probably was cheaper to insure/buy then the GTI 4 door.

The US market is really different then the euro market, all of us here that want something like this is the 1-5% of americans that do. Right off the bat most people say "ewww station wagon". If they make that in CUV form, it could sell.

 

[exar333]

Focus RS is far more interesting, what with it being available here now and all

Asking honestly here...how does Ford's AWD system compare to the best around (Audi/Subaru)? The 'normal' Ford AWD systems are the passive 'slip and grip', is the RS different? In the past I believe they have used a Quaife system, but I am curious what they plan to implement here.

I tried doing some searching, but there doesn't seem to be a lot of info on the torque split or vectoring numbers to expect.

 

[Jumpem]

Asking honestly here...how does Ford's AWD system compare to the best around (Audi/Subaru)? The 'normal' Ford AWD systems are the passive 'slip and grip', is the RS different? In the past I believe they have used a Quaife system, but I am curious what they plan to implement here.

I tried doing some searching, but there doesn't seem to be a lot of info on the torque split or vectoring numbers to expect.

This is why I am hoping that it will spur Subaru to enhance the STi. I don't trust other manufacturer's (aside from Audi which is too expensive for me) AWD systems.

 

[TridenT]

This thing looks way too large to be a "small hatch".

Anyway, the car is hideous, costs an assload of money, and isn't even coming to the US. Why did you post this?

 

[gus6464]

Do Audi electrical systems still go to shit after 50K miles like VW?

 

[exar333]

This is why I am hoping that it will spur Subaru to enhance the STi. I don't trust other manufacturer's (aside from Audi which is too expensive for me) AWD systems.

Yeah...

I got the feeling Subaru was testing the waters with the 2015 WRX and based on the comments from the community, they are already re-working the design to look more like the concept and less like, well, crap?

Plus, I think they may have wanted to see what the VW (new R32), Ford (Focus RS) and Mitsubishi (Evo - who knows where that is going...) are going to do.

With the RS now coming to the US, it is probably the biggest competitor to the STi in the world now, outside of Japan.

 

[reallyscrued]

Based on specs alone, I love it.

And I'm way not pro-Audi. Inline-5s are much underutilized. Kudos to Audi for being different.

 

[OILFIELDTRASH]

Still happy with my fiesta st. I paid 20k and 197 hp with a 2700 pound car is plenty fun and fast to me.

 

[996GT2]

How is this news at all? This RS3 isn't coming to the US, just like many other Audi RS models in the past.

Considering the 1994 RS2 Avant had 315 HP from a 2.2L 5-cylinder, they really haven't made much progress since then.