Audi S3 saloon UK first drive

Our first chance to try the saloon version of Audi’s rapid S3 hatch on UK roads. Which comes with 296bhp, quattro four-wheel drive and an impressive array of driver aids, provided you have deep pockets.

It’s powered by the VW Group’s latest EA888 2.0 TFSI long stroke engine, a completely redesigned direct-injection, balancer shaft power unit featuring raised injection pressures, variable valve timing, intelligent cooling and an integral exhaust manifold. It only weighs 5kg less than the previous engine, but has a potential power output of 414bhp (as flaunted in the Audi TT Quattro Sport Geneva concept), so it must be tough. And it puts out 35bhp more than the S3’s previous motor.

It can be hooked either to a six-speed manual, or a six-speed DSG S tronic paddle-shift automatic transmission that shortens the 0-62mph sprint time by 0.4sec to 4.9sec, and lifts the combined fuel consumption by 0.5mpg to 40.9mpg. Audi expects this transmission, with its slightly lower 159g/km emissions, to be the more popular.

Besides having a lighter engine the S3 saloon is less hefty than the previous generation S3 hatchback, an alloy front sub-frame, and a bonnet and front wings in aluminium allowing a base weight of 1430kg. Much of the suspension is alloy too, and features actively adjustable magneto-rheological dampers as standard. 

Intriguingly, this car is not exactly an S3 hatch with a boot, the saloon riding on a 35mm longer wheelbase and a fractionally broader track, making it wider than competitors like the BMW M235i, too.

Exterior identifiers include a 25mm lower ride height, a front diffuser, additional air intakes, sill extensions, 19in alloys, four exhaust outlets and boot-lip spoiler, but it’s the interior that has more potential to deliver you a visual blast. Order the 'Parade’ leather pack and the seats’ outer edges will be trimmed in a startlingly bright red leather that’s equally surprising for its softness.

Quick and easy, especially if you’ve boarded the S tronic and deployed its throttle with conviction.

It’s swift to move and stays that way as it blat-blasts through all six gears, sounding like a distant touring car racer even when the exhaust is quietened to its most subtle setting. The drama is in the gearshifts, which are a do-it-all-over-again pleasure to hear, and the unrelenting rate at which where you are heading becomes where you have been.

That said, there’s something curiously undramatic about the engine’s delivery, its Table Mountain torque curve providing a crescendo-free gathering of power that’s faintly disappointing. But it’s certainly effective. Delve deeper, and hold it second, say, to observe the engine’s pull from 1100rpm, and you’ll discover a turbo that needs a pause to spool up. But the broad ratio spread and narrow spacing of the six-speeder masks this deficiency well. In the six-speed manual, you’re more likely to trip over some lag.

All-wheel drive adds a reassuring layer of directional security and freedom from torque-steer, although this quattro set-up uses a Haldex clutch rather than a more sophisticated Torsen differential to parcel torque to the axles. So you don’t get the 60 per cent torque bias to the rear axle that longitudinally engined quattros provide.