Audi beat the competition by being first out of the starting grid, showing its Vorsprung durch Technik ingenuity

The buying pattern of many a car buyer is to downsize from a large SUV, or to upsize from a sedan or hatch, meeting in the middle at the invented cross-over segment.

These cleverly-packaged cars are creating a sudden surge of demand for this new all-rounder vehicle type.  Car companies across the world quickly rolled out a variety of compact cross-overs.  But where’s the hot version?

We are all familiar with the Audi RS products – adding the letters RS together in front of an Audi’s name indicates that this is the top performance derivative.  This is what people buy to enjoy – high-performance cars.

Who would be the first manufacturer to combine these 2 desirables – cross-over and high-performance – into 1 dually-desirable car?  Would it be from Germany?  Most certainly.  No, not BMW M or Mercedes-AMG… but Audi RS.  Take the popular Audi Q3 cross-over and engineering in the award-winning 5-cylinder turbo engine (thank Audi TT RS and Audi RS3) to make the winter-warmer RS Q3.

Yes, this is the first car from Audi’s Q-range (Q indicating cross-overs and SUVs) to qualify for the honour of receiving the RS name.  Unlike its main home-country rivals who started by turning their big SUVs into performance-branded models (often too heavy and long to be properly sporty) Audi did the opposite, by using as base the compact agile cross-over, which doesn’t suffer from too many kg’s or metres.

From 2480cc engine displacement, the turbocharged direct-injection TFSI engine produces a maximum power of 228 kW at 5200-6700 rpm, and its maximum torque of 420 Nm is available between a wide usable 1500 and 5200 rpm.  These two values signify that the RS Q3 is unrivalled in its competitive field.  What you can’t see in values is the distinctive 5-cylinder thrum, adding strongly to driving pleasure.

A standard 7-speed S tronic gearbox with D or S (Sport) mode delivers power to the drivetrain, with its top gear a long ratio to save on fuel – claimed combined consumption is 8.8 l/100km which equates to 206 g/km of emissions.

Being an Audi RS, it obviously has quattro drive – this 4-wheel traction means the new baby RS, due to smallish size and relatively light weight, is quick off the line (standstill to 100 km/h in just 5.2 seconds = sports car quick).  Drive on each corner when powering out of corners also means a sure-footed compact car.  Outlined “quattro” lettering at the bottom of the front lower grille announces this, and adds a sporty finish.

Launch price is R 696 500 (now R 713 000) for which you also get several RS Q3 identifiers: flaps in the side air intakes, fins on the roof spoiler, 18-inch alloy wheels in 5-arm structured design (other wheel styles are optional), exterior mirror housings in matt aluminium, instrument cluster grey gauges with white scales and red pointers, sport seats with embossed RS Q3 logos upholstered in black Alcantara and leather, RS sport suspension, RS-specific wave disc brake design, hard-drive based navigation system MMI Navigation plus, along with the Bose surround sound system containing 14 loudspeakers with up to 465 Watts of output.

While Mercedes-Benz now offers the GLA45 AMG 4Matic as alternative, it is more a raised-height hatch than a proper-sized cross-over, while BMW, strangely, has no X1 M.  Although Audi Q5 size, Land Rover’s Range Rover division could have been first if it created an Evoque Supercharged V6 (or similar).

Audi beat the competition by being first out of the starting grid – acting quickly to a rapidly-growing segment, showing its Vorsprung durch Technik ingenuity by packaging a compact cross-over with high performance drivetrain… and instant-cred RS letters.

 

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