► Life with an Audi S3 continues
► Our hot saloon faces CAR readers
► Read month 5
I didn’t have to look far for two candidates to drive my Audi S3. Nick has a car history longer than most. He currently runs a VW Golf GTI Performance Pack but has owned everything from a BMW 330i Touring to a Lotus Exige and is now searching for an elusive balance of performance practicality.
Mal, on the other hand, is a BMW man through and through – and a rear-wheel-drive one at that: ‘I have an M135i now – the newer one – and in the past I’ve had two other M140is,’ he tells me. ‘And in between that a 3-series which I got rid of because it was super boring.’
Against all odds, the Peterborough weather has delivered, and conditions are perfect for a proper sampling of the S3. The plan is simple: into the city centre for urban driving, then off to faster roads to test the Audi’s dynamics. Initial impressions are good: the S3 feels grippy and sure-footed around town, with a premium interior to match.
‘My ideal car would be a sort of M3 Touring type affair,’ Nick muses. His manual, front-wheel-drive Golf is a car he’s always wanted for its engagement, offering feedback in spades – but its middling brakes and limited traction have him eyeing up some of the VW Group’s other hatches. He wants a car ‘on its nose’ and the GTI’s stock set-up doesn’t do that.
The Audi interior feels nice enough for Mal, who’s impressed by Audi’s fit and finish – though possibly because he’s not been in the bog-standard A3, which is too similar. Nick is equally happy and finds a comforting familiarity in the lay out and optionality of the menus to his Golf. ‘Can you turn all the bings and bongs off easily – I know they’re making it harder?’
For Mal, the S3 is more a curiosity than an obvious next step. ‘I would look at brands other than BMW,’ he says. ‘I was thinking about possibly a Golf R, S3, RS3 or something like that.’ Could this Audi be the car that finally breaks Munich’s hold?
The RS3 starts at £59,900 compared to the S3’s £47,490 starting price (£51,135 on test) pushing it towards the top end of Mal’s price range. Like Nick, Mal craves engagement and feel from his hot hatches – one of the reasons the M135i isn’t quite cutting it: ‘I really like it, but it’s not as good as the M140i, that was much more fun – felt rawer,’ he admits. ‘So obviously it was rear-wheel drive, the other one’s four-wheel drive.’
After some time with the car on Cambridgeshire’s more interesting roads, Nick’s verdict is in – and it’s damning with faint praise. ‘I admire it, but I don’t love it,’ he reasons, throwing me back the keys. ‘My gut feeling is it’s up there,’ he continues. ‘It’s hard to find fault with it. It does everything you want, though not to the level that I might want in certain departments.’
Oh dear. For these two at least, the S3 is once again a car that offers strong performance but without the driver involvement to match. ‘My BMW’s steering feels heavier and a bit more engaging,’ Mal says soon after his stint along with the car. ‘It feels like it’s quite assisted in the way of driving it.
‘It just feels like you’re not really doing it,’ he continues. But despite its numb handling and baked-in inferiority to the RS3, S3 leaves a positive impression for our subjects. ‘I want a car that I can enjoy on my own but has the dual capability of transporting my family in comfort and safety when I won’t be doing anything so spirited,’ says Nick on reflection. ‘The RS3 would probably be a too much for a family – whereas the S3 is a nice balance. It has a greater, usable window.’
And for Nick, the S3 under-the-radar looks could do with being a little more restrained. While poking around the car, he points out its reworked diffuser and lashing of fake mesh, dismissing them as a little too ‘try-hard’ for his taste – and that’s before he’s even spotted all the S logos. When I show him a picture of the RS3 in Viper Green, he’s even less enthused. ‘I prefer the older version – and what is that rear wing he grumbles.
‘But it is a good chunk quicker,’ he adds, glancing at the 0-62mph 3.8 second launch to my S3’s still nippy 4.7 second effort. Nick also picks up on a true owner’s dilemma: unlike the Golf R – which is quicker but an altogether different beast to his GTI something different to his GTI – the RS3 is just a more performant version of the S3. Nick’s racing background doesn’t sit well with a car that’s destined to be a Perez to the RS3’s Verstappen.
That’s fine though, because like Nick, Mal is satisfied with the S3’s blend of performance, price and comfort. The Audi can’t be hustled like a GR Yaris, and won’t provide Type R levels of feedback, but when a car does this much this well, it must remain at the top of the short list.
Read month 5
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Read month 2
Read month 1
Logbook: Audi S3 (month 6)
Price: £47,490 (£51,135 as tested)
Performance: 1984cc turbocharged four-cylinder, 328bhp, 4.7sec 0-62mph, 155mph
Efficiency: 34.4mpg (official), 29.2mpg (tested), 188g/km CO2
Energy cost: 31.4p per mile
Miles this month: 2629
Total miles: 4949