Abt Will Now Give Your Audi RS3 454bhp

Abt, the German Volkswagen Group tuning specialists, will sell you an upgrade package that takes your third-generation Audi RS3 and turns up the wick on its five-cylinder turbo motor all the way to 493bhp. Called the RS3-R, it’s for people who find the standard RS3’s 395bhp to be a pitifully small amount of power, barely capable of taking the lid off a bottle of milk.

But what if you’re one of those people, who also think that 493bhp is a ludicrous, dangerous, antisocial amount of power to give a small family car? Well, good news: Abt is now catering for your very specific desires with the 454bhp RS3-S.

The 59bhp increase is largely provided by a new control unit on the 2.5-litre five-pot, which is fitted in addition to the factory item rather than replacing it. This drops the 0-62mph sprint from 3.8 to 3.6 seconds and also gives owners the option of raising the top speed from 155 to 186mph, something they can only do once they’ve registered and activated Abt’s app. The app is also capable of raising power to 485bhp ‘on request’.

Visually, the RS3-S is distinguished by a quartet of matt black exhaust tips, Abt’s GR20 alloys, and a 30mm drop in suspension, plus a relatively subtle bodykit and spoiler.

The upgrade kit costs €17,900 (approx. £15,350) for the five-door RS3 Sportback while curiously, it’s €16,600 (approx. £14,250) for the four-door saloon. We’re not sure why that’s the case.

With the standard A3 and medium-spice S3 both having recently had mid-life updates, the RS3 looks set to follow suit, if prototypes spotted testing at the Nürburgring are anything to go by. The new car will quite possibly benefit from a small power bump, but if you’ve already got a third-gen RS3 – which went off sale in the UK in early 2023 so Audi could fulfil existing demand – and don’t want to wait around, then it looks like you might be in luck.