Sunday Drive: Audi RS 3 is the hidden gem of a sedan | News, Sports, Employment

It’s not often that we go back a model year for our test drives, but when the opportunity presented itself to step into a 2022 Audi RS 3, it was an easy choice to make. Starting at just $58,900, this Audi is one of the best ways to get into an entry-level sports sedan at a more affordable price.

Now, that might sound like a high price, but in comparison, it really isn’t when you know it comes with 401 horsepower and 369 pound-feet of torque powered by a five-cylinder engine that has proven itself at the Nurburgring in a legendary. 24 hour race.

The RS 3, which rocketed the compact sedan to 60 in just 3.6 seconds, also holds the Nurburgring lap record with a time of just 7 minutes, 40.74 seconds.

Our week with the RS 3 was in March, which should be spring here along the Wasatch Front. However, spring had not yet arrived; we had some snow and a lot of rain to contend with. Fortunately, the Audi came equipped with winter snow tires and was ready for the challenge.

The weather slowed us down a bit but not too much. We could still fly through the gears, with the RS 3 pushing us into our seats every time.

The Audi was completed with five different driving modes to choose from. The first was the Comfort mode. This is where the Audi would start the day, keeping it simple and making full use of the front axle. This mode kept gas mileage as the priority of the day.

We found that when switching to automatic mode, the second of the five, the torque would be distributed fairly evenly to the front and rear axles. This mode offered the best driving in snowy conditions, as we learned one morning on our way out. With snow tires included, the sedan handled the freshly fallen snow with ease. (Had I still been wearing summer tires, our day would certainly have turned out differently.)

The dynamic mode was as follows. This would push as much torque as possible to the rear wheels, taking us back to high school when almost every vehicle we drove was a rear wheel drive car. This mode was another great option and really pushed from the back to get things moving. When the 401 ponies got engaged, yes, it was awesome and awesome to experience!

The next drive mode, called RS Torque Rear, was very unexpected. It’s a strange name, but it allowed us to do something amazing: do controlled drifts through corners. Great! There is now more than one backcountry road corner in our area that can testify that this system works as advertised.

Last came the RS Performance mode. We referred to this as “fun mode” as it was designed for the track and would minimize understeer and oversteer when cornering at high speed. We would have liked to take the RS 3 to a track and really opened up about that option, but there were smiles plastered on our faces as we raced around town and on back roads.

With the inclusion of the Technology Package ($2,750), there was an added head-up display that gave us all the relevant driving information we could ever have wanted. The best addition was that when we were in Fun mode, it would add a line to the top of the screen indicating when to switch so we could use the switch paddles at the right time. This made us feel like we were driving around a track in a competition.

Did we mention the completely unique sound that comes from a five-cylinder engine? It’s very pronounced in the RS 3. There was quite a bit of grunt and pop during upshifts and downshifts at higher speeds.

Inside, the RS 3 was topped off with all sorts of goodies and techno wizardry that would make your commute or trip to the grocery store better. A huge 10.1-inch infotainment touchscreen dominated the dashboard. With a smartphone interface that controlled everything from the entertainment to the interior climate and of course the navigation, the screen was perfectly set into the dash for convenient use.

This was complemented by a 12.3-inch all-digital driving display that would also display navigation and other information along with very important numbers when in Fun mode, such as coolant temperature, engine, transmission and oil It also showed the G-forces we were experiencing at each moment. Audi kept on giving!

It could also track lap times, 0-60, quarter-mile times, and eighth-mile times. We wouldn’t have expected anything less from this sedan.

Heated leather-wrapped seats made colder temperatures more bearable. The only complaint we had was the lack of a heated steering wheel, but the Fun mode really negated any negative vibes we had.

The RS 3 proved to be worthy of the sports sedan moniker as it powered us through the week and kept us happy the entire time!

Base price: $58,900

Destination fee: $1,095

Price according to the impulse: $65,440

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