AUDI RS3 DRIFTS TOWARD THE ADVENTUROUS
Unique combination of oddly sized tires makes this road rocket slide on the tarmac
Even by the exotic standards of the Middle East, Oman is a unique place. Unlike its neighbours to the west (Saudi Arabia) or north (the United Arab Emirates), Oman is not overly blessed with petroleum products, thus a large part of its economy is agricultural. Some of it is exotic (being able to stop on the side of the road for a refreshing dash of coconut water straight from the coconut is pretty nifty), some is downright odd (donkeys, cattle and even camels of various proprietorships commingling in one giant zoos-without-borders experiment in animal husbandry).
None of it, however, was as weird as drifting Audi’s new RS3 road rocket through some of the tightest mountaintop hairpins in the world. Never mind that much of Oman looks as flat as a pancake. Or that most of it is as parched as a dried-out river bottom. One simply doesn’t expect to find even a single exciting twist in the road, so to find an entire series of them — we counted 18 in almost Alpine-pass quick succession — was a surprise.
Nonetheless, that’s all relatively commonplace compared with the discovery that Audi’s new RS3 is the new (production car) king of drifting. I’m talking Fast and Furious-type stupidity here, the kind of tail-wagging silliness that sends constabularies reaching for the radar guns.
The really weird thing about this is the car doing all said drifting is an Audi. For those not versed in sports-car culture, Audi makes wonderful automobiles, almost all beautifully crafted, luxuriously liveried and extremely stable. Some are even outrageously fast. But what they are not known for is precise cornering.
Blame it on poor weight distribution or the vagaries of allwheel drive, but even the sportiest of Audis typically understeer like Camrys plowing through snowbanks.
Not the new-for-2018 400-horsepower RS3. Climbing up this Omanian mountain range, the new baby RS performed like a Subaru WRX on slicks. Tap the brake ever so gently to set the front, wrench the wheel left or right depending on wither went the hairpin, then jam on the gas and feel the RS slew sideways like it was born for World of Outlaws racing. With stability control set to Sport, the hyperactive little Audi would hold its drift as long as you were brave enough to floor the throttle.
Why the sudden about-face in character? Well, normally one would start looking for a Quattro AWD torque split directing a larger percentage of the turbocharged 2.5-litre in-line five’s 354 pound-feet of torque to the rear wheels. Or search Audi’s Electronic Stabilization Control system for a more “liberal” algorithm. But the magic of the RS3’s newfound looseness of tail is a product of one of the oldest racing tricks in the world, albeit one that, at least as far as I’ve seen, hasn’t been used on a production car before.
Audi’s engineers put larger tires on the front 19-inch rims than on the rear: 255/30R19s in the front and 235/35R19s in the rear. Yes, a sports car with asymmetrical tire sizes always favours the rear. But Audi has been trying to cure its understeer blues for years and after of striving for front-end grip through high-tech electronics and differentials, it seems the engineers decided blunt force was the way to go. In other words, if you want the rear end to slide first, just make sure the big gumball tires are up front.
In fact, sometimes the RS3 can be a little too eager for those long, lurid, tire-smoking slides. All the fun was in climbing the Swisslike pass. Going down the same road, the RS’s rear would spin around faster than Elvis Stojko attempting a triple Salchow. The steep downhill section reduced the weight on the rear tires and combined with those wide front gumballs rendered the RS3 as flighty as a go-kart on ice.
Seriously, so eager was the RS3 to swap ends while attacking these downhill hairpins that the rear end would start drifting before I even touched the gas. Just brushing the brake was enough to send it into a full Ari Vatanen. Never in my life have I spent more time sideways on anything resembling dry tarmac. There’s a new king of drift in town and it’s wearing an Audi badge.
Now, not everyone’s looking to win next year’s World Rally Championship, so it’s good news then the aforementioned oddball tire setup is an option. Standard fare on garden-variety RS3s are symmetrical 235/35R19 Pirelli PZeros all around.
As for the rest of the car, description is easy. Think of the RS3 as a four-door TT-RS. The aforementioned 2.5-L in-line five engine is identical, right down to the piercing exhaust note and horsepower output. The RS3 is also built on the same MQB platform as the TT and Audi’s electronically adjustable Magnetic Ride Suspension is standard.
There’s even the same Virtual Cockpit 12.3-inch TFT-screened gauge set that made its debut in the sports coupe. Throw in surprisingly roomy rear seats, a sonorous 705-watt Bang and Olufsen stereo, as well as the latest in Audi MMI technology and there really is no reason to opt for the less practical TT unless you really like its bubble-topped styling. The RS3 really does offer all its panache with more than just a modicum of four-door practicality.
Just make sure. if you do opt for those optional, oddly sized tires, that you have more drifting talent the Fast and the Furious; reportedly, 230 cars were destroyed trying to emulate my little Omanian adventure. You’ve been warned!