I ordered a back issue of Audi Driver (Feb 12) because they had a review of the RS3. They are scientific in the way they measure acceleration etc, tho i don't know if they have the usual 2-up with full tank etc.
Anyway, for those interested in their results i thought i'd post them. The numbers in brackets are for their tests on TTRS manual, RS4 saloon, RS6 avant and RS5 respectively:
0-50mph 3.2s {3.6 3.7 3.5 3.7}
0-60 4.3 {4.6 4.3 4.5 4.7}
0-80 7.0 {7.8 7.0 7.1 7.3}
0-100 11.0
In my view, the following is more important in the real world and it's damn impressive!
30-50 (3rd gear) 1.5 {2.7 2.9 2.2 1.8}
50-70 (3rd gear) 2.5 {2.6 2.8 2.6 2.3}
[Overall mpg: 24.7]
Aside from their reservations about the firmness of the ride (one i don't share) the 4 page review is very positive (as you'd expect from this mag), but i think they do make the point that most reviews havn't: "...when you look back at the history of the RS models, virtually all of them have been Avants. In a way then the RS3 was bound to be a mini-estate..."
I think Audi have more or less succeeded on creating a niche of it's own for the RS3, because there are few direct comparisons, eg 1M is a saloon (tries too hard for my liking), M3 is a coupe/saloon (there's millions of them) , M135 is coupe but 3 dooor (if it was a person it'd be uglier than Ann Widdecombe). And personally, i don't think 40k is a steep price when you think that you get a prestige car and this performance. Put another way, when i have a minute i'm going to look through EVO and see what you have to pay for other cars that can get to 60 in 4.6s (official figure), and the list of 5 seater cars with comparable performance must be very short indeed.
Anyway, hope the above is of some interest.
Nick
Anyway, for those interested in their results i thought i'd post them. The numbers in brackets are for their tests on TTRS manual, RS4 saloon, RS6 avant and RS5 respectively:
0-50mph 3.2s {3.6 3.7 3.5 3.7}
0-60 4.3 {4.6 4.3 4.5 4.7}
0-80 7.0 {7.8 7.0 7.1 7.3}
0-100 11.0
In my view, the following is more important in the real world and it's damn impressive!
30-50 (3rd gear) 1.5 {2.7 2.9 2.2 1.8}
50-70 (3rd gear) 2.5 {2.6 2.8 2.6 2.3}
[Overall mpg: 24.7]
Aside from their reservations about the firmness of the ride (one i don't share) the 4 page review is very positive (as you'd expect from this mag), but i think they do make the point that most reviews havn't: "...when you look back at the history of the RS models, virtually all of them have been Avants. In a way then the RS3 was bound to be a mini-estate..."
I think Audi have more or less succeeded on creating a niche of it's own for the RS3, because there are few direct comparisons, eg 1M is a saloon (tries too hard for my liking), M3 is a coupe/saloon (there's millions of them) , M135 is coupe but 3 dooor (if it was a person it'd be uglier than Ann Widdecombe). And personally, i don't think 40k is a steep price when you think that you get a prestige car and this performance. Put another way, when i have a minute i'm going to look through EVO and see what you have to pay for other cars that can get to 60 in 4.6s (official figure), and the list of 5 seater cars with comparable performance must be very short indeed.
Anyway, hope the above is of some interest.
Nick
