Audi RS Q3 2013 Review - International

Earlier this year Audi announced that the RS Q3 would indeed make its way into Australian showrooms. Now, we have a chance to find out if Ingolstadt’s latest pocket rocket is deserved of its famed two-letter moniker.

We first encountered the RS Q3 in prototype form two years ago. At that time, Audi had not given a name to the model and told us simply that it was a vehicle “under consideration”, and little else... It seems the cast and crew at Quattro GmbH were good at keeping their cards close to their chest, and in February this year, the RS Q3 was officially debuted at the Geneva motor show.

Now very much alive and kicking, the RS Q3 enters a market space it has almost entirely to itself. Besides the limited-run (and mega-dollar) Nissan JUKE-R, there’s not another pint-sized SUV we can name that is as quick, or as grippy as this nippy five-door bad boy. But that will change – though BMW said recently that it would not attempt an M version of its similarly-sized X4, the 258kW/450Nm Mercedes-Benz GLA 45 AMG is due “sometime in 2014 (though not in Australia until later in 2015). For the time being Audi says locally, the X1 xDrive28i and Range Rover Evoque Si4 are the only models that even come close to comparison...

So just what makes the RS Q3 special? And why would anyone want to part with $82k for a TT-RS Plus-powered compact SUV?

Think of the RS Q3 as a high-output, sports-tuned version of the regular Q3 and you’re beginning to get the gist of things. With 228kW and 420Nm the five-cylinder petrol turbo engine isn’t messing around, even if it is pulling 1655kg of metal, plastic and cow hide with it.

The RS Q3 rides 25mm lower than its derivative model, which goes someway to alleviating the nemisis of go-fast SUVs: body roll. It drives all four wheels via permanent quattro all-wheel drive and a sharpened seven-speed S-tronic dual-clutch transmission.

Audi says the RS Q3 will rocket to 100km/h in 5.5 seconds. Top speed is electronically limited to 250km/h, 19-inch alloys are standard (we tested the RS Q3 on optional 20-inch rims), and the brakes are 18-inch cross-drilled jobbies grabbed by eight-pot calipers that are more than capable of reining in your ‘enthusiasm’.

The bodywork, and indeed the heavily bolstered front seats, shout RS louder than the single oval exhaust, which it has to be said is provocation enough to endanger your license right from idle.

Torque comes on strong and early (try as low as 1500rpm!) to give a real push in the back under acceleration. Though pleasantly, your back is spared the torture of a ‘sporting’ hard ride. Somehow, Audi’s suspension boffins have allowed enough compliance from the RS Q3’s slammed springs to make everyday use entirely feasible.

What the engineers have not managed to do is to dial in any sense of steering feel. The light and easy feel at the wheel might fly with regular Q3 buyers, but those hoping for an RS-esque feedback will be a tad disappointed. The rack is quick enough, sure, but ultimately feedback is muted to the point of feeling detached, which is a real letdown in what’s otherwise a hatchet-sharp package.

The go-fast Q3 comes with all the tech and trimmings you’d expect from a range-topping model. Highlights include a three-mode Audi Drive Select program, sat-nav, heated leather pews, and a leather-wrapped flat-bottomed steering wheel. In Oz, some of the equipment fitted to our test vehicle will be included as part of an option package aimed at keeping the entry list price in check.

The RS Q3 will go on sale in February 2014 from $81,990 (plus ORCs), but will be offered with a Performance Package that adds 20-inch alloy wheels, diamond-patterned fine Nappa sports leather seats, BOSE audio with a digital receiver and carbon fibre trim inlays. It is expected the pack will cost around $5000.

And now, back to the question of ‘why?’.

If you’ve read this far and some emotional fuse hasn’t blown, then you’re probably not going to ‘get it’. Audi admits the RS Q3 fills a niche that few will understand, but in some far-flung fathom of Freudian mech-ismo that’s entirely the point.

The RS Q3 is about being different, expressive but ironically rational.

The SUV part of this vehicle says “I’m practical, I promise” while the RS badge says “I really just wanna go fast”. It’s an internal conflict personified in vehicular form -- a paradox of petrol-powered proportions in a package only the chosen few will understand.

And if you can’t wrap your noggin around that, then chances are the RS-badged Q3 is not for you.