Watch An Audi RS3 Annihilate Most Of Its Rivals In Two Drag Races

Audi's inline-five megahatch takes on an A45, Focus RS, Civic Type R and Golf R in two straight-line battles, and easily defeats the lot

Matt Robinson

21 Aug 2017

We know thanks to its bonkers 3.7sec 0-62mph time that the Audi RS3 should be able to beat the Mercedes-AMG A45, Ford Focus RS, VW Golf R and Honda Civic Type R in a straight line. However, we weren’t expecting quite such a bombastic victory for the five-pot-powered megahatch - by the end of the first drag race in this pair tests from Car Wow, it’s comfortably ahead of the Mercedes, its closest rival.

The Focus RS is - impressively - not that far behind, with the Honda Civic Type R and the VW Golf R at the back. The four-wheel drive Golf initially gets the jump on the Civic, but the lighter car soon reels it in and passes some time before the finish line.

Unsurprisingly, the Honda - the only front-wheel drive car here - does much better on a rolling start drag race, finishing as the ‘best of the rest’ behind the much more expensive A45 and RS3. Again though, the RS3 is way out in front.

Oh, and I’m sure we can all agree the Audi sounds the best out of this quintet…

Growing up on a diet of World Rally Championship highlights and lengthy Gran Turismo 2 sessions, a life in cars was as good as inevitable for Matt.

Comments

This is how unrealistic 0-60 times are….You rarely go flat out from 0 in the real world. Rolling drag races are closer to reality, and I’d like to see more of them in different speeds

As the RS fanboy is see no harm. RS3 is faster, but also 10 grand more expensive.

One could argue that those cars are not rivals of the RS3. The S3 would have been more suitable for comparison.

But it’s got an extra cylinder an half a liter more than the others

4/5 cars have R in the name

Me me Audi RS3 fanboy is very happy
But I think the RS3 would be more considered as a “hyper hatch” because of how much of a big advantage it has over its competitors in terms of straight line speed. So maybe the S3 would’ve been more appropriate as it has a 4 Cylinder like its other competitors

Was searching for a comment with S3 mention. I concur that the RS3 is really a race hatch and this test needs to be taken with a pinch of salt.
Also, think VW needs to put a new Golf R32 out. :)

Obviously a AWD non-manual would beat a FWD stick shift vehicle. It’s no brainer that the RS3 would beat the Civic and I’m not surprised. If it didn’t, it would’ve been a disappointment. I wish the WRX STI was in the line up as well.

It isn’t “old. It’s had a number of refreshes including an HP bump. The interior isn’t worse than anything else in this class. The RS3 is an ocean of hard plastic and plain design. The praise it gets is ridiculous. Quality wise everything in this class is far more similar than different. Looks inside and out are subjective. The RS3 looks like every other Audi ever made.

You have the A45. That’s fine. Taking that to “why would anyone buy this” makes you a moron.