Audi Quietly Avails More Powerful S3 Range In South Africa

“The production of Audi ‘S’ models began in 1990 with the S2 Coupé which featured the now legendary 2.2-litre in-line five-cylinder 20-valve turbo petrol engine.”

The S2 came fitted standard with quattro permanent four-wheel drive and featured a heavy-duty 5-speed manual transmission.

Audi Coupe S2

Fast forward to 2016, Audi has revealed its latest S3 which comes equipped with numerous interesting innovations.

Although slightly difficult to spot the differences between the new car the one it replaces, dimensions of the new car in both sedan and hatchback variants remain virtually unchanged, however, the styling has been updated to reflect new head and tail-light design changes, a further emphasized bonnet, integrated front bumper, a redesigned single-frame grille and a newly contoured rear diffuser. The Audi S3 wears also 18-inch wheels by default.

The headlights of the Audi S3 form striking new lighting graphics with jagged bottom edges. Bi-xenon units are standard. Available for the first time at an additional price in the premium compact class are the Matrix LED headlights and LED headlights. Both LED and Matrix LED headlights offer dynamic turn signals. Fifteen LEDs each produce the high beam of the Matrix LED headlights, which radiate from three reflectors. Supplied with information by the camera inside the interior mirror, their control module turns them individually on and off as required; or additionally dims them in 64 stages each.

In terms of motors, engineers working under the hood have raised power. You get an additional 18 kW and torque increases by 20 Nm. The 2.0 TFSI engine is now capable of generating a total of 228 kW and 400 Nm between 2,000 to 5,400 rpm coupled to a new seven-speed S tronic transmission. Hurdling from 0 to 100 km/h takes just 4.5 seconds, however, it only takes 4.6 seconds for both the S3 Sportback and the S3 Sedan to reach 100km/h from a standstill. The Cabriolet takes 5.1 seconds.