Audi S3 Quattro S Tronic - An Important Car For A Number Of Reasons (Part 2)

Audi Drive Select, which allows the driver to choose between automatic, dynamic, efficiency or individual mappings of the throttle, steering and engine, is standard fitment on the S3. Also new is a variable ratio progressive steering rack that makes steering inputs quicker the further the driver turns the wheel.

All who drove the S3 commented on its relatively unassuming styling. Remove the Nogaro Blue paintwork of our test unit and only the aluminum-look mirrors, 18-inch wheels and quad tailpipes that protrude from the rear give away the game. Xenon headlamps, incorporating distinct LED daytime-running lights, are standard fitment.

Quad tailpipes hint at the performance potential. Five-door S3 Sportback launch is imminent.

A similarly understated view greets those entering the cabin of the new S3. Aside from the impressively comfortable leather seats and flat-bottom multifunction steering wheel, the only clues to the car’s performance potential is a healthy dose of instrument needle-matching grey stitching and the sight of a cheeky turbo-boost gauge that replaces the water-temperature readout in the standard car. Brushed aluminum pedals highlight the driver’s foot-well, while the A3 range’s much-lauded interior receives only a splattering of aluminum-look accents. A new steering-wheel-mounted paddle design (fitted to S Tronic models) has a more solid look and feel than before.

Access to the rear is simple enough thanks to a tilt and slide function on either of the two front seats, while those seeking more leg- and headroom than the acceptable amount offered by the three-door S3 will have the Sportback version to choose from by the time this magazine hits the shelves.

Aside from the impressively comfortable leather seats and flat-bottom multifunction steering wheel

Test Summary

It will be interesting to compare the next Golf R when it arrives here in January. It will have the same drivetrain fitted to a similar Haldex all-wheel-drive system. Where the S3 may have stolen a march on its Volkswa-gen-badged cousin, though, is that within its immediate family there isn’t any pressure on the Audi hatch to be anything more than a very capable gentleman’s hot hatch. Where the R will be seen as the ultimate Golf, Audi will inevitably roll out its RS3 in due course.

There’s a lot to like about the S3, not least the fact that it retains an element of class and composure at all times.

sport seats offer great all-round comfort; turbo-boost gauge housed neatly in rev counter; 2,0-litre turbo petrol has been completely revised

In everyday use, and even on South African roads, the ride is compliant enough while, when the mood takes, there’s dynamic competence aplenty to more than hold its own against any member of the current hot-hatch brigade.