The hot hatch market has evolved considerably in the past decade. Not too long ago, the idea of more than 300bhp in a compact car was laughed at, but we’ve since seen the rise of the super hatch, boasting sports car performance and trick all-wheel-drive systems to make sense of it all.
One such car is the Audi RS 3, the performance version of the A3 compact family car. Now in its third generation, its predecessors could be described as blunt instruments – all power in a straight line but lacking control in corners. The second generation went a good way towards fixing this, but can the new model take another big leap? We’ve been behind the wheel, on road and on track, to find out.
Not only has the new RS 3 gained a whole host of upgrades over the regular A3, it has been given extensive updates when compared with its predecessor, too. The engine has been worked over, while the chassis has been updated to make it handle better. A particular highlight is the torque splitter on the rear, which allows the power to be shifted between the rear wheels depending on the corner, improving agility.