Audi S3 Top Speed
Inside, the most relevant changefor most drivers is that the interior gets Audi's Virtual Cockpit, which replaces analogue dials with a 12.3in TFT digital screen.
If you're accustomed to the way fast Audis have felt during the past few years, the S3 is pretty much exactly as you'd expect it to be.
To sit in, it's lovely. Fit, finish and perceived quality are big Audi traits, and the S3 certainly gets them. Its front seats and steering wheel are adjustable to a ludicrous degree, while the materials,switchgear and ergonomics are first rate.
Our test car was equipped with the S tronic seven-speed DSG dual-clutch gearbox, and with it the pedal positioning and weighting are spot on.
The steering's on the light side, which makes the S3 a doddle to drive at lower speeds, and the ride is sufficiently compliant, too. Gone are the days when fast Audis rode like boards, though this S3 had fairly modestly sized 18in wheels, shod with 225/40 tyres.
The variable-rate steering – which is slower around straight-ahead than it is once you've got some lock on – means that the S3 is plenty stable at motorway speeds. In that respect, it feels more like the Golf R than it does the Ford Focus RS. The RS is not meant to be an amiable, everyday fast Ford, but a car reserved for special occasions. The S3 is the kind of hot hatchback that you're very happy to drive once the Ford gets out of its more hyperactive zones.
Don't necessarily think of that as a downgrade, mind. There's quite a lot to be said for a car that's as capable and secure as the S3 is when it comes to regular everyday driving. The Audi doesn't give you a lot back: the engine is never more exciting than smooth and powerful, and the steering never gives you any feedback other than it's quite capable of steering the wheels without reporting things back to you, but just in case you were wondering, the chassis is unflustered.
However, if you do find yourself on circuit or a great corner on a country road, the S3 puts in a decent shift. Body control is relatively tight. In extremes, you'd need a back-to-back test with an old S3 to be sure that you can feel the revisions to the software pushing power to where it does, but it corners keenly, neutrally, keeps its nose online and is always calm.
If you really value the fit and finish of an Audi, then an S3 isn't a bad way of going about your business at all. Plus, compared to other 300bhp hot hatchbacks, it mostly offers something different. It's calmer than a Ford Focus RS and a Honda Civic Type R, and there's something quite appealing about that.
Trouble is, there's another hot hatch that does pretty much everything that the Audi S3 also does, but it steers more keenly and enjoyably and feels every inch as planted and stable. That car is the Volkswagen Golf R, which stays busy giving its Volkswagen Group stablemates, as well as cars from elsewhere, headaches.
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Source: https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-review/audi/s3-2016-2020
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