8 Cars The New Audi RS3 Can Match From 0-62mph

Despite gaining no power, the new RS3 is three tenths faster to 62mph than the old one, making it as fast as many more exotic beasts

Matt Robinson

22 Jun 2021

8 Cars The New Audi RS3 Can Match From 0-62mph

Although we won’t be seeing the new Audi RS3 in full until next month, we know pretty much everything about it. Audi put out a press release earlier this week detailing most of the key technical details, including the functionality of the drift-tastic RS Torque Splitter and all the performance stats.

Power from the 2.5-litre inline-five turbo engine is unchanged at 395bhp, but that doesn’t matter. Thanks to a new all-wheel drive system, Audi has lopped three tenths off the 0-62mph time, giving a new and incredible figure of just 3.8 seconds. It might be quicker still IRL - Audi itself has admitted its performance stats are deliberately conservative.

Importantly, that’s a tenth faster than the Mercedes-AMG A45 S manages, meaning the RS3 has pinched its rivals crown as the fastest-accelerating car in the hot hatch class. The figure also puts the car in the company of some much more exotic vehicles, some new, some less so. And yes, the little upstart is as fast as some much pricier Audi performance cars.

As we often like to do when a bonkers new acceleration figure comes out, we thought we’d put that 3.8sec figure into context by seeing what else manages the benchmark sprint in such a time. 0-62mph times, of course, aren’t everything. Just because the RS3 matches the cars below doesn’t make it a better car that we’d rather drive - that’s not what we’re saying here. This is merely our way of recognising the pace of automotive progress.