The Audi RS3 is going to win. It just is, there’s
no doubt about it. That was the mental block and extreme bias this
reviewer faced internally, one early morning before this comparison had even
begun.
You see, when the Audi RS3 came out in late 2015 and yours
truly got behind the wheel around some historic Targa Tasmania roads, it was a
great feeling of supreme serenity. There was nothing the Audi could do wrong.
It cornered, accelerated, braked and sounded like something from automotive
heaven. It was, in essence, the best hot hatch on the planet. Back then.
That was, of course, before the
2016
Mercedes-AMG A45 arrived. There were rumours that Mercedes-Benz had
fixed the car’s jarring ride and appetite for understeer, but for me, it was
hard to fathom how the boys at AMG could take their previously awesome, but
unliveable, hot hatch and make it as well balanced as
the new Audi RS3.
The idea for this comparison – as obvious as it may seem –
actually came from a good friend of mine who currently owns
an Audi S3 sedan.
He loves the sedan shape (rightly so, as it’s the best looking Audi on the
market, in this writer’s opinion) and is disappointed that Audi doesn’t
make the RS3 in sedan form. However, he is willing to compromise for the hatch
and asked if it’s worth the upgrade to the RS3, or whether he should look at
the new A45 AMG instead.
My initial thought was to tell him to go for the RS3, but
then I read our own review of the new A45 AMG, first from Europe and then
locally. It sounded like it indeed was a lot better, more power and torque,
revised suspension and significantly faster acceleration.
But was it ‘better enough’ to beat the RS3? Best to find
out.
Our two cars here are both MY16 model year examples.
The Mercedes-AMG retails for $77,900 (before on-road costs),
with our tester fitted with $2480 worth of options.
The Audi starts from $78,900 (before on-road costs), with
ours optioned with an additional $10,365 worth of goodies. All of which is
at the end of this review.
The AMG’s turbocharged 2.0-litre four-cylinder engine (the
most powerful factory 2.0-litre in the world) has 280kW of power and 475Nm of
torque. The RS3 manages 275kW and 465Nm from its 2.5-litre five-cylinder unit.
Both use seven-speed dual-clutch transmissions.
The idea of a hot-hatch has always been that of a practical
vehicle, with bipolar disorder. In essence, a hot-hatch must be comfortable and
usable as a daily drive, while still possessing menacing performance credentials
for when the time comes.
It’s fair to say, though, that neither the RS3 or A45
qualify as hot-hatches. They are super-hatches. Anything that can do
0-100km/h in 4.2 (A45) or 4.3 seconds (RS3), should no longer be regarded as
merely ‘hot’. It’s on fire (not in the Ford Everest kind of way).
Those performance numbers will give current series one (991)
Porsche 911 Carrera owners a heart attack at the lights. Not to mention the RS3
is quicker to 100km/h than the RS4 and RS5.
In order for this comparison to make sense then, we must
split it into two, for the super-hatches need to be both useful as a daily
vehicle battling city traffic and even better for those early morning drives up
a twisty mountain road before the men in the blue have awoken.
So how do they compare as a daily?
From the outside
The RS3 is a better looking car. There’s really no other way
to say it. The A45 AMG is a busy concentration of aero parts at the front, with
so many lines that it all looks rather overdone.
It’s as if someone has taken aero parts of Lewis Hamilton’s
Formula One car and stuck it on for good measure. That extends all the way to
the rear, with a plastic aero part stuck to the rear diffuser looking genuinely
odd.
On the other side of the German wall, the Audi RS3 is simply
stunning. It’s a simple design that looks menacing without being overstated. It
has ditched all the bling of the S3 (which arguably looks better, depending on
your taste) and instead gone with a nice black grille and a very subtle quattro
sign to signify its true intent.
For whatever reason, Audi insists on putting gorgeous
quad-pipes on its S cars but sticking with wide and relatively dull dual
exhaust pipes on its RS cars.
Regardless, from whichever angle you look at the two cars
gathered here, it would take a hardcore Mercedes fan to genuinely insist the
A45 is the better looking of the two.
From the inside
The story is somewhat different inside, with the RS3
possessing almost an identical interior to the S3 – albeit with RS badging and
a nicer steering wheel. The updated A45 (above) now looks much nicer than
before, with its updated drive-mode selector and new finishes throughout the
cabin.
It still continues with the almost entirely redundant stack
of buttons underneath the infotainment screen, which itself has a
rather aftermarket feel that’s already starting to look dated (though the
hardware is super fast).
The Audi (below) has better looking and feeling seats, both
front and rear, with gorgeous perforated leather with diamond shaped stitching,
and far better bum and back support.
Our rear seat test passengers also noted that, around town,
comfort levels in the RS3 were better than the A45, though both offer
reasonable amounts of head and legroom to comfortably seat four average-sized
adults. You can try your luck at five, but expect complaints from the second
row in either car.
Neither cars’ infotainment system is as good as it could or
should be. Mercedes-Benz’s ‘COMAND’ is unnecessarily convoluted, with too many
sub-menus for performing simple tasks.
Audi’s multimedia system is in need of an update, as
it’s starting to look a little tired with an overly simple graphic display. And
with the A3 range missing out on a SIM connection, some of the best bits of
Audi Connect are not present.
In either case, any BMW ConnectedDrive unit with the latest
version of iDrive, would’ve bested them both.
It’s also worth noting that AMG’s new drive-mode selector, a
knob located near the gear stick, is much nicer and faster to use, and in a far
better position, than its equivalent in the RS3 – which is a button you have to
keep pressing to switch between modes.
This makes life more convenient in the AMG, when you
want to switch from ‘Sport sharp’ to ‘Comfort’ while at idle next to a police
car.
Both the exhaust and suspension can be independently toggled
using separate buttons as well.
The AMG’s steering wheel-mounted paddle shifters are also
much longer than the Audi’s near miniature-sized ones, making it easier to
change gears when you’re in the thick of things.
The standard panoramic sunroof in the AMG is covered with a
rather thin and see-through piece of fabric that lets a reasonable amount of
heat in. Worth noting if you deal with the remorseless Queensland sun, for
example.
The Audi’s Bang and Olufsen sound system (part of the RS
package) is just that little bit better than the stereo in the AMG, but then
again you’re paying more for it, so it’s expected. A similar system is
optional for the A45, however. You really don’t need it though, as it’s
more than good enough how it is.
Arguably the fit and finish of the Audi’s interior is better
than the Mercedes, as is its general cabin ambience.
But where the Audi oozes understated class, the Mercedes is
inherently a performance car with little touches, such as red seatbelts, adding
that extra sense of urgency to the cabin. It’s what your friends will notice
when they jump in, and that’s important.
On the road
With its smoother dual-clutch transmission and ride, it’s in
traffic that we expected the Audi to justify its purchase as a daily drive over
the AMG. And we weren’t disappointed. The RS3 is a genuinely practical car you
can drive every day of the week.
Then again, so is the new AMG. And that’s the real surprise
here.
The previous model was unbearably harsh on
suburban roads. Its suspension was designed for smooth European roads and
it didn’t have adjustable suspension (like the new car), and, as such, it was
best suited for drives straight to a racetrack or to a chiropractor.
In that regard, though, the new A45 trumps the RS3, which
requires the $6490 RS performance package to gain magnetic ride suspension
(along with a host of other features noted at the bottom of the review) to make
it a usable daily.
The transmission in the old A45 didn’t like going all that
slow either, while the new A45’s updated system seems far more composed
and willing to be quietly driven around town at low speeds without any jerky
notions. As does the S Tronic gearbox in the RS3.
To put both cars to the test, we devised an hour-long
traffic loop through Brisbane’s CBD and Fortitude Valley, on a scorching
41-degree Celsius day with 90 per cent humidity in late January – possibly the
hottest day of the year in Brisbane.
Both cars were set to Comfort mode and had their air
conditioning blasting. After about 20 minutes, the AMG’s engine temperature was
sitting noticeably above normal (3/4), even though it was hardly getting out of
second gear, while the Audi appeared to have no such temperature issues.
After a while, the Merc also presented us with tyre pressure
errors, as well as a failure in the adaptive headlights.
It’s hard to say if these were temperature related, but the
Audi had no such problems. Both these problems went away in the AMG after some
time.
Both cars were filled up with BP Ultimate 98 RON fuel
before the city loop and then refilled again after covering identical
distances. The Audi used 3.9 litres of fuel while the Mercedes used 3.88L of
fuel. Nearly identical in start-stop traffic.
Over the bumpy roads heading from Kelvin Grove through the
city and back, both cars absorbed the bumps with limited annoyance to
passengers.
They are surprisingly not all that much firmer than their
donor cars. In fact, the adaptive and magnetic suspensions probably result in a
better overall experiences.
It’s difficult to give a definitive answer on which was more
comfortable, as the Mercedes tended to absorb the initial shocks from potholes
or speed bumps better than the Audi, but the Ingolstadt-bred hatch settled
quicker post-trauma.
While idling in traffic in Sports (AMG) or Dynamic (RS)
mode, both cars sound possessed. The Audi has a nicer idle with a deeper burble
and a rougher sound that suits its nature.
The AMG, though, loves to crackle and pop on the slightest
bit of acceleration, while it takes some serious use of the right foot to get
the Audi to get theatrical. More on that in the dynamic test.
Both cars have a reversing camera and reasonable rear
visibility, though they are also equally terrible at doing three point turns
(11m turning circle for both). And it took us far too long to work out how to
make the AMG park itself, so we gave up, while the RS is a simple button to
activate the system.
You shouldn’t have any issues parking either of them
anywhere reasonable, though, the Audi’s flush wheels are probably more prone to
abuse than the AMG’s optional, and gorgeous, matt black alloys ($490).
Both are the sort of car you’d definitely let your wife
drive to the shops without having a panic attack (or the other way around).
They sit high enough not to bottom out, while the general
manoeuvrability of each car in tight spaces is probably better than you’d
expect despite the terrible turning circle.
Overall, there’s not all that much between them when it
comes to the everyday commute. We found both cars blended in with traffic with
minimal attention garnered, which is a shame in one way but a blessing in
another.
From our perspective, if the everyday commute was a big
factor in the purchase decision, you would probably lean more towards the Audi.
But only because it looks better inside and out, and offers more comfortable
seats.
It does cost $8885 more than the also-optioned-up AMG
though, and you couldn’t buy it without the magnetic ride option (which Audi
really should package independently as a cheaper option), which equals out
their final scoring for the road test.
From a servicing cost perspective, the Audi will set you
back $1950 in the first three years while the Mercedes comes in at $2880
Ultimately though, we are talking about sports cars here and
you are paying a lot of money for their performance credentials, so that should
mean more than around town livability.
During our initial in-city and traffic road tests, it was
obvious that the AMG was like a scalpel waiting to go to work.
With that in mind we gratefully switched from Comfort to
Sport+ and Dynamic mode and headed for the super twisty and extremely tight
roads of Mount Nebo and Mount Glorious. It was time to find a real winner…
source: http://www.caradvice.com.au/413892/audi-rs3-v-mercedes-amg-a45-comparison-road-test/
by Alborz Fallah
http://www.boscheuropean.com
