New Audi RS3 - it's quicker than the AMG A45 S!

This is the new Audi RS3. It's the latest generation of Audi's famous super hatchback, and it comes with a clever new four-wheel drive system and even a drift mode. But is it the best five-cylinder car that Audi has ever made? Well, in this video, I'm going to tell you everything you need to know about it. I'm Matt Watson, and you're watching CarWow. Buying a new car? Then head to CarWow, and my team will help you find your next car at a fair price. CarWow, your one-stop car buying comparison site. The new Audi RS3 looks like someone's taken their S3 to the gym. Now, it struts around everywhere in a tight T-shirt drinking a protein shake. Well, actually, it doesn't need to carb, but yeah, lame analogy, sorry. Now, you can get the RS3 as a five-door hatchback or a four-door saloon, just like you could with the old version. Both have a huge honeycomb grille up front with absolutely massive air intakes. All new Audi RS3s come with mean-looking LED headlights and brake lights, just like an S3 has. However, you can upgrade the lights to matrix LEDs with some pretty swanky features. You see, when you unlock or lock the car, the left headlight will light up a checkered flag, and the right headlight will show RS3 lettering. Now, besides the lights, the new RS3 comes with massive flared wheel arches like all other RS models. However, this new car is three centimetres wider at the front and one centimetre wider at the back than the old RS3. However, the sporty body kit isn't just for show. The vents behind the front wheels help smooth the airflow around the car to reduce drag. However, at the back, I'm not entirely sure that that diffuser is actually doing anything, and those massive oval exhausts, they actually have two smaller pipes hidden inside. So yeah, there's still a little bit of fakery going on, which is a bit of an Audi trademark now, isn't it? Anyhow, what do you think of the new RS3's design? Is it a better-looking car than the Mercedes-AMG A45? Let me know in the comments below. Audi has stuck to its guns and kept the legendary 2.5-litre five-cylinder engine for the new RS3. Well, thank God for that. Now, this is very similar to the engine you got in the old RS3. In fact, it produces the same 400 horsepower as that car did. So that means it has 90 horsepower more than you get from an S3, but 21 horsepower less than you get with an AMG A45 S. It's not all bad news, though. The engine makes 400 horsepower across more of the rev range, which would make the car feel quicker than before. There's more torque for you to play with, too. The new car has 500 newton-metres instead of the 480 of the old version, and that should help improve in-gear acceleration. Speaking of gears, you get a seven-speed dual-clutch automatic as standard, just like you did in the old RS3. And just like the old RS3, you will have to pay extra if you want the RS sports exhaust. Why, Audi? Why do you do that to us? The new Audi RS3 does 0-60 miles an hour in 3.8 seconds. That's a whole second quicker than the S3 does it in, and it's three tenths quicker than the old RS3 took to do 0-60 miles an hour. It's also quicker than the Golf R, which actually managed to launch from 0-60 miles an hour in just over four seconds. Crucially, it's 0.1 of a second quicker to 60 than an A45 S, even though the AMG has more power. This means that the new RS3 is shaping up to be one of the quickest hot hatches ever. But it won't stop when it gets to 60 miles an hour. Obviously, it'll keep on going. The RS3's top speed is actually limited to 155 miles an hour. But if you pay extra for the RS Dynamic package, you can increase this top speed to 180 miles an hour. Perfect if you have an autobahn nearby. Pointless if you don't. The new Audi RS3's interior looks pretty similar to the S3's, but you do get some exclusive upgrades for this new range topper. There's a flat-bottom steering wheel with new RS badges, and you get an RS button that lets you switch between different driving modes. There are also some new seats with RS logos on the backrest, and you can have these in Nappa leather with red, black, or green honeycomb stitching. You can add more colourful stitching to the seatbelts and brightly coloured trim to the air vents as part of Audi's optional design packs if you want to spend even more money. And there are some extra carbon fibre trims you can get for the dashboard if you fancy spending even more cash. The big news for the RS3 is its new torque vectoring system. It's called the RS Torque Splitter, and it's part of Audi's latest quattro all-wheel drive system. The old RS3 used a single clutch to split the engine's torque between the front and rear wheels, depending on how much grip they had. The new RS3 has two clutches at the back instead of one, so there's one for each wheel. This means the car can control exactly how much torque to centre each rear wheel independently. This means the new RS3 can push itself round corners by sending more torque to the wheel with the most grip. For example, if you're turning right it'll send more torque to the left wheel, and if you're turning left it'll send more torque to the right wheel to push the car round. And it's all been designed to work with the optional Pirelli PZero Trofeo R semi-slick tyres, which should be super grippy if you fancy taking your RS3 on track. The new Audi RS3 comes with a 10-inch infotainment and 12-inch virtual cockpit display, just like the S3. This means you get all the usual stuff like satellite navigation, Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. But there's also a new RS Monitor mode. This lets you see data like oil and coolant temperatures and tyre pressures, if you're interested in all of that. In fact, if you go on track days, you should be. Also, the system can show G-forces, lap times and acceleration data, plus it'll measure the all-important quarter mile time for you. So it looks like I won't be needing my specialist timing gear when I do a launch in this car. That's not true. I never go anywhere without it. Lots of new hot hatches come with a drift mode these days. The Ford Focus RS kicked things off way back in 2016, and now you can get drift modes in the MG A45 S and the new Volkswagen Golf R. Now Audi's joining the drift party with the RS3, all thanks to its new RS Torque Splitter system. Stick the car in RS Torque Rear mode and it'll send the engine's power to the outside rear wheel to get the back end sliding. This means the new RS3 should feel very different to the old RS3s, which could be a little bit understeery. But will this drift mode be as good as the one on a Mercedes-AMG A45 S? Well, if you click on the pop-out banner in the top right hand corner of the screen, you can watch me put the A45 S to the test and drift the heck out of it. Audi has completely reworked the RS3 suspension for this new model. Now it's 10mm lower than an S3 and 25mm lower than a standard A3. This isn't just to make it look meaner, though. It keeps the centre of gravity nice and low, which should help improve the handling. Audi's also tweaked the suspension geometry, changed the front subframe and fitted new suspension wishbones to make the RS3 feel more agile than the S3. And you can get optional adaptive dampers to help it deal with rough roads when you're not hooning around on track. The Audi RS3 comes with six piston calipers and steel brake discs on the front as standard, but you can upgrade to carbon ceramic discs for more stopping power and less brake fade, which would be handy if you plan to take your hyperhatch on lots of track days. Now, these discs are 380mm across. That's 5mm more diameter than the steel discs that you get with the car as standard, but they weigh 10kg less, which should improve how the car handles on bumpy roads as you're reducing unsprung mass. The standard RS3 gets red or black calipers, but if you go for the carbon ceramics, you can then get them painted in either grey or blue instead. Now, if you can't wait for an Audi RS3 to come on sale and you want to see what my favourite hot hatch is, well, if you click on the pop out banner in the top right hand corner of the screen, you can find out what the car is and an amazing deal. I've got one through Carwow, so click on the banner to check that out. The new Audi RS3 will go on sale in Europe in August. It's the equivalent of £51,000 for the hatchback. That's not much more expensive than the last Audi RS3, which started from £47,000 and that car didn't have that clever drifting AWD system. This new RS3 model is shaping up to be a world-beating hot hatch. Thanks for watching. See you next time.