2017 AUDI RS3 DRIVING POV/REVIEW // UNDERSTEER?

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Why is it that the Audi RS3 seems to just never lose value is it just the unique 5-cylinder engine or is that actually more than meets the eye with this thing let’s get into it my name’s Tom and you’re watching Paragon cars let’s Go Now engine this is a special one not only is it the famous rally dve 5-cylinder it has the engine code da Za or dazzer as tuners know it that means it’s a pre petrol partic filter car which also means it has the full 400 horsepower and 480 newm of torque that

It was destined to have from Factory shall we see what this little pocket rocket can do do on the 30 to 70 Sprint then yeah Let’s yeah these things are no joke are they this time we managed 3.4 seconds and that’s the fastest time I have ever gotten out of an Audi RS3 my guess is the cooler slightly thicker Air at this time of year is allowing the turbo to really work its magic one other thing to

Note is this pre petral particulate car is faster than the newer one with it fitted so if you’re wondering if the emissions regulations affects performance then here’s your answer I suppose anyway since we’ve done a load of rs3s in the past if you want to see a

Full interior tour of one I’ll just put a link up in the top right hand corner as for now though let’s get driving it’s 2024 and I thought we’d start the year off with a bang so we’re back in another Audi RS3 I know I’ve reviewed quite a

Few of these but I do just keep coming back to them because even though I’m a rear whe driver my Fanboy at heart there is something about this car that is just really special and it’s something that’s very hard to put your finger on I don’t

Know if it’s because it’s a really good daily driver you know like going over speed bumps now we got the mag ride suspension in comfort and it just feels like a regular Audi A3 really which is no bad thing but then you can just use your favorites button to get yourself into

Dynamic and I think it’s just that it’s just that five cylinder bark growl it does something to my insides that I’m not so proud of it’s like even when you start this car up it’s just it’s just a bit ostentatious but in a good way quite hard to describe but

It’s a very lovable thing and also a lot of people say oh Audi steers it doesn’t handle that that well if you get one that’s got the dazzer engine which this one has so pre OPF respones a little bit better and you get it with these slightly wider section front tires from

Factory I think this is actually a really good handling car like even driving it around town you can feel the steering is actually a little bit lighter than an S3 which feels a bit weird but the feel there’s like a little bit of edge a bit of texture to the

Steering that you don’t get in the S3 anyway in terms of parking this thing two turns lock to lock this car is a nice high spec so we got a reverse camera lines telling you where you’re going to go resolution is showing its age just a little bit um but it’s still

Very good really there’s there’s like nothing to complain about then once you’re in Britain’s average small car parking space it’s very easy to get to the first Notch which is nice and uh yeah easy car to live with around Town then coming out of Junctions this is where you might be surprised to learn that the RS3 isn’t that great at it even though you’ve got quro and you’ve got lots of power it’s a rally derived engine so there’s huge amounts of Turbo lag and the start stop is quite slow in

This to respond once traffic goes past I’ll Dem straight feet um but yeah we’ll just give it half rutle and see what it does so engine takes about half a second to get going and then yeah below 3,000 RPM it actually feels quite not slow but

Just there’s just not a lot of low down grunt you know it’s not like the m140i where it’s just got torque everywhere this you have to rev it out but in turn that means it is an absolute Joy way to drive on a B- Road uh which we’ll get to

Later first we’re going to get to the motorway obviously have a little handling test before we get on the motorway and we’re going to reset our MPG uh according to Audi on the combined cycle this will do only 33 m per gallon extra Urban it’ll do

42 uh which I do believe actually I have seen over 40 m per gon in this thing and we’re going to try and replicate that today um whether we do or not I don’t know there might be a lot of traffic on the M25 but it’s always worth a shot as uh you

Know proof is in the pudding it’s better to show people that it can do it rather than just tell them especially in a real world scenario like this I find it’s much more believable if you do it like this rather than going to like a test track and

Sitting at 70 with no traffic that’s not the real world is it Anyway let’s get us into sports mode get the traction off and see what this thing’s like round and round about okay then let’s use my favorit button on the steering wheel this is configurable but you should have

It to change your drive mode especially if it’s in an RS3 unfortunately they’ve removed that from newer Audi you have to get the RS3 like this to actually be able to set your drive mode with the steering wheel which is a shame yeah let’s get the traction into sports as

Well manual gearbox dual clutch dq500 gearbox not the same as the S3 so it’s a bit tankier but uh yeah enough bit of wheel spin and my goodness yeah there’s a lot of performance is there but the main thing for me is just oh oh oh that sounds so good so good

Just it’s just that gear change it’s like you’re driving a pitbull just like barking at you right Motorway time getting into Comfort Direction back on no efficiency mode in this um there isn’t the S3 but the RS3 like they do just know it’s a proper hot hatch so they’re not going to

Give you a proper efficiency mode plus it’s a fairly old engine um in terms of design obviously there’s new a bits on it but fundamentally it still drives like a fairly old engine um you know lots of Turbo lag as I’ve said already and fuel economy isn’t the best but it’s not the

Worst right let’s get on the motorway and see why this is actually one of the best of both World hot hatches okay then coming on to the motorway in Comfort mode if you give it a qu throttle it downshifts two gears cuz it knows there’s a lot of Turbo

Lag and getting up speed is obviously fairly easy like there’s a lorry here if I just plant my foot takes a while to get going C it does get going and uh once you are going it’s like blooming quick I know it’s 6 years old but it’s

Still probably one of the fastest hot hatches out there and yeah once you’re on the motorway suspension in Comfort irons out all the bumps very well even though the steering is more positive than the previous generation car um it still doesn’t tramline so much so it’s

Not trying to find little bits in the road little dips in the road still very comfortable loves to sit at 155 all day long typical Audi there and road noise is very low even though they’re on bigger wider section tires wind noise is very low seats are very comfortable but

It still suffers the Audi seating position yes my elbows can just about find the armrests but I’m still sitting too high if you come out of a BMW just a regular bmw1 series you sit way lower and feel like you’re sitting in it rather than on it the Audi RS3 you do

Kind of feel a bit topheavy especially when you’re turning into Corners uh which is a shame so if I was getting this car I would actually get lowering plates for the seats it’s that bad um but yeah there’s a lot of things that make this car very good on a long

Journey it’s just it’s wonderful you know comparing this to something like a Ford Focus RS this is just like the posher version much more comfortable on a long journey feels more sophisticated and yeah it’s just a joy to live with something like this an absolute joy and then yeah visibility

Also very good because you got low slung windows and the Sea position is quite High even on its lowest setting easy see out of easy to see in your blind spot as well these Wing mirrors I find really good actually even though they’re fairly small they’ve got

This little curve bit on the edge that just shows you your blind spot which is really nice this is where you feel the difference between this and the S3 though is just even slowly coming into a corner the steering just likes to sit there the S3 doesn’t do that you get

This really nice Edge like you can feel the edge of the tire it just sits very nice this thing around the nbig ring would be great especially in the wet one thing you do have to know how to drive it though utilizing liftoff over steer is

Key right then let’s get on to the motorway and see what kind of MPG we can Manage Keep keep open so yeah if you’re looking for economy the RS3 isn’t really the car for you I don’t know you don’t really buy a car like this for the mpg figure but it is kind of nice to know that you don’t have have to visit the petrol station

Every 100 miles um if you’re doing a lot of Motorway Journeys then you’ll get about 280 to 320 miles out of a tank I think that’s perfectly good enough uh driving around town aggressively though which is how you should drive it um you will get about 120 to like maybe 160 m

Out of a tank of fuel which is uh yeah it’s not a lot but I think it’s just about good enough that it’s not going to going to be a pain in the backside to live with um but yeah figure wise we got 34 MPG if I kind of Crouch down and look

At it or you can see on the the dash Gaper actually which is not too bad uh what is bad though one thing I’ve noticed is you know how on a golf your windscreen washers are like a nice fan um the Audi RS3 isn’t quite like that they’ve given you the windscreen washes

Off of a base model say at L like what is that what is that that’s shocking so uh Audi if you’re watching this I know where you’re saving a bit of money on this thing anyway let’s now get onto a B- Road and I can show you why this is a

Proper RS car and not just an S car right then back into Dynamic Traction in sports gearbox in manual just get the Barking Dog back oh God this car does sound so good doesn’t it it sounds so good just oh oh it titillates the senses and then handling wise the back

End yeah you can kind of feel it moving around you know little bit of under steer but you can neutralize it with power and Just oh it’s so fast can’t even get to the top of third gear before yeah well above the speed limit now thing is you don’t really get loads of pops and bangs but you get these really nice like like burbles coming from the exhaust but it’s just the noise it makes

Man just the noise brakes you got six po calipers up front I mean this thing stops on a dime obligatory sound check we’re going to have to do this more than once I think because it does sound really good second gear Adjust oh it’s good it’s very good even the paddles although they’re not super high quality they do have a very nice action to them I find but coming around corners you just plant your foot and you can feel the rear end moving which is just like it’s an Audi what’s

Happening and you know it’s a hdex based all-wheel drive system yet you can feel it sending loads of torque to the rear outside wheel but you do need those wider section front tires that makes all the difference suspension though very good mag ride never disappoints oh God it’s so

Good steering is actually quite nice in this you know it’s not it’s not a Ford Focus RS that probably has some of the nicest steering I’ve used but it’s still very good especially for an Audi knocks the socks off the S3 you can just feel everything’s a little bit stiffer up

Front bushes are just a bit more connected all right sound check take two very nice very nice indeed and it just it just flies this thing absolutely flies I mean yeah suspension’s very good steering is pretty good chassis balance is surprisingly good in this genuinely quite a good handling car you can get

The rear to move around you don’t necessarily want to slide it around a lot have done that if you want to go and see that review I’ll put a link up in the top right hand corner um but yeah it does I mean it kind of just drives like

A rally car really it really is a rally car for the road and yeah just it’s really weird because you have this preconception of Audi’s just under steering everywhere and um it’s just not the case with this it just isn’t you know I would compare

This to like it’s closer to a Porsche in terms of how it feels from behind the wheel than you might expect it’s like if Porsche made a hot hatch basically it would drive like this um and yeah I know the newer one has like proper torque vectoring differentials at the back or

Differential at the back which means you can just put it in drift mode I don’t you know it’s fun but I don’t necessarily think you need it you know people complained about under steer on this and I think you do just have to adapt a little bit to the

Way it handles like yes if you just plant your foot around the corner and you’re going very quickly on a track it will eventually push on but if you come in very quickly into a corner and you know use the brakes to rotate the car around

It will rotate and you can kind of maintain this really nice four-wheel like almost drift you’re like right on the cusp of the grip of all four wheels it’s lovely anyway where this car is very good is down a smaller British B Road let’s go to one now and I can show you

What I mean right down our favorite little road it’s just a rocket ship this thing and you can Chuck it into Corners like by that I mean you can just like flick the steering and it’ll just dig just an awesome bit of Kit and coming over bumps it’s

Just little bit of air there oh it’s just just Wicked just absolutely Wicked and the thing is like you’ve still got that really easy to control chassis that the Audi S3 has but you’ve just got a bit more spice you know a little bit more over steer a bit more

Precision a bit more race car feel and obviously it makes it more fun to drive but it also makes it very easy to go quick in right can we hit 60 before the corner let’s go obviously but it’s like that coming over bumps you can just plant your foot and you just

Know exactly what the car’s going to do it’s just an absolute machine this thing little bit of traffic have to wait for this guy to do his thing whil we’re doing that let’s enjoy some noise it’s a wonderful thing is it it is a wonderful thing right one last time then let’s

Go it’s just that noise man it’s all about the noise and the power as soon as you get above 4,000 revs it’s just a monster this engine it just is a monster but it’s Corners like this like coming under brakes hard under breaking Chuck it

In and you can just kind of feel the rear squiggling around just a little bit oh it’s just Wicked absolutely Wicked in fact there’s a little wall here it’s Just oh it sounds good but yeah in conclusion the Audi RS3 is still a beast still one of my favorite hot hatches and um yeah you know it’s for me at least it was a 140i or this and I think that should tell you just how good this thing is it

Is just an absolute weapon on a B- Road and the chassis is genuinely good it’s very different to an Audi S3 there’s a reason that these are holding their values and it’s not just because of the engine yes the engine’s great but the chassis is very good as

Well and I think if you’ve got the money to buy one especially one like this pre- OPF car you want one with the proper exhaust it’s absolutely worth every single penny every single penny anyway as always if you enjoy watching this content please give this video a like

And please subscribe as only like 1% of our viewers are subscribed so it would help us out a lot YouTube algorithm would then boost us a little bit and allow us to keep doing stuff like this um but yeah you can watch more more content like this if you want um you can

Also see everything we have for sale which includes this Audi RS3 I don’t know if it will still be for sale by the time this video goes live but if there is a link in the description then the car is still for sale and um yeah have a

Look at it and I would consider buying it because it’s an absolute Wicked bit of Kit anyway my name’s Tom and you’ve been watching paron Cars I’ll see you guys on the next one bye-bye