GENEVA MOTOR SHOW: Audi slams down new S3 Sportback

Audi is refusing to let AMG steal its hot premium hatch territory and plans to launch its all-new 250km/h S3 Sportback at next month’s Geneva motor show.

The first fast Audi to come off the family’s new MQB modular platform architecture, the S3 Sportback will be quick enough to send five people to 100km/h in five seconds when it goes on sale in Europe in September.

The timing couldn’t be better for Audi, having ended the production run of its turbocharged, five-cylinder RS3 (based on the previous S3), and Mercedes-Benz about to hit the same motor show with its storming 265kW A 45 AMG .

Yet the S3 Sportback is planned as a slightly softer, cheaper and more user-friendly machine than AMG’s first ever four-cylinder production car, which makes the 0.4-second difference to 100km/h all the more commendable.

The new S3 Sportback benefits from the significant reduction in weight that comes with the MQB architecture and is, at 1445kg, 70kg lighter than the S3 it replaces.

While the engine shares the same basic dimensions as the outgoing 1984cc turbocharged four-cylinder it replaces, Audi insists everything else about it is new.

To develop its 221kW (300hp) at 5500rpm it needs not just direct-injection, but dual-injection, taking advantage of variable valve timing and lift on both camshafts.

It also saves weight and complexity by integrating the exhaust manifolds into the alloy cylinder-heads and the entire motor weighs 5kg less than the old one.

It promises to be strong in the mid-range, too, with Audi claiming it will produce up to 380Nm in a flat line between 1800rpm and 5500rpm.

The new engine will match up to either a six-speed manual transmission or a six-speed dual-clutch unit that can be left to run by itself or overridden with a manual mode that includes steering wheel-mounted paddles.

Both gearboxes deliver shorter ratios for the first five cogs to aid with straight-line performance and a taller sixth gear to help lower the fuel consumption.

The dual-clutch unit uses launch control to hit 100km/h faster (by 0.5 seconds) and it’s also more frugal, pipping the manual by a tenth of a litre to record an NEDC combined consumption figure of 6.9L/100km.

That means the new S3 Sportback will be 1.5L/100km more economical than the S3 Sportback it replaces.

It will drive all four wheels through a redesigned all-wheel drive system, shared with the new Golf 4MOTION that, sadly, isn’t heading here. Though based on a front-drive layout, it sends its drive to the rear axle, where the latest-generation Haldex V multi-clutch awaits, constantly varying the amount of drive to each axle in real time.

It’s impossible, its engineers say, to cite an exact torque split because it’s minutely varying the drive spread all the time, though is capable of sending 100 per cent of the drive to either the front or the back axles.

The Haldex V system is lighter and has fewer parts than the Haldex IV set-up from the old S3 Sportback, and the car will be capable of torque vectoring as well.

Audi has worked hard to pull the weight distribution to 59/41 front/rear, even laying the engine back 12 degrees and pushing the front axle 52mm forward compared the old car.

It rides on the A3 Sportback’s chassis, though Audi has lowered the ride height 25mm and the S3 Sportback ends up 4324mm long, 1785mm wide and 1404mm high.

The body has had some slight reworking of the plastic bits, with a new face, a deeper intake and what Audi admits are “Faux” air-intakes to the sides of the valance. Like the top-line A3s, it has a choice of Xenon lights or LED versions.

There is also a pair of “Faux” aluminium covers for the mirrors before the whole thing finishes with a hatch-mounted spoiler, a pair of twin exhaust outlets and a redesigned rear bumper.

Audi reinforces the sports appeal inside with more aggressive seating, a boost gauge inside the tacho dial and aluminium pedals. It has also been given a black interior, though Audi can throw some red in there, too, if you need to lighten it up.

The S3 Sportback rides on unique 18-inch alloys and 225/40 R18 tyres all round.

Audi Drive Select is standard and adjusts the throttle mapping, the dual-clutch gearbox’s shift patterns, the skid control and the steering. You can choose between comfort, economical, automatic and dynamic, and there’s also an individual mode you can program with a mix of the rest of them.

While it rides on steel springs and fixed dampers, there is the option of magnetic dampers, which adjust the suspension stiffness by using varying electrical currents to change the alignment of tiny magnetic particles suspended in the damper fluid. When fitted, Audi Drive Select also tweaks the suspension.