Tested: ABT RS3
I can barely stop laughing, while I am tossed right and left as the ball of a pinball machine. The RS3 is already a proper rocket on wheels, with a simple dress that can hide its crazy inner nature. ABT is the ultimate form of deepest and acute insanity that you can find on a 5-door hatchback, suitable to be parked between the gray city cars of a supermarket and not to turn even a couple of eyes on it.
Attention, to go unnoticed is not a sin, if done the right way! This pocket rocket does it with a style and elegance on its own and doesn’t need no colors or extreme spoiler to tell the world “Look at me! I have 430 horses.” Yes, you read that right: the 5-cylinder TFSI (such a wonderful engine) has been literally taken over the barrier of understatement, clocking 424 hp and 530 Nm of torque. It was enough, just to be precise, to apply a couple of modifications to the engine, while a complete ABT package provides new suspension, a new exhaust which once selected Dynamic mode amplifies the soundtrack of your acceleration and a set of personalized wheels with spacers, acts to increase the width of the carriageway of this everyday’s car based on chili.
Time is too short and I’m in a hurry: I only use the “Comfort” mode just to test the more pronounced rigidity of the steering and of the engine/transmission combo, once passed in “Dynamic” and I do not care if the cabin is identical to that of any RS3, practically similar to that of a normal and banal A3. This beast roars and is glued to the ground; people will think that the world is traveling at double speed, but the 5-cylinder engine is a fury and the Quattro all-wheel drive system keeps you planted to the ground as if you were traveling on a rail. The road, unfortunately, is narrow and I can’t reach grip limits that would be useful for evaluating its cornering, like on a series of wider and faster bends, but the work done by the German tuner has made an original “hyper hatch”, an authentic missile for any type of driver. Brakes are powerful and precise, the 7-speed automatic gearbox is intuitive when in Auto, fast in Manual mode using the paddles behind the steering wheel, and driving becomes a drug. Who would have thought that a car so aesthetically monotone, was able to give a myriad of emotions like that. Sure, they are all united by words like speed, acceleration, torque, progression, but it looks really unthinkable and instead ABT declares that they are already working on a next step, even more powerful and maniacal.
The RS3 is not sold cheap and the fact that it is only available in 3-door version might turn up your nose; the ABT kit will cost starting from € 4200 (with the only modification to the engine control unit) and will rise significantly with options like wheels & company. But the definition of hot-hatch is tight: in this case we are talking about a small supercar ready to set off some fireworks.
Jack Dwarren
ABT RS3 (2015-)
Layout – front-engined, all wheel drive
Engine – 5 cylinder 2.5cc – turbo
Transmission – 7-speed automatic gearbox
Power – 424 hp
530 Nm
Weight – 1595 kg
Acceleration – 4,1 sec.
Top Speed – 285 kph