Tuesday, 22 March 2011

The new Audi RS 3 Hailed after Test Drives

The new RS 3 has been described as a “genuinely impressive piece of engineering” by Autocar after the driving enthusiast bible took the car out on the road.

Its high performance five-cylinder 2.5-litre turbocharged engine, which develops 330PS and manages 0 to 62mph in 4.6 seconds, left both What Car? and Autocar impressed. What Car? states that “all the headlines… belong to the engine.”

What Car? is particularly taken by the RS 3’s flexibility, stating: “It’s perfectly happy to dawdle around town or keep up with the ebb and flow of motorway traffic with little more than a flex of the right ankle.

“Then, when you get the chance to give the engine its head, you make very rapid progress – and all to the soundtrack of a wonderful exhaust note. You can sharpen things up by pressing the Sport button on the dashboard, which makes the engine more responsive and the exhaust note still the more aggressive.”

However, this is not to say that other features of the car have not been commended after the test drives. According to Autocar, the enhanced exterior, including a more aggressive bodykit, means that “dynamically the net result is a car that always delivers empirically.”

Compliments are also directed towards the RS 3’s driving experience. What Car? says that “There's nothing wrong with the handling, either, with huge reserves of grip from its huge tyres… What's more, although the ride is – as you would expect – on the firm side, it's never uncomfortable. In fact, given the fine refinement, you'd scarcely ever realise you were in a high-performance car.”

Autocar concludes by saying: “It’s impossible to drive the RS3 hard without a serious amount of respect for the effortless way it combines speed with practicality.”