Five-cylinder hot hatch ascends to a new level. Just don’t look at the price
One, two, four, five, three. The firing order of the idiosyncratic five-cylinder engine that powers the RS3 is important. Everything joyful about this car flows through it somehow. Without it, the new Competition Limited is just a £93k hatchback.
When the engine starts up, it does so with an industrial twang. When it’s stretched out past 7000rpm, it vibrates in a way to elicit pleasure rather than worry. And the glorious wastegate flutter at 4000rpm… It’s all thanks to that firing order. It has been 50 years since Audi first slotted a five-cylinder engine into one of its cars. It was the 100 (a car designed by a ruler and not much else), and the reason was simple: it combined the economy of a four with the power of a six.
But here we are today, celebrating half a century of prime-based cylinder counts with a tinge of sadness, as things stand, this engine will fall foul of the new Euro 7 emissions regulations coming into force in November.
Anyway. In terms of what separates the Competition Limited from regular RS3s, Audi has seen fit to implement adjustable coilover suspension with a stiffer rear stabiliser and ceramic front brakes.
It has fitted a few matt-finished trinkets, red, grey and black heritage badges (as previously seen on the RS6 GT), exclusive Malachite Green paint (as seen in these pictures) and 19in wheels finished in matt gold. I’ll address this now: Audi is charging £93k for an A3 (up from the £30,895 for the base car.)
It’s a collector’s item: production is capped globally at 750 (split between 585 hatchbacks and 165 saloons), just 11 will reach British shores (all hatchbacks) and Audi UK has already squirrelled one away for its own heritage fleet. But even though you’re highly unlikely to be buying one, it’s still worth reviewing to answer the question, if Audi throws the kitchen sink at the RS3, will it go down as an all-time great?
The five-banger found in the front of this special edition hasn’t changed from the ‘regular’ RS3s. But elsewhere there are some serious changes afoot. For one, the firewall and sound-deadening have been reduced. This saves 4kg, but it also makes the 2.5-litre engine’s workings much more apparent from behind the wheel. Although 394bhp doesn’t seem like a lot in this age of 1000hhp EVs, the Competition Limited is, at 1.5 tonnes, practically a featherweight in 2026, and it does monster through the gears.
There’s a real potency to the way it gets down the road, and I love how it rewards you for straining it out past its optimum revs. Peak power comes relatively late at 5600-7000rpm, and the noise thereafter is even more exciting. The flaps on the exhaust open earlier in the Dynamic and RS drive modes too, which certainly gets things flowing. At the lower limits, it sounds quite guttural, boosty and very old-school in some respects. And when it’s wrung out, it still doesn’t scream: it just barks at a higher pitch.
The gearbox is wonderful at ten tenths too. This seven-speed dual-clutcher is super-quick, and when in manual mode it will stay like that, allowing the engine to lurch into the rev limiter. The downside, as with most DCTs, is that it can feel a bit sluggish when driving slowly. There’s just a bit of inertia when getting away from a roundabout or pulling out of a junction uphill. The 0-62mph sprint is over in less than 4.0sec, though, and launch mode is as devastating as ever.
The adjustable coilovers are an interesting touch. Modifying the compression means changing how quickly the shock absorber shortens. The further it’s turned towards the plus sign, the stiffer the damping becomes. This maximises lateral grip, leading to higher cornering speeds, more eager turn-in and more direct handling. The further the dial is turned towards the minus sign, the less damping force is exerted.
This makes for a more comfortable ride. The adjustable rebound controls how directly the body is linked to the road, which can be altered through 16 steps. High damping on rebound means the suspension decompresses more slowly, making the handling become very precise and direct. Lower damping on rebound means the springs can expand more quickly, increasing ride comfort. In other words, plus equals hard and minus equals soft.
Theoretically, the coilovers are adjustable without putting it on a lift, but getting to the bottom of the front one and the top of the rear one is a right pain. All of this is theatre, of course: just knowing that they can be adjusted will send prospective buyers into a tizzy.
Dynamically, the Competition Limited is brilliant. It never really feels too stiff or too wooden, just excellently planted. My test car rode on Pirelli P Zeros, but Trofeo rubber is optional for those taking to the track. Having not tried those tyres or manually adjusting the suspension, my inclination is that neither would add much because it’s so good already and most people would be much better served leaving well alone.
There’s little in the way of body movement, but there is notably a bit of roll purposefully designed into it. It feels very positive, like it’s adding grip. Norbert Gössl, head of chassis development, is incredibly pernickety, to the point that he has even changed the rear stabilisers and brakes on his Volkswagen California family van. Audi has purposefully made the brake pedal a bit long. This is to stop the scraping sound associated with ceramic discs. They are quiet, but I would appreciate a bit more bite early on for instance, when just brushing the brakes before entering a corner to scrub off a bit of speed,
Turn-in is very sharp. Plenty of feel comes through the wheel. And the rear can be played with a bit, depending on which mode the by-brake torque-vectoring is in. My biggest gripe with the regular RS3 has been rectified: the interior. It’s usually so drab for what is an absolute riot of a car, but the Competition Limited gets gold seats. Honestly, gold works in something made in limited numbers. Although it does feel a bit weird manually adjusting the seat in a £93k car.
As I drove through the Rheingau mountains in western Germany, I passed a slow-moving Suzuki S-Cross and was greeted by a beautifully sighted, weaving downhill stretch of silky-smooth asphalt. And as I tore down it, I thought: in this car, on this route, I could do this every day. I just hope Audi can find a way to meet EU7 rules and extend the life of this engine.
