Audi Sport’s new, high-performance RS 3 Sedan is currently available in Audi Philippines’ showrooms. All the features of the car can also be presented via the Audi Live View, a digital luxury experience that lets clients engage in real time, via a smartphone, with an Audi product expert who is at an Audi Philippines showroom.
The new RS 3 Sedan is the spiritual successor to the “Ur-Quattro” race machines that secured World Rally Championship crowns in 1982, 1983 and 1984, as well as to the legendary S1 that competed in Group B rally racing and which clinched the Pikes Peak title in 1987 with Walter Rohrl driving. As such, the new RS 3 Sedan also sends its engine’s power to all four wheels through the quattro system. In the new RS 3 Sedan, quattro is an electronically controlled system with a hydraulically activated multi-plate clutch mounted at the rear axle. This multi-plate clutch, using software tailored to the new RS 3 Sedan, distributes the drive torque to the front and rear axles as required.
The new RS 3 Sedan is fitted with a turbocharged, 2.5-liter inline-five-cylinder engine—just like the early Ur-Quattro race cars. Outputting 400 hp and 480 Nm, the 2.5 TSFI engine in the new RS 3 Sedan is currently the most powerful inline-five in the world. It is capable of catapulting the car from a standstill to 100 km/h in only 4.1 seconds.
The sound created by the five-cylinder layout is unique, thanks to a firing order that alternates between directly adjacent cylinders and those further apart from one another. At high revs, flaps in the exhaust system open to make notes even fuller. The opening and closing of the flaps individually can also be controlled via the Audi drive select. The RS sport exhaust system with black tailpipe trim on the new RS 3 Sedan makes the five-cylinder engine sound crisper.
The 2.5 TFSI has won the 2.0-liter to 2.5-liter category in the International Engine of the Year award for 10 consecutive years, from 2010 to 2019.
Matched to the 2.5 TFSI is Audi Sport’s seven-speed S tronic dual-clutch transmission. The S tronic can be left in automatic mode or can be made to change gears via steering wheel paddles. Two driving programs are available in automatic mode; “D” is suited for normal traffic while “S” lets the 2.5 TFSI rev higher. In any mode, gear shifts are imperceptible and happen within hundredths of a second.
Another feature that raises the new RS 3 Sedan’s performance is its magnetic ride suspension technology. This system continuously adapts the car’s shock absorbers—filled with electronically controlled magnetic particles—to road condition and driver’s preference, ensuring both comfort and control.
As a model developed by Audi Sport, the new RS 3 Sedan flaunts a Singleframe grille marked by the quattro logo, a fixed rear spoiler lip, a distinctive diffuser insert with vertical struts, large oval tailpipes for the RS sport exhaust system, and flared wheel arches accommodating wide 19-inch Audi Sport alloy wheels. Visible behind the wheels are the RS sports brakes. The Black Optic package for the exterior further identifies the new RS Sedan as a high-performance car.
In the cabin, the new RS 3 Sedan mixes sport, luxury and intelligent features through contoured RS sport seats, RS multi-function three-spoke steering wheel with paddle shifters, leather-covered panels with red contrast stitching, Audi’s MMI infotainment system, a Bang & Olufsen audio setup, and the Audi virtual cockpit—a fully digital instrument cluster with a 12.3-inch TFT monitor that presents information in high-definition graphics. In the special RS screen mode, a rev counter dominates the display, which can show torque, power, tire pressure and g-force figures.
For more information, contact 7270381 to 85 or email sales@audi.ph.
You may also visit Audi Philippines showrooms at EDSA, Mandaluyong; Bonifacio Global City; Westgate Alabang; and SM Seaside Cebu.
