If you are old enough to remember the rather unglamorous days of the hot hatchback the new Audi S3 will strike a certain chord. That is not to suggest that Audi would be terribly impressed with their new supercharged version of the Audi A3 being described as merely a “hot hatch”.
The principle is the same, however. Take a car like the A3, an expensive three-door hatchback aimed primarily at women drivers looking for something a tad more sophisticated that a Ford Focus, and produce a version of it which is capable of scorching performance and with a design philosophy to match and you have the modern version of the “hot hatch”.
It was the insurance companies, quite rightly in my view, killed off these cars - often driven by young, inexperienced and therefore dangerous drivers - in the ‘eighties and, although we have had variations on the same theme on and off for twenty years, small performance cars have not been the most popular on the block.
But Audi has been suffering something of an image problem with its cars - their appeal has not been seen to be wide enough nor the name desired enough. So along came cars like the TT coupe and roadster, two of the most impressive sports cars ever built. These cars have done more to build Audi’s reputation for adventure than any other.
The S3 therefore is a logical progression. Take the basic A3 and turn it into what is essentially a road-going rally car and you certainly lift the image of the A3. You do this by fitting it with a five valves-per cylinder engine and turbocharging it. Add low-profile tyres, a Quattro full-time four wheel drive system, a six-speed manual gearbox and a 0 to 60mph time of about seven seconds and you have a rather daunting formula.
The resulting package is a challenging but not a very practical one. You are low on the road, as you should be in a car like this, but you will also feel the harshness of the suspension jarr your body at speed. The S3 will take any corner in almost any circumstances and remain true to its line, but who is going to be doing this at the kind of speeds at which the S3 is at its most impressive ? Well, at least no one should be doing it. The S3 is a car that is capable of so much, but a large part of it is both illegal and dangerous.
If like me, however, you are willing to drive this car at its legal speeds and appreciate that it is enough to know that you have the kind of power on tap that you have, the S3 will be a rewarding drive. But is that not also to waste the sweetness of the S3 on the desert air? Yes is the answer. If you can’t control this car the way it needs to be controlled, and yourself for that matter, stay away from it. But most people won’t want to spend £39,500, plus delivery extras, on a car that needs to be tamed.
August 2001
by Donal Byrne