After endless teasing, it now appears certain that Audi will make an RS3 hyper hatch following the sighting of this test mule at the Nürburgring recently. If the deep TT RS inspired front grille wasn’t enough of a giveaway, then take a peak at the back of the car. There you will see the possibility of a high-mount air brake. In the lower valance you can see a crude cut-out on the right hand side likely to house one of the twin exhaust tips featured in Audi RS models.
There doesn’t seem to be much else in terms of pure speculation about the RS3 just yet, but expect more news to filter out soon. We can only assume an RS3 would be powered by the cracking 2.5 litre five cylinder from the TT RS. It’s also interesting to note the supposed RS3 mules spotted to date have all been five door Sportback versions. With talk the next RS4 could return to an Avant only layout, perhaps we can begin to assume the RS3 will not be available in three door coupé form.
There’s some good pics available over at Autoblog, so make sure you pop on over for a squiz.
[Source: Autoblog]
17 replies on “Audi RS3 looks certain after new prototype images emerge”
Where are the flared arches?
Check out the front guard. Maybe when they paint the rear wheels black they’ll pump up the guards as well, haha.
Surley Audi would wait for the new A3 body.
That rear wing is coming off! That’s how fast it’ll be!!
If the TT-RS is $30k more than the TT-S, does that mean this will be $30k more than an S3?
Will Audi really try and sell a A$100k hatchback?
Despite that, I’d have one if I could afford it 🙂
I have long suspected that Audi would be shelving this car until it is confirmed that BMW is bringing out the M1 (1M or whatever), and it looks like there could be some truth in that. $100k hatch? A bit extreme, but if I didn’t need the family SUV I would have bought one in a heartbeat.
I’m happy and sad about this.
Mostly sad, because I have to move to another country to buy one haha
An air brake on a hatch back is tres elite though haha
Hey Wayne, that’s now officially the 50th car you would have bought in a heartbeat in the last 12 months…
Go on Mark, name the other 49! Haha.
100K for a hatch! Whoa that is a rip!
nice but not worth 100k you could buy a 2nd hand s3 and do a stage 3 kit or a 911 C4S 2nd hand
Guy’s C’mon, if the RS3 came out the price would be over $115K. A TT-S is about this price drive away with the generic 2.0T 4pot.
How could Audi price it below this? $100K is a bargain!
GTI, R, Clio, Megane, Polo, 500, GT3, GT3RS do you want me to continue…!
Haha Mark, never said I would buy those French cars (unless you are talking the track versions that never made it to Australia), and yes, would love a GT3 or RS but can’t afford to bin a 300k+ car. As for the rest, I still intend to buy one of them!
Cat, TT-S has the same drivetrain as S3, which is priced at 70k. Or better yet, buy the Golf R if you want it even cheaper. 100k is actually very very reasonable for a high performance car, but I think most see it as a hatch back first then only a sports car.
Hmmmmmmm…….in black thanks.
[…] at Spyshots.nl they have a new video of an Audi RS3 test mule flying around the Nürburgring. Definite sounds of S tronic farting at gear changes can be heard. […]
[…] now familiar Audi RS3 test mule. We last saw pics of this prototype (note registration HN TT 342) back in June, with some video not long after. While there’s still nothing officially official coming from […]