Audi S3 review (2007 onwards)

What – Audi S3
Where – Oxford, England
Price – From £26,995
Available - now
Key rivals – VW Golf R32, BMW 130i, Mercedes-Benz C-Class Sport Coupe C350, Alfa GT V6

Summary - Audi’s A3 gets a subtle ‘S’ makeover, giving it more power, poise and pace

We like - Subtle looks, beautiful interior, pace, exhaust note
We don't like - Tiny boot, sometimes jarring ride, mundane engine

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Full fat A3 experience?

I should love the S3, but there’s something about it that doesn’t seem right. It’s not the looks, the S3’s style perfectly blending discreet, tasteful lines with just enough menace to ensure it gets the respect its price and performance deserves. It’s not the interior either, which, with the exception of some of the super luxury marques is the best of any car, anywhere. It’s the engine. Call me picky, but for just five quid short of £27k I would expect the S3 to have some interesting multi-cylinder unit nestling behind its bolder front grille. It doesn’t.

I’d have settled for a V6, after all, in Audi’s S car line up such an engine choice would have made sense. The S4 comes with a glorious V8, the S6 and S8 an exotic V10, so a V6 should have been the natural choice for the S3. Especially as there’s one in the range that already produces around 250bhp. Still, what Audi has achieved with the 2.0-litre direct injection turbocharged four-cylinder unit is hugely impressive. Power from it is a heady 258bhp, maximum torque of 258lbft arriving at 2,500rpm and hanging on until 5,000rpm.

Driven: BMW 1-Series three-door

Tyre melter

That’s bound to excite all those Golf and Seat buyers out there with cars featuring the same base 2.0-litre TFSI engine. Why? The S3 proves that with a bit of tweaking their GTIs and Cupras will easily produce more power. All that additional power drives through the S3’s four wheels. Without quattro the S3 would almost certainly be a rather unruly companion, the lag-prone delivery of the engine meaning you receive its power in a quick rush above 2,500rpm. Without all four wheels digging in and assisting in forward motion the S3 would be a bit of tyre melter.

Even with that surging power delivery the S3 doesn’t provide the sort of visceral thrills behind the wheel you might expect. With the TT, R8 and RS4 Audi have finally proved they’ve got it in them to produce genuinely entertaining, involving sporting cars. But even with its 5.7 second 0-62mph ability and potential top speed of 155mph, the S3 fails to deliver the sort of grins per mile as you’ll experience from some of its rivals. BMW’s 130i with its straight six, 3.0-litre engine and rear wheel drive is a good example; even though with it there’s the odd grimace to counter those smiles when you’re on anything less than perfect road surfaces.

Driven: Golf GTI Edition 30

Beautiful interior

The S3 rides better than its BMW competitor then, but it’s not perfect itself, losing its composure on the sharper bumps and lumps that are such a common feature on our roads. You might forgive it this if the steering returned incisive feel, but aside from its decent weighting and accuracy it’s rather devoid of communication. Still, there’s always that stunning interior to enjoy. The S3 is undeniably a nice place to be. The seats hold you firmly, the controls all work beautifully and everything from the fonts on the dials to the way the dash lights up at night just feel so right.

Not very spacious

It’s not quite as spacious as I’d hoped inside though. Those rear seats aren’t much use for adults, and the boot struggles to swallow a set of golf clubs – admittedly not a priority for everyone, but the same is true for buggies and the like. With its range-topping status we thought the, rather hopeless, sat nav system would be standard, but it’s actually a whopping £1,400, a proper colour map guided system weighing in at £2,175. But perhaps the most glaring omission from the specification is an S-Tronic DSG transmission, not least because it would improve the standard combined consumption figure of 31.0mpg while also slightly improving performance.

Audi TT v Nissan 350Z

That said the six-speed manual is precise and quick shifting, the brakes also filling you with confidence. The handling is fairly neutral, understeer being the predominant characteristic once you reach the S3’s limits. The chassis feels very surefooted - to the point of numbness. Front-drive, lower power hot hatches are more fun, as is the S3’s toughest competitor – the Golf R32. Sure, the VW and the Audi share a good deal of technology, but the R32 is a much more interesting car to drive, not least because it comes with a 3.2-litre V6 engine and glorious soundtrack to match.

Mixed feelings

Not that the S3 doesn’t make a nice noise, it’s just a touch restrained. Much like the rest of the car. Even so, in our tenure it really proved its mettle on a late night, pitch-black dash across country in driving sleet. Here its standard Xenon lights lit up the road ahead, the quattro four-wheel-drive hardware imbued a sense of security and its tremendous pace allowed it to sear past dawdling traffic. But on the journey home, we took the motorway, which is telling, as we wouldn’t have done so in its rivals.

MSN Cars verdict: ****

Enormously capable super hatch that’s both beautifully built and fantastic to look at. However, it lacks the sparkle of some of its rivals.

Driven: Audi R8 supercar