GIVING IT THEIR ALL

The BMW M3 is fi nally being offered with optional all-wheel drive. Can the latest Audi RS3, revamped for the PlayStation generation, keep it in its sights? Matt Saunders heads to the Peak District to find out

- Matt Saunders

There’s more than a hint of underground flavour about the new Audi RS3. Well, there is to me. I’ve never played a Need for Speed video game nor watched more than 10 puzzling minutes of any Fast and Furious film, so I’m at risk of exposing my ignorance here, as well as my age. But this is a car that looks very much like an invitation for some neon strip lights and an extra-flatulent exhaust to warble fruitily around a cinema car park on a Friday night.

This Audi has got dark, angry features that look a little, well, ‘aftermarket’. Flashy, animated LED headlights, too, that light up with ‘R… S… 3…’ when you unlock it. It has a drift mode, of a sort. All it’s missing is the ability to take video selfies of its occupants when you activate the launch control and then to automatically cut the footage into drag-race sequences for TikTok that alternatively also star Paul Walker or Vin Diesel (who will doubtless be upshifting in their rival ‘whips’ at wholly inappropriate times).

The funny thing is I don’t mean to be dismissive. This car is picking up on a cultural phenomenon far more influential than any car magazine or road tester. This is a new-era super saloon for a new generation. Twentysomething kids just don’t crave the cars their dad once owned, do they? They go their own way; they want new things of which they can claim full ownership. It’s understandable. I didn’t much fancy the AustinHealeys and MGBs my old fella used to drone on about when I was in my late teens, either.