Audi S3 Sportback
Our 306bhp, four-wheel-drive hot hatch has departed. Did it manage to leave a lasting impression?
THERE COMES A MOMENT WHEN AN EVO Fast Fleet car’s time is up and you get to reflect on the photoshoots, trackdays and adventures that it has been on. When a bright cyan Audi S3 Sportback arrived in the evo Towers car park late last year, I hoped it would be able to deliver a whole bunch of such memories to look back fondly upon, and with the ‘quattro weather’ of winter rapidly approaching, this four-wheel drive, 306bhp Audi looked like it would be an ideal everyday performance car too, so I didn’t hesitate to grab its key.
From the outside, the S3 certainly made a strong impression. Admiring comments from both neighbours and strangers were common, and I can see why. Our car’s Turbo Blue paint (a £575 option) was quick to grab your attention and was complemented by the glinting metal trim, quad exhausts and the sharp new styling overall.
Inside, the driving position was spot on and the seats some of the most comfortable I’ve experienced, but the rest felt like a lift out of the VW Group’s pick ‘n’ mix box, which ultimately made it feel a bit flat compared with the cabins of rivals such as BMW’S M135i and Mercedes-amg’s A35. I also had an ongoing battle with the driverassistance tech, the lane assist function feeling crude (so I nearly always switched it off) and the false alarms from the Pre Sense collision-warning system being a frequent source of distraction.
More worryingly, the digital dials were a bit temperamental, occasionally disappearing altogether and leaving me without a speed readout. A surprising success, however, was the fake five-cylinder engine noise pumped into the cabin. I’m not usually a fan of such things, but Audi has done a great job in this case, allowing the S3 to tick all of your noise hooligan boxes from inside the car without annoying the rest of the street.
The arrival of Lockdown 3 just a few days after
I first got behind the S3’s wheel meant that it was initially restricted to mostly mundane journeys, but as a car about town it was absolutely in its element, proving remarkably easy to live with. When a valid opportunity arose, it was clear that the S3 handled ‘fast’ very well, too. Through corners its grip proved immense and the steering incredibly accurate, especially with a bit of added weight in Sport mode. Meanwhile the passively damped suspension coped well with notoriously imperfect fenland B-roads, acceleration was impressive (0-62mph in 4.8sec is the official figure) and braking sharp and precise. Indeed it was everything you would expect from an Audi. In fact some might say it was a bit too ‘Audi’ – that is to say extremely capable but, as we predicted in our first drive back in evo 279, rarely delivering laugh-out-loud entertainment. It’s where the likes of AMG’S A35 and even the less-powerful and frontdrive-only Hyundai i30 N hold a distinct advantage.
A track test only cemented these thoughts.
Flinging the S3 around the Bedford Autodrome, as a relative newbie to trackdays I was impressed. However, deputy editor Adam Towler was less so, labelling the experience as ‘forgettable’.
If I’m being honest, now the S3 has gone I think he might have a point. While I enjoyed my time with it, and admired its all-round abilities on the road greatly, I can’t say that it left me with a vast bank of memorable moments that will stick with me. In truth, while the S3 is a car that is unlikely to disappoint paid-up members of the Audi fan club, for the rest of us there are simply too many rivals that are capable of delivering more.
Richard Browne (@washlander)
Date acquired December 2020 Duration of test 6 months Total test mileage 4500 Overall mpg 29.0 Costs £0 Purchase price £41,200 Value today £36,300