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Li’;l bro: The Audi S3 sedan has its big brother’;s good looks. But it really is a quicker runner.
So here’s a query for Audi’s marketing division: Why must anybody get an S4 sedan? The new S3 is cheaper, quicker (4.4 seconds to 60!), and, even though this will not trigger a purchasing impulse in everybody, considerably cuter. Sure, it is down a couple of cylinders compared with its bigger brother, and it has to make do with a less sophisticated 4-wheel-drive method. But this is 2014 and the planet is downsizing even the BMW M3 has provided up 2 pots.
Let’s commence with the apparent point that the S3 you are hunting at right here has its steering wheel on the incorrect side and wears a license plate that looks like an eye chart for myopic pensioners. That’s since, though the S3 does not touch down stateside until September (correct about when you are reading this), it is currently on sale in England. So we sourced one particular in the U.K. and arranged to infiltrate a former U.S. airbase to record functionality numbers, then did a whistle-quit tour of ridiculously quaint Shakespearean burgs with names like Kibworth Harcourt and Husbands Bosworth to see which 1 offers the very best black pudding. If you do not know what that is, don’t ask.
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You already know the basics: The S3 is the beefy version of the transverse-engined A3 sedan, sharing the Golf’s MQB platform and packing the most strong present iteration of Volkswagen’s familiar EA888 2.-liter 4. That implies 292 horsepower, generally the exact same spec as the forthcoming Golf R. Even though Europe also gets each 3- and 5-door-hatchback versions of the S3, only the sedan will cross the Atlantic. And though Europeans are assisting to save the manuals with a normal 6-speed stick, all U.S. versions will have the 6-speed S tronic dual-clutch automatic that is fitted to our test auto.
The appears are Audi-familiar. Despite carrying its engine sideways and getting virtually 10 inches shorter than an S4, the S3 appears close enough to its sibling that it could almost certainly use its driver’s license as a fake ID. The baby sedan’s hatchback origins are only clear in the relative shortness of its trunklid. With a chunky physique kit, quad exhaust outlets, and the silver mirror surrounds that Audi reserves for S and RS models, it is a handsome small thing—and a measure far more subtle than the Mercedes CLA45 AMG. Regardless of whether or not you feel that is a plus probably depends on how higher you put on your pants. Inside, the cabin is well completed and effectively equipped, even though apart from a flat-bottomed steering wheel and gray instruments (with an ’80s-style digital increase gauge), it feels very equivalent to the normal A3 sedan.
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The 292-hp turbocharged 2.-liter 4 muscle tissues the S3 to 60 mph in 4.4 seconds, .5-second quicker than the S4 can handle. |
The engine is the highlight. 2 decades ago, engines with the EA888’s distinct output came with turbo lag you could measure in Mississippis, whereas now you have to concentrate difficult to detect it. Push the throttle pedal and there’s a fractional delay as the boost functions by means of the technique, but it is so slight that you couldn’t really describe it as lag. Beyond that, the engine delivers perfectly proportional responses. There’s lots of low-down torque, but the engine enjoys getting revved, even beyond its 6200-rpm power peak. It sounds very good, as well, despite the fact that like the rest of its turbocharged MQB brethren, it cheats slightly with a sound-enhancing loudspeaker on the cowl that supplements the engine’s natural noise.
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