The Audi RS3 Sedan, previewed here late last year, is now officially available in Malaysia. The hot compact sedan is priced at RM646,990 inclusive of duties and sales tax, or RM655,990 with the Audi Assurance Package (AAP).
Sounds high? A big chunk of it is tax – prices are RM315,343 and RM324,343 with the AAP in Langkawi and Labuan, PHS Automotive Malaysia (PHSAM) revealed. By the way, AAP includes a 2+3 year warranty and three years of free maintenance (the standard factory warranty is two years).
The is the second generation to wear the RS3 Sedan badge, and it’s powered by a 2.5 litre turbocharged five-cylinder engine that makes 400 PS and 500 Nm of torque from 2,250 rpm to 5,600 rpm. Power is sent to all four corners – quattro AWD, of course – via a seven-speed dual-clutch S tronic gearbox.
2023 Audi RS3 Sedan launched in Malaysia, RM647k – 2.5L 5cyl turbo, 400 PS, 500 Nm, AWD, new drift mode
Those are big figures, and the small RS sedan goes from rest to 100 km/h in just 3.8 seconds, three tenths faster than the tamer-looking old booted RS3, while top speed is capped at 250 km/h. Audi claims that the RS3 Sedan is the fastest compact car to lap the Nurburgring, covering Green Hell in seven minutes 40.748 seconds.
New for this generation is the Audi-first Torque Splitter, where an electronically-controlled multiple-disc clutch pack on each drive shaft replaces the previous arrangement of differential and multi-disc clutch combination. This setup enables the driveline to optimally distribute torque between each rear wheel, with more going to the outside rear wheel with higher load during cornering to eliminate understeer.
Torque Splitter also facilitates more controlled drifts on track, where the system can send all of the engine’s output to just one of the rear wheels, with up to 1,750 Nm of torque possible at each rear wheel. Audi developed the new RS Torque Rear drive mode specifically for this. Also new is the RS Performance drive mode.
