Bosch European Motors
The Audi RS3 is going to win. It just is, there鈥檚 no doubt about it. That was the mental block and extreme bias this reviewer faced internally, one early morning before this comparison had even begun. You see, when the Audi RS3 came out in late 2015 and yours truly got behind the wheel around some historic Targa Tasmania roads, it was a great feeling of supreme serenity. There was nothing the Audi could do wrong. It cornered, accelerated, braked and sounded like something from automotive heaven. It was, in essence, the best hot hatch on the planet. That was, of course, before the 2016 Mercedes-AMG A45 arrived. The idea for this comparison - as obvious as it may seem - actually came from a good friend of mine who currently ownsan Audi S3 sedan. He loves the sedan shape (rightly so, as it鈥檚 the best looking Audi on the market, in this writer鈥檚 opinion) and is disappointed that Audi doesn鈥檛 make the RS3 in sedan form.
However, he is willing to compromise for the hatch and asked if it鈥檚 worth the upgrade to the RS3, or whether he should look at the new A45 AMG instead. My initial thought was to tell him to go for the RS3, but then I read our own review of the new A45 AMG, first from Europe and then locally. It sounded like it indeed was a lot better, more power and torque, revised suspension and significantly faster acceleration. But was it 鈥榖etter enough鈥?to beat the RS3? Best to find out. Our two cars here are both MY16 model year examples. 2480 worth of options. 10,365 worth of goodies. All of which is at the end of this review. The AMG鈥檚 turbocharged 2.0-litre four-cylinder engine (the most powerful factory 2.0-litre in the world) has 280kW of power and 475Nm of torque. The RS3 manages 275kW and 465Nm from its 2.5-litre five-cylinder unit. Both use seven-speed dual-clutch transmissions.
The idea of a hot-hatch has always been that of a practical vehicle, with bipolar disorder. In essence, a hot-hatch must be comfortable and usable as a daily drive, while still possessing menacing performance credentials for when the time comes. It鈥檚 fair to say, though, that neither the RS3 or A45 qualify as hot-hatches. They are super-hatches. Anything that can do 0-100km/h in 4.2 (A45) or 4.3 seconds (RS3), should no longer be regarded as merely 鈥榟ot鈥? It鈥檚 on fire (not in the Ford Everest kind of way). Those performance numbers will give current series one (991) Porsche 911 Carrera owners a heart attack at the lights. Not to mention the RS3 is quicker to 100km/h than the RS4 and RS5. So how do they compare as a daily? The RS3 is a better looking car. There鈥檚 really no other way to say it. The A45 AMG is a busy concentration of aero parts at the front, with so many lines that it all looks rather overdone. It鈥檚 as if someone has taken aero parts of Lewis Hamilton鈥檚 Formula One car and stuck it on for good measure.
That extends all the way to the rear, with a plastic aero part stuck to the rear diffuser looking genuinely odd. On the other side of the German wall, the Audi RS3 is simply stunning. It鈥檚 a simple design that looks menacing without being overstated. It has ditched all the bling of the S3 (which arguably looks better, depending on your taste) and instead gone with a nice black grille and a very subtle quattro sign to signify its true intent. For whatever reason, Audi insists on putting gorgeous quad-pipes on its S cars but sticking with wide and relatively dull dual exhaust pipes on its RS cars. Regardless, from whichever angle you look at the two cars gathered here, it would take a hardcore Mercedes fan to genuinely insist the A45 is the better looking of the two. The story is somewhat different inside, with the RS3 possessing almost an identical interior to the S3 - albeit with RS badging and a nicer steering wheel. The updated A45 (above) now looks much nicer than before, with its updated drive-mode selector and new finishes throughout the cabin.
It still continues with the almost entirely redundant stack of buttons underneath the infotainment screen, which itself has a rather aftermarket feel that鈥檚 already starting to look dated (though the hardware is super fast). The Audi (below) has better looking and feeling seats, both front and rear, with gorgeous perforated leather with diamond shaped stitching, and far better bum and back support. Our rear seat test passengers also noted that, around town, comfort levels in the RS3 were better than the A45, though both offer reasonable amounts of head and legroom to comfortably seat four average-sized adults. You can try your luck at five, but expect complaints from the second row in either car. Neither cars鈥?infotainment system is as good as it could or should be. Mercedes-Benz鈥檚 鈥楥OMAND鈥?is unnecessarily convoluted, with too many sub-menus for performing simple tasks. Audi鈥檚 multimedia system is in need of an update, as it鈥檚 starting to look a little tired with an overly simple graphic display. And with the A3 range missing out on a SIM connection, some of the best bits of Audi Connect are not present.