HERE’S a first. Usually, it’s Audi’s sedans, hatchbacks and station wagons that get handed over to the firm’s Neckarsulm-based RennSport high-performance subsidiary to become fire-breathing sports versions. With the RS Q3, however, Renn-Sport’s ingenuity (and Audi’s bravery) has been stretched – can a compact SUV wear the RS badge with conviction?
The folks at Quattro GmbH have neatly managed to tread a fine line between cutesy and caricatured with this RS take on the Q3. Go-faster staples like a more aggressive take on the single-frame grille and a deeper, more sculpted front apron with enlarged lower air intakes, along with optional 19-inch alloys and a slight swell of the haunches, have been subtly applied to a pleasing overall effect.
The interior is a similar story. The asymmetrical facia design is one of Audi’s most original, while the rest of the cabin is about as reassuringly brushed-chrome-trimmed, rubberised and solidly executed as you’d wish for, with just a smattering of RS badges and a tactile, flat-bottomed steering wheel being the most noticeable differentiators.
Being underpinned by Volkswagen’s PQ35 platform (it also did duty in the Golf 6) translates to a reasonably roomy cabin, but taller testers remarked that headroom was tight owing to a lofty seating position that couldn’t be ratcheted down to their liking. This, combined with fairly limited rake-and-reach adjustment for the steering column, doesn’t afford the driver a sportier stance befitting the RS’s performance proviso. The rear’s sharply sloped profile means taller rear occupants will also find their scalps grazing the headliner, although rear kneeroom is adequate and the well-insulated cabin always feels very refined.
Having delicately massaged the Q3’s packaging to RS requirements, Audi’s engineers decided to go all out with the powerplant. In an automotive landscape where frugal, aurally innocuous four-pot turbopetrols have become the order of the day for the latest batch of sporty compacts, it’s refreshing to see that Audi has slotted in a mildly detuned version of the characterful, albeit somewhat thirsty, five-cylinder turbo engine from the previous-generation RS3 and TT RS into this car’s nose.
With a broad torque plateau that intersects with the peak power at around 5 000 r/min, it’s a flexible, hard-charging powerplant that lends the RS astonishing grunt. Stow the pedal flat and the power delivery arrives in a sudden swell accompanied by an offbeat five-pot snarl with upshifts punctuated by resonant whumphs from the tail when the car’s sport Drive Select setting activates the exhaust flaps.
With 420 N.m on offer, this is clearly a quick car, and a glance at the overtaking acceleration figures shows that the RS is capable of giving larger-engined performance SUVs and some performance sedans a run for their money. This observation is further enforced by a sub-six-second 0-100 km/h sprint time.
The transmission, however, is more of a mixed bag. At full bore, the seven-speed dual-clutch unit is in its element, holding onto the revs and gleefully socking its way through the gears. But in stop/start driving, it struggles to pull its punches and becomes somewhat jerky when gently accelerating on a trailing throttle in slow-moving traffic. It’s a low-speed quirk that we’ve previously encountered in a couple of dual-clutch-equipped Audis.
The RS’s dynamics are similarly two-sided. Although Drive Select tweaks steering weight and throttle response, there’s not a marked difference between the three presets. The steering is evenly weighted and, while not overly communicative, it is accurate in its feel. The all-wheel-drive system is a slightly beefed-up version of the Quattro drivetrain featured in most of Audi’s compact models, here equipped with a multiplate clutch at the rear that apportions torque fore and aft. Unlike some RS models, it doesn’t feature a torque-vectoring system on the rear axle and, consequently, tends to edge its nose wide when piling on the power through a sweeping bend.
Although the ride height has been dropped from the stock Q3’s 170 mm to 145 mm, aggressive cornering still induces noticeable body lean because there’s plentiful grip on offer. It’s a sensation that’s slightly exacerbated by minimal seat bolstering that sets you sliding about when things get lateral. However, once you’ve learnt to trust the level of traction and adjust your driving style to its nuances, the RS proves surprisingly nimble and entertaining.
Another surprise is the RS’s ride quality. Normally, the combination of stiffened suspension, reduced spring travel and the test vehicle’s 40-profile footwear wouldn’t bode well for ride comfort. But there’s a good deal of pliancy to the ride that renders it unflustered by all but the worst road imperfections and therefore more liveable than you’d think.
Test Summary
The RS Q3 makes absolutely no practical sense. But, given the fact that our market is awash with capable but largely unremarkable automotive fare, the desire to be different is the very crucible in which cars such as this are formed. As one member of the test team neatly surmised, it’s not the sort of car you’d normally end up recommending to anyone. They’d buy it purely because they want it.
Despite being the least conventional member of an already quite unconventional stable, the RS Q3 possesses an appreciable degree of the voice, punch and involvement that those two emotive initials stand for. It is a seriously left of centre automobile, but a novel and brave foray for which Audi deserves a good deal of credit.