Audi RS Q3 Sportback | Test Drive

28 August 2023 Redazione News, Tested

Words Alessandro Marrone / Photos Jay Tomei

Exactly two years later, I’m back behind the wheel of Audi’s most striking high-performance SUV. In fact, if the potential unloaded on the ground by the corpulent RS Q8 is undisputed, the dynamic skills of a few hundred kilos and centimeters less are that much loved “less is more” that has always accompanied the much sought-after representation of driving pleasure. However, with the RS Q3 – especially in its Sportback version – there is no reason to give up the practicality of a small SUV with five doors and five seats, perfectly capable of bringing together apparently antipode behaviors.

No gaudy colors this time (two years ago I drove a very showy Kyalami Green), but the same substance of a model that has been so successful that it ran out of stock on the domestic market (in Italy), not everyday stuff. So I asked myself what more could I have done than I had done 730 days ago to deepen my knowledge of the RS Q3 Sportback and the answer was one of the most obvious I could get: take it on a road capable of putting to the test its performance side and do it right where I know every centimeter and imperfection of the asphalt, where the most imperceptible smudge inexorably emerges. In short, when you are faced with something bloody funny, it is good to try to put it in trouble, before crying out for a miracle. It’s not malice, you have to do it, in the name of science – or at least that’s what I repeat to myself to justify a few more tanks of petrol than usual.

With all the travelling of the last few months, it’s been a long time since I’ve planned a meeting with the good old Jay in front of the office at the crack of dawn. Waking up early, even if the sun peeks out earlier than even just two or three months ago, allows you to avoid traffic and reach the foot of the mountains when no wheels have yet trodden them since the day before. A bit of road that is not excessively high nor trending on Instagram, which in the early morning hours of any Monday appears as a desert, a kind of playground reserved for our scientific research. After driving for several kilometers with the gearbox in automatic mode and the car in Comfort, the time has finally come to give it all and put the transverse five-cylinder up front, the flagship of the Audi range, on fire.

RS mode number 1 – there are two totally customizable and recallable from the button on the right spoke of the steering wheel – g’box to manual/sequential mode and flat out then. The Haldex-type all-wheel drive is the ultimate evolution of the quattro concept, with total grip on the rough asphalt below. A blink of an eye later we are launched along the last straight that leads towards the first real hairpin bends and although the Dynamic mode (or RS, in fact) lets the exhaust valves open, the two oval tailpipes are always too muted, clipping the melodious cry of the 2.5-cc 5-cylinder, which from its side proves to be a small engineering jewel, destined in all respects to play a role of vital importance for the brand, especially now that its farewell is getting closer and closer.

It is a thrill of emotions, above all because once I enter the curve I can push even more, setting a turning radius as if I were racing on a high-speed rail. The 1,700 kg you carry around are never perceived, precisely because the dimensions of the RS Q3 are very small and accentuated by a seating position close to the ground. The set-up, without becoming extreme in terms of rigidity, transmits the variations of the road surface which take shape exactly where I expected, devouring one curve after another and exploiting the power of the turbo the precise moment in which the engine gets its peak torque, at around 1,950 rpm. The thrust of the 480 Nm is powerful and constant, but the best part is that despite a rather large tachometer for a turbocharged engine, the RS Q3 loves letting you pinch the red line, inviting you to downshift just before entering the slowest corners, thus taking full advantage of its 400 horsepower to launch you towards the next one, all with an almost surreal balance of the masses for an SUV perfectly suited to the everyday life of any family.

The 5-cylinder picks up speed smoothly, the steel disc brakes do their job and the gearbox is quick when you are acting with a certain vigor, but it also knows how to be docile and discreet, when you are driving in Comfort, for example. Not this time and taking advantage of a road entirely devoted to continuous changes of direction and curves that climb the side of a mountain which from the opposite side offers a breathtaking view over the city below bathed by the sea, the siege of the limits of the RS Q3 Sportback continues relentlessly and with no holds barred. It would be too easy to do it on a track, it would be pointless to talk about the excellent infotainment or how much luggage you can fit in the large load compartment. All that matters to those who buy this car for what it truly represents is whether it is a full-fledged RS. We’ve already said that two years ago. What I want to understand today is whether this exceptional baby super-SUV is really the sports car that amazed me, or whether bringing it to this battlefield may have shown some limits that I hadn’t been able to grasp elsewhere.

Surely, going on with this pace, petrol runs off like crazy. But there are days when sacrificing a few cents makes more sense than usual and today is one of them. The front-end engages with surgical precision and if for a moment I struggle to reach the small paddles on the steering wheel, I manage to throw in the right gear by using the traditional lever. The engine is always at the ideal speed and I perceive it from how the five-cylinder tries in every way to get that battle cry that is hurled against the mountain into the passenger compartment. You don’t realize the extra centimeters off the ground, you can’t even imagine having three seats and luggage behind. There are moments in which if you could close your eyes you could almost think you were behind the wheel of what could have been the TT RS we will never see again. In this blink of an eye that sends an indefinite number of images mixed with dreams, hopes and fears towards an increasingly less engaging future, an SUV/Crossover makes sense to exist because it takes and brings with it that driving fun that we enthusiasts cannot and don’t want to lose.

I throw myself into a hairpin bend as if it were the last minute left in this world, I almost cross my arms and while the 7-speed gearbox in Auto mode proves to be perfectly capable of managing downshifts autonomously, I put on the gas and hold down, maybe even more than I thought I would. I arrive on the bumpy stretch and the dips try in every way to undermine the set-up of the RS Q3. I cling to the steering wheel and move forward as if I were myself the inertia of a body launched at great speed. This repeats itself several times, in some cases trying to push the limits well beyond what anyone would ever imagine doing on a curbless road, but the part of the game where you realize that the limit is beyond, that’s where I slow down and with a smile of approval mixed with the satisfaction of someone who has ticked all the objectives of today’s mission, I move the gear lever once again to Auto and set it to Comfort mode.

A lot of things happen in two years. Memories tend to fade, while in other cases – for who knows what reason – an idea or an impression can transform until it changes completely. That’s why I considered the possibility of getting back behind the wheel of the RS Q3 Sportback very important: I needed to know if that incredibly fun object that I recommended to friends and relatives (3 of whom – as far as I know – have actually bought it) really deserved a place in my personal ranking. To dispel any doubts I exaggerated, not only testing its coexistence for the several weeks of testing, but taking it with me to the first event of the season at the 150 KM Rally and finally cornering it on a road I know like the back of my hand, ultimate tool to unmask every possible defect. Excluding a too tamed sound and the lack of sports seats on the test specimen, the RS Q3 Sportback reconfirms itself as one of the best Audi Sport around. Although with less intense delivery and with different traction management compared to the RS3 – which at the moment I consider superior, at least in terms of driving, but not in terms of aesthetics – we find ourselves in the presence of a little gem that knows exactly what it takes to satiate even the most demanding palates. If I then have the possibility of a third round, I will be ready with a challenge worthy of the showdown.

NOTE: for the avoidance of doubt, we would like to specify that the stretch of road used for the entire duration of the test here and the relative photo-shoot was closed and forbidden to traffic.