2026 Audi RS3 Review

You're watching Throttle House. I'm Thomas. — And I'm James. And this is the RS3. Audi's little 394 horsepower pocket rocket. We've already shown it going toe-to-toe, ish, with a BMW M4 competition in a straight line. But isn't there more to life than just being really, really ridiculously quick moving? So with a facelift this year, we want to see what else it's got. And we want to make sure that the new updates don't subscribe it to the ever-increasing plague of enchittification. Let's do this. If you're new to Throttle House, we do car reviews, track tests, and quite a lot of messing around. So subscribe and enjoy the show.

— Ready? Yep. We just smoked all four tires. Okay. Oh, that is really, really quick. I forgot how quick it is. — It's quick. — 3. 8 seconds to 62 miles an hour. And the sound of the five-cylinder. Oh, yes. — So today, we celebrate that this is now available in Canada. The return of the RS3. — Now, we did sneakily film one of these even when it was US-only. But now it's been updated. This is uh this has always been a really, really good car, but it brings up the very important question is why wouldn't you get a Golf R? For the cost saving. For the cost saving, because in Canada anyway, it's like 30 grand cheaper to get a Golf R. — Yes, give or take. I guess the answer is speed, power, noise, and a fixed interior. — The big, big answer is the extra cylinder, because this noise is unique to this car now in the world. — And the TTRS, which is gone. That is just it's a little baby V10. It's half a V10, and I absolutely love the sound this car makes. Five cylinders are really, really funky engines, and I wish we had more of them. — Do you remember the firing order? Uh 1 2 4 5 3? — Correct. — Yeah! — Any other math test in the world, you would have failed. — I can't do any numbers in memory but that one. While we celebrate that this has now come to Canada, let's also look over the fact that there is a new interior change going on. There's exteriors as well, we're going to get to that in a minute. As far as driving changes are concerned, there's software tweaks. Yeah, it it's more drifty on corner entry. — Yeah, so the updates that are always made to an RS3 is we think we've figured out how to do less understeer. Yes, exactly. And they can't use it. Every year they do We put wider tires on the front, which I think this still has by the way. — And then it also has the torque split in the rear, which if you I think we've said this a million times on Throttle House now, but it's got So as you were. It can send half of the torque to the rear, and of that half, it can send 100% to an outside wheel when it wants to drift. — have that tattooed on my back. — Yeah, but you said yeah, I want to see if we need to get the tattoo. — Yeah. It is uh it works really well. Yeah, it actually works, but the only thing it can't do in the only spot that an actual rear-bias car is superior is that it can't sustain a drift for a long period. — And it feels just like the Golf R, which has the same sort of diff, it feels quite assisted and digital and artificial. — Yeah, it's like engineered drifting, but it's still fun. Like drifting is drifting. — Yes. Okay, so inside, — Yeah. you'll notice we've got the new Audi steering wheel. This has been very controversial, this steering wheel. This bit has. People are a fan So this is now a flat bottom and top. Yeah. Yeah, and it's got Dynamica. That's what they call the Alcantara for Audi. Yeah, they've been doing that for you. You never called it Dynamica for years. — No, I just I only just realized it. Oh. — And if you option it, which you can't in North America, they are they make carbon bucket seats now for the RS3 that have Dynamica inserts, and they look wicked. And we don't get them. We just get the sport seats. — we don't. — Uh these are quite comfortable, but they are — way. It's nice, isn't it? — I really I don't mind the airbag shape. I know circles are I think a little bit sportier looking, but this works. It's just it's a nice looking wheel. — you can get used to it, because I hated it in the S5. You did, yes. — And now I'm just like this is like the third car I've been in with it, and I'm like, yeah, it's fine. Yeah. — And I like that we gained the checkered flag button on the left, which just takes you immediately into the most aggressive mode. It wakes up that exhaust. It wakes up the engine. It's good. It's good. I really, really like this car. I honestly I really like driving it. I just I think it's a bit too much money no matter what you do. Yeah, but it is a lot of car. It is an all-wheel drive, five-cylinder, unique, really perfectly sized, compact, well-riding and comfort can be absolutely normal when you want it to be, and then breaks Nurburgring lap records when you put it into the sport mode. It's like — Yeah, but what if it was a hatchback? There well there is one, we just don't get it. — it's annoying. So Oh, yeah. It's not anywhere near a BMW M car in terms of that sense of the front end grip that just is unrelenting. — And that smells like bias. But Thomas is not being biased. It is different. — It is different. It's still very much an Audi. I have to say, I know the M car has the better front end grip, but I feel so much more in control of an Audi RS3. Oh, you are — Yes, it is. No question. — great daily. It's such a great daily. — The ride is I'm even in the stiffest mode, and the ride isn't even bad right now. — No, I know. If I put it in comfort, and we've got the comes with Audi only. We've got the cartridge shifters instead of Oh, yeah. Okay, it's the little penis we used to have. But yeah, beautiful door cards, carbon fiber trim. Some I think these red accents are new. I don't remember those. I could do without those. — Yeah, that is about it. That's about it for the new stuff on the inside. — It's a celebration. That's why we wanted to drive it. — Yes. And I now I've had a Golf R for almost 3 years now, and I need that reminder of oh god, it's so annoying I'm in the fixed version. In fact, the S3 If you follow that? Yeah, the rear just starts to I mean, honestly, after spending some more time with this car, if I bought a Golf R, I'd feel like a huge — No, it's a huge, huge cost saving. — But the S3 fixes the interior, and now the S3 has that torque diff split thing. — Yeah, yeah. — And it's got the yeah. And not only is the interior fixed versus a Golf R in terms of ergonomics and buttons, even though they've gone for these sort of half-capacity buttons. — They're fine. I get over it. Just get over it. Uh-huh. The point is Audi care in a way that Volkswagen don't. They care so much that in the press release of this car, they talked about the smell and how important the smell is and how many smell tests this go through. And in fact, because they're it's so important to them. And when you get in an Audi, you do smell Audi, right? And you get in you're like and it's on purpose, I found out. And once it's all done checked, there's five chemists. This feels like I'm talking about Toyota Century. There's five chemists that have to check and smell the car to make sure it is up to Audi standard and smells like an Audi. And that's so funny. All of that work, and pretty much the only thing I can smell is the shawarma burp that you did 8 minutes ago. But I got so much love for the RS3. I've always had You know where it's not improved, though? What? The exterior. Yes, it has.

What's wrong with it? Look at it. I don't know Okay, hold on. No, no. I'm just I'm being silly. I think this is a good-looking car, but I just think that the previous gen It's really slick. I think the previous gen RS3 is better looking. — Previous gen was cleaner. Yes, that's true. — has got more muscular. Okay, sure. So on this one, on the new facelift, with these the way the squirrel looks is different for it's more aggressive for more air intake. And then we have these lights, which have four different digital signatures that you can choose. — I actually like that. — you choose out of the four options? — I like the checker one, the I said I thought I'd go for that, but I like the sort of three aggressive one. — I haven't seen that before, and I think it's actually quite a cool thing that you can just you know — But it's gimmicky. But it's fun. — It is gimmicky, but I like it. I like this muscular flare here on the on this generation. That's not new Well, they really went all out. LOOK AT THAT. — THAT'S NOT NEW IN THE FACELIFT. AND then on the back now, we have this new diffuser with the sort of red reflector. Looks a bit more race car and absolutely gigantic R8-looking exhaust pipe. — still get fun colors? This isn't one of them. This is not one of the fun colors. — Yeah, to me one of the new ones. When it PULLED UP TODAY HE points at it and goes, "Oh, that's one of the new grays. " Yeah, except it's not. That's so far from being interesting, James. There is a new Daytona gray and Ascari blue and a progressive red and this isn't any of them. — Why is there more than one gray? — It's all it's one of the new grays. This is just what MX-5 [snorts] life is like cuz that's all we get every year. — Yeah. Yeah, you can get this in a fun color. I would get it I've always liked Kyalami green because it's just fun to say. — you can still get Kyalami You can — the Audis and the A4s as well and the S4s, they there is a group about A4s which is your car looks like traffic. Because It does just look like traffic. Yes, yes. — But that's the beauty of this car. If you want it, you can if you want get a Leary Mustang or M2. This is the under the radar ridiculously probably quicker in real life than those cars car. I think that it also works as a daily. I think I kind of want an RS badge on the front. Is it gone? It I mean was it supposed to have one? Uh they were were they've been playing around with removing them in different I'm not sure. I think it's fine cuz it's that little like you see it from your rearview mirror. — I 100% agree. Oh damn, that's the RS. I would like an RS3 badge. I don't know. I I think that the previous gen was a better looking design and I don't think I like this grill more than the previous I think I like the previous version of this grill a little bit better. — Yes, I do as well. But I don't know. I it's such an understated car. I think it needs a flashy color. That's what I would do. — Unless you but that's because you've got something to prove. Cuz if What were you saying? I was going to say something that I actually think is quite a dated insult now. — Okay? Cuz size doesn't matter but I like that you can get this as an under the radar car. I agree though it is a slightly boring spec but you can absolutely monstrously destroy everyone on the road apart from there's a few people in the comment section right now saying, "Oh, actually my Tesla Model 3 is so much quicker. " And to you I say 1 2 4 5 3. That's the firing order in case you missed the first part of the video. — in your battery and smoke it. So, there we have it. By not changing that much and despite adding another gray to the landscape, the RS3 still remains high in our regard. Perfectly sized, great performance, unique sound, and now that the neighboring RS5 has swung even more grand tourer with its added weight and hybrid system, the RS3 is not just the only nimble Audi RS car left. It's also just one of their best cars. Thanks for watching.