Audi’s S3 Sedan Just Became The Best Sleeper In Its Class: Review | Carscoops

In a market crowded with hyper hatches just like the Audi RS3 and Mercedes-AMG A forty five S, it’d appear to be there’s little room or want for a automotive just like the Audi S3. Yet with the RS3 now beginning at greater than AU$105,000 ($68,500) for the Sedan in Australia, the S3 makes a robust case for itself because the extra attainable possibility in Audi’s efficiency lineup.

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Within the broader sizzling compact crowd, the S3 nonetheless manages to carve out its personal area of interest. It’s all-wheel drive, similar to the VW Golf R and Toyota GR Corolla, and combines thrilling efficiency with luxurious and model cache that solely BMW and Mercedes-Benz can compete with on this section.

The new 2026 S3 also needs to be higher than its predecessors. It has extra energy, edgier seems, and has additionally lately acquired a facelift. The query is, how properly does it maintain up in its extra conventional sedan type?

QUICK FACTS

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What Do You Get For Your Money?

Sharing a lot of its componentry with the associated VW Golf R, which, as everyone knows, took a monumental leap ahead for its eighth era, the present S3 has lots going for it. In the seems division, nevertheless, there’s not that a lot to separate it from a lesser A3 mannequin.

Given that the usual A3, in each Sportback and Sedan guises, is already fairly hanging, Audi’s designers maybe didn’t have a lot room to amp up the design of the S3 with out stepping on the toes of the RS3. To most, the S3 will look similar to an A3 with the S Line package deal, and it doesn’t even have an S3 badge on the grille, arguably making it just a little too delicate.

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While the Ingoldstadt model maybe may have made extra of an effort to make sure the S3 seems the half, it has at the least given it a severely spritely engine.

Much just like the Golf R, the brand new Audi S3 options VW’s famend EA288 2.0-liter turbocharged four-cylinder engine. The previous-gen S3 had 221 kW (296 hp), however Audi upped this to 238 kW (319 hp) for the automotive’s fourth era. Now, in facelifted 2026MY guise, energy has been upped once more, now sitting at 245 kW (329 hp) and 420 Nm (310 lb-ft) of torque. That ought to be greater than sufficient to get even probably the most power-hungry fanatic excited.

However, it’s not the engine modifications that actually separate this new S3 from all of its predecessors. Instead, it’s the all-wheel drive system. Rather than that includes VW’s conventional Haldex-style rear differential, it has the identical ‘torque splitter’ differential because the RS3, which reworked the best way that hyper hatch handles. It does the identical for the S3.

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In Australia, costs begin at AU$81,800 (equal to $53,400 at present trade charges), however our tester had the AU$1,450 ($947) Launch version package deal. This provides 19-inch Audi Sport wheels, black tailpipe trims, black mirror caps, privateness glass, and puddle lights with the S emblem.

This is some huge cash, there’s no query about it. By comparability, the mechanically associated Mk 8.5 VW Golf R begins at a extra palpable AU$70,990 ($46,300), whereas the automatic-equipped Toyota GR Corolla is priced from AU$70,490 ($46,000).

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An Almost Standard A3 Interior

Inside, there’s little to separate the S3 from cheaper A3 fashions. That means there’s the identical dashboard format, the 12.3-inch digital instrument cluster, and the identical 10.1-inch MMI infotainment show. The S3 additionally comes with the identical piano black plastic middle console as most different new Audis, full with a small toggle to shift between the gears.

Like many current Audi interiors, there’s an extreme quantity of arduous black plastic for my liking, notably throughout the sprint and on the door panels. However, there’s one neat function with the door panels. A big space within the middle is trimmed in Alcantara, with a whole lot of tiny cutouts that the configurable ambient lighting shines by way of.

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Additionally, the S3 comes with distinctive Fine Nappa leather-based seats with diamond distinction stitching and S embossing. There can be a superb Sonos 3D premium sound system with 15 audio system, DAB+ digital radio, and each wi-fi Apple CarPlay and Android Auto.

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Functionally, the cabin is nice. It’s good to see Audi has saved bodily controls for the local weather system. Additionally, the S3 doesn’t have the identical horrible capacitive steering wheel buttons as different new-generation Audi fashions, choosing extra conventional buttons and scroll wheels as an alternative.

There’s a shocking quantity of room in each the entrance and rear of the automotive, and it may carry 4 adults in relative consolation.

An AWD Sprinter

Given how a lot energy the S3 has, mixed with its very good all-wheel drive system and seven-speed S-tronic transmission, I knew it’d really feel fast. However, it proved to be faster than Audi claims. According to the model, it wants 4.7 seconds to hit 100 km/h (62 mph), however I used to be capable of rattle off repeatable 4.5-second occasions within the dry, and 4.7-second runs within the moist.

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Like loads of different VW Group merchandise, there’s a extensive collection of driving modes accessible, together with a brand new one for the facelifted S3 often called ‘Dynamic Plus.’ I primarily drove in Individual mode, with choices just like the engine, exhaust observe, and torque splitter of their sportiest modes, however the suspension in its softest.

The all-wheel drive system, mixed with the brand new rear differential, is a revelation. The previous S3, in addition to the Mk7-generation VW Golf, each had a bent to push into understeer the second you even considered coming into a nook with just a little an excessive amount of pace. That’s not the case.

The absolutely variable torque splitter differential can ship as much as 100% of rear torque to one of many rear wheels, and in Dynamic mode, it helps to offer the automotive a rear-biased really feel, a lot in order that the rear will typically let unfastened earlier than the entrance. Thanks to the trick new diff, the 2026MY S3 is rather more confidence-inspiring to hustle arduous than its forebears.

Those who’d favor a barely extra impartial really feel can change the torque splitter into Sport mode. Or, if you wish to go the opposite manner, the S3’s Dynamic Plus mode makes it much more thrilling to drive on the restrict, permitting it to chew up the pavement at scary speeds and with surprising ease. Aiding within the immense quantities of grip are a set of sticky Goodyear Eagle F1 Super Sport tires.

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The handling-focused modifications made to this current-gen S3 don’t cease there. There’s now 1.5 levels of camber on the entrance and stiffened entrance wishbone bearings. The result’s a automotive that not solely feels correctly speedy alongside a twisty, mountain highway, however can be heaps of enjoyable to drive.

When pushed in one of many sportier modes, the S3 additionally delivers an intoxicating observe from its 4 tailpipes, creating some pretty burbles on the overrun and between gear modifications. Shoppers searching for the final word auditory expertise also can possibility a full Akrapovic titanium exhaust, though at AU$9,900 ($6,400), it’s actually not low-cost.

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The really feel by way of the steering wheel is nice, albeit not class-leading. Fortunately, it’s direct and well-weighted, guaranteeing the S3 is simply as simple to string by way of a sweeping nook as it’s to maneuver round a carpark or by way of site visitors.

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Unlike many different sizzling compacts in the marketplace, the Audi S3 doesn’t really feel in any respect compromised as a every day driver. It’s fitted as commonplace with adaptive dampers and stays poised over even the roughest and trickiest roads. With the drivetrain switched into its least aggressive modes, and the gearbox left in computerized to do its personal factor, it may be simple to neglect that you simply’re truly driving an S3, not simply a normal A3.

Verdict

After dwelling with the brand new Audi S3 for per week, I used to be left questioning if it’d simply be probably the most well-rounded sizzling compacts in the marketplace, regardless if it’s a hatch or a sedan. Sure, it might hardly ever be talked about in the identical breath because the likes of the VW Golf R, Toyota GR Yaris/GR Corolla, and raucous front-wheel drive fashions just like the Honda Civic Type R, but it surely deserves to be.

Is it probably the most fun-to-drive sizzling compact accessible? No, eager drivers will most likely discover the likes of the Toyota and Honda extra satisfying throughout a fast blast up a mountain highway. But, very similar to the Golf R, the S3 is healthier suited to the every day grind than a few of its rivals, but nonetheless gives heaps of enjoyable while you need to have it. Whether you’re driving to the outlets or planning a observe day, the most recent S3 can be as much as the duty, which makes it probably the most versatile selections within the section.

Photos Brad Anderson / Carscoops