NEW Audi S3 Review: Better Than a Mercedes A35? | 4K

this is the brand new audi s3 the fancy souped up version of the newly updated a3 it costs damn near 38 000 pounds and it'll go head-to-head with the likes of the bmw m135i and mercedes amg a35 amongst others and it should appeal to anyone looking for a fast luxury premium hatchback that also goes like stink so what do you get for your money why is this thing around 12 000 pounds more than the entry-level a3 well it's all to do with what lives under the bonnet let me open her up and show you the good stuff the standard a3 uses a 1.5 liter petrol engine that makes around 150 horsepower but this thing a bit different actually just just a moment a little moment of silence for this gastroc that is that's premium that's proper that is anyway this thing uses a two liter turbocharged engine that first of all looks amazing look at this engine cover it's almost like it's been decorated with nail varnish at the top i think that's to make it look a bit meaner and it's also squidgy for some reason that's like a pillow anyway it makes 310 horsepower and 400 newton meters of torque which is 10 horsepower more than the original car but the same torque so it should be faster right that's the theory let's go find out cheeky naughty 60 test yeah why not i've got my timing gear hooked up put the car into traction off dynamic mode match the brake mash the accelerator sounds good send it oh little chirp in second and that is a hundred kph felt quite quick actually felt quite quick but what's the damage what is the damage all right so for reference the 2018 model did not to 62 in 4.6 seconds the 2019 version previous one did it in 4.7 and this 4.8 seconds yeah more power less performance it's fair to say that most people probably aren't buying s3s to do drag races they're buying them because they want to look cool it's all about image with this car is it better looking than an m135i probably what about an a35 i think it looks slightly more aggressive so for me this is probably the best looking premium hatchback with a hot engine out right now but it's not a massive departure from the standard car there are a few little telltale signs that it has been updated though this car has the optional black pack so you get these black audi rings a black front splitter black areas around the single frame grille black inserts black areas around these side vents black wing mirrors a lot of black black everywhere black window frames black side skirts and black exhausts oh if you have ocd then look away now because i'm going to show you something that you can't unsee look at this these vents over here real they let air in to do an actual thing these vents over here so what are you fake why why is that why are you doing that audi if i bought this car i'd have to stab holes in there otherwise it would just trigger me all day long in profile you'd have to be some sort of an audi rain man to identify this as an s3 but there are a couple of clues number one the calipers can be painted red as an option and incidentally the discs are all internally ventilated for better heat dissipation and you get unique wheels for the s3 18 inch graphite gray or 19 inch black wheels if you go for the top spec for sprung [Music] model one of the first things you notice when you jump into the s3 is how smooth it is quite often cars with this level of performance can feel quite brittle and quite harsh quite crashy and this thing not a bit of it and that's good because a lot of people who buy these cars don't want something that's too hardcore they want balance and the suspension on this gives you balance the suspension in the s3 is largely the same as the current optional s suspension on the standard car it's lowered by 15 millimeters but it rides well using oil in the dampers to adapt automatically to the driving situation in a few thousandths of a second you can choose your level of comfort too with comfort offering exactly that and dynamic giving you a good level of sportiness as for the steering well it feels pretty good but it can feel totally different depending on what you're doing at any given time if you're cruising through town and you happen to have it in comfort mode it can feel really light which is fine when you're in traffic but out on the open road it's a little bit too light by contrast when you have it in dynamic mode the steering feels unnaturally heavy what i like to do is to hit the drive select button and put it into individual then i can have the drive system in dynamic the suspension in comfortable the steering in balanced that's the best setting and the engine sound in pronounced and speaking of engine sounds it actually sounds half decent you put your foot down and there's a little bit of induction noise coming from the front there's pops and bangs from the back it doesn't sound like a hooligans car by any stretch of the imagination but there's definitely enough there to help you feel connected to the driving experience definitely sounds better than the m135i and the a35 the new s3 does not come with the option of a manual gearbox which is a bit of a shame in my eyes instead it will come with a 7-speed s-tronic gearbox now around town it's a really good box nice and smooth it shifts up or down without any drama any fuss and it's unintrusive and fairly intelligent about selecting what the appropriate gear should be and when you decide to take matters into your own hands using the paddle shifters behind the steering wheel generally speaking it's quite responsive usually shifting down from say second gear to first gear when you're going a bit too quickly it does hesitate however outside of that it's pretty responsive and again you get that nice pop from the exhaust every time you shift up one of the biggest aspects of this car's character is of course the fact that it uses quattro all-wheel drive quattro is the thing that allows the s3 to accelerate as quickly as it does from a standstill without any wheel spin without any fuss and it also gives you peace of mind that you can use that performance year round whether it's raining snowing or completely bone dry like it is right now but as good as quattro is for the most part it does have quite a big drawback and here's the reason quattro isn't always a good thing boot space watch this if i do a bit of kicking the boot will open nice touch audi i like it now in the standard a3 which has front wheel drive not quattro you get a nice big boot in this because you get quattro and quattro lives underneath the boot floor it impinges on quite a lot of the space you get so the standard a3 has 380 litres of boot space this 325 if you've got a family that could be a bit of a deal breaker but the boot that you do get is actually quite good you get these little hooks up here for really tiny jackets i think and a bit of netting for catching fish and these seats are actually really clever as well because they fold down in a bunch of interesting ways you can fold down this middle section all by itself or this section over here on the left all by itself or these two are obviously all at once nice good variety of options in terms of boot space well done audi and well done for cabin space in the rear the new s3 sportback and the saloon are three and four centimeters longer respectively but you don't get any extra knee room because the wheelbase is exactly the same but they are three and four centimeters wider so you do get a bit more elbow and shoulder room plus you get isofix ventilation and usb connectivity in the rear up front i like what they've done with this cabin the standard a3 is incredibly premium and the s3 is another level above that the seats are a particular highlight for me they're very supportive very comfortable and they look great with this contrasting yellow piping as for the dashboard that's clever too because it's got a variety of different materials and textures and although it's not the most sturdy feeling thing in the world i'm not really going to be touching that while i drive so i'm not really bothered i like these vents which look like they've come straight off a lamborghini urus nice touch i don't like the lack of a volume knob this basically looks like you've stolen it off an old ipod from the 80s i also don't like the fact that the engine cover is more plush than a lot of the materials inside the car you've got these quite scratchy plastics particularly up here in the center console which seems like a bit of a missed trick for me anyway you do get decent amount of storage space you've got these cup holders which have these clever rings which fold in and out a decent amount of space in the center console along with a cleaning cloth to help you clean up these glossy black elements around the screen and on the center console and you get a decent amount of space in the glove box and a decent amount of space in the door pockets as for technology well audi normally do a really good job of making sure their systems are easily usable on the move so let's go test all of this on the road [Applause] so on your instrument pinnacle just behind the steering wheel you've got the virtual cockpit which shows you so much information and the best feature back here is of course the satellite maps will show you exactly where you are and where you're headed then you got your big screen in the middle nice and straightforward easy to use nice clean interface and just below that a set of hard buttons dedicated to your heating ventilation and climate controls so far i've had no problem whatsoever trying to figure out how to control this car a couple of interesting bits you might want to know about the first is voice control so you can press the button on the steering wheel i'm hot what temperature should i set for you 27 degrees i'll increase the temperature to 27 degrees so you don't even have to take your eyes off the road you can tell the car what temperature you want it to be and it will sort it out for you it's not quite as advanced the system as you get on some cars for example the latest pulse star 2 has google assistant built in this is a little bit more restrictive but there is something else that's really really cool the handwriting recognition in this car is second to none i would say you can actually write in really horrible really scrawly handwriting and the car will figure it out even if it's not all on one line so i'll type b i r m i n g and then on the second line h a a r n i n g h it's worked out but i want to go to birmingham in most cars the handwriting recognition is atrocious so yeah brilliant job on that the last piece of tech that you should probably know about is the wireless charging feature so not only does it support apple carplay wirelessly but when you place your phone in the cradle it will connect to the car's aerial and boost the signal of your mobile phone so now you have yet another reason to put your phone down and not to use it while you're driving nice and clever just a quick word on fuel economy how do you reckon that if you show restraint the car will get 39.2 miles per gallon the way it does this is if you're driving gently it will sometimes switch off the engine and let you coast to save petrol it sounds pretty good and actually works quite well so in summary do i like the audi s3 and is it better than the mercedes a35 and the bmw m135 is it worth the extra money over the standard car a lot of questions probably a lot of yeses as answers too this is a really really well-rounded hot hatch with lovely premium features it's fast it's fun to drive and it looks great it doesn't come cheap 40 000 pounds is a lot of money but listen if this car ticks all the boxes for you yeah i'd recommend it [Music] you

Channel: AutoTrader

Views: 422,621

Keywords: AUDI S3, audi s3 review, 2020 audi s3, new audi rs3, s3 review, new audi s3 review, audi rs3, audi, rs4, rs6, audi rs4, audi rs6, autotrader, rory reid, rory reid autotrader, hot hatch, hot hatch review, audi s3 sound, audi s3 0-60, audi s3 acceleration

Id: kuH_d7d_auM

Length: 12min 46sec (766 seconds)

Published: Tue Sep 15 2020