Audi RS3 Vs RS4: Why I’d Have The ‘Lesser’ Car

The Audi RS3 is not a slow car. It will - don’t forget - out-drag a BMW M3 to 62mph from a standstill, and it goes further than raw numbers: stepping on the throttle brings frightening forward momentum that’s backed by a soundtrack which combines five-cylinder warble and a twin-scroll turbocharger.

Such is its noise, drama and fury, that you wonder how the new RS4 can put the ‘junior’ Audi Sport model in its place given the less characterful arrangement of six cylinders in a V hidden behind its gaping, trapezoid gob. Indeed after first driving the latest RS4 late last year, I was pondering exactly that. But having now driven both back to back, I can report that the performance pecking order works out exactly as you’d expect. Good lord does the RS4 feel quick.

The V6-powered car is no faster on paper - it too will deal with the 0-62mph sprint in 4.1 seconds - but putting your foot down for the first time, you’d swear it’s considerably pokier. It may not sound as interesting as the 3, but it picks up earlier - from about 2000rpm - and where the former starts to lose momentum at high RPM, the latter happily scrambles all your internal squishy bits all the way up to the redline with extreme force.

The more you drive the new RS4, the more the new engine wins you over. And not just in comparison to the 2.5-litre five-banger in the RS3 - its explosive force makes the old, fruitier-sounding 4.2-litre N/A that powered the B8 RS4 seem borderline limp.

It has the legs in the power department, and when the corners start arriving, the RS4 continues to give its little brother a drubbing, and that’s mostly down to the kind of all-wheel drive systems at play here. The RS3, with its transversely-mounted engine, has one of the ever-popular Haldex arrangements, which will generally run in a front-wheel drive configuration and send power to the rear wheels when necessary. The longitudinal RS4 on the other hand gets a ‘proper’ all-wheel drive system with a Torsen centre diff.

So what does all that technical stuff mean in the real world? It results in the RS4 feeling more neutral and sharper at the front end, and although you’ll rarely run out of grip, it’ll theoretically be more willing to power oversteer. Oh, and to cap it all off, the 4 has just a little more steering feedback, even if the setups in both cars are a little too light.

So far, it’s looking like the RS4 is able to put the RS3 firmly in its place, but rest assured, there are plenty of ways the warbly little one shows up its wagon-bodied relative. For one thing, the suspension: yes it’s firm, but never uncomfortable or unsettled. The damping on this standard-fit passive setup is very well judged, which can’t be said of the RS4.

We tried the RS4 with the optional, hydraulically-linked ‘Dynamic Ride Control’ system last year, and were less than impressed. In Comfort mode there’s a constant, wallowy vertical movement that never settles, while in Dynamic the ride becomes punishingly hard, making the car uncomfortable and nervous. The passive dampers of our UK test car are more like it, but it’s still considerably firmer than the RS3, and despite the harder setup it’s more prone to body roll - an inevitable consequence of the circa 200kg extra weight the larger vehicle is carrying around.

And here’s the thing - the front end of the junior Audi Sport machine really isn’t that far off. It’s still super sharp and incredibly adept at fighting off understeer - an old-school, unpolished RS car this is not. It’s never going to feel as good as a Torsen-equipped all-wheel drive machine, but the RS3 is still the least Haldex-feeling Haldex car I’ve yet driven, with a neutrality that’s a joy to exploit thanks to its lower weight figure and more compact dimensions.

I prefer the engine too. It may not seem quite so bombastic after stepping out of the Avant, but it’s much more up front about being a turbo engine with its oh-so-punchy mid range. And of course, there’s the noise - I’ve been living with this particular example for three months now, and I love the offbeat thrum of that inline-five more than ever. It’s exotic and just different - a V6 is just too obvious in comparison.

Getting these two together hasn’t really produced many shocks. The RS4 feels just that little bit sharper and faster, while being noticeably plusher inside. Whenever I got back into the RS3, it did seem much more ordinary, despite its lashings of Alcantara.

But what’s interesting is that when it comes to driving, the RS3 really isn’t far off, and mostly thanks to the powerplant, it’s arguably the more characterful car here. Choosing between the two isn’t something many will do - we’re looking at two cars from different segments with completely different body styles, after all. But if I was making the hypothetical choice, I’d take the smaller, more chuckable one that sounds a bit like an S1 Quattro, thanks.