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Is Audi’s RS3 the king of hot hatches?
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Mar 29, 2025
Today's hot hatches are closer to yesterday's supercars when it comes to power, performance and ability, but who does it best between Audi's RS3, the new Toyota GR Yaris and Mercedes-AMG A45 S? We head to the road and track to find out. Place your bets... Subscribe for evo’s latest performance car reviews, head-to-heads and track tests: https://bit.ly/3Ommfyv Follow us: https://twitter.com/evomagazine https://www.facebook.com/evomagazine https://www.instagram.com/officialevomagazine/ https://www.tiktok.com/@evomagazine?
View Video Transcript
0:00
So we've come to North Wales to some of our favourite roads to put three very different
0:09
takes on the ultimate hot hatch through their paces. One of them is the most powerful you can
0:14
buy which is the A45S. We've got the GR Yaris which you can now buy with an automatic gearbox
0:19
and we've also got the RS3 which has been around for a while but it's had an update and it's got
0:24
an amazing five-cylinder engine. They're all four-wheel drive, they've all got turbochargers
0:28
They all behave slightly differently so we booked a day at the Anglesey circuit as well to see what they did
0:58
I really enjoyed the Yaris. I drove it up here so I spent quite a long time just getting to know it in normal roads
1:03
But as soon as we got up on the mountain roads in Snowdonia, it just feels perfectly at home
1:09
It's small and really nicely damped but actually the body control is quite tight so it works with all the lumps and bumps
1:18
The car's quite small so you've got more road to play with. It's not massively quick and this car's got the new automatic transmission
1:27
which although it's paddle shift, I sort of got on with that a little bit better
1:33
I think I would still prefer the manual if I'm honest but the more time I spent in it, the more I really got to enjoy it as a road car
1:41
and revelled in what it can do up here. So the Yaris then
1:46
We know this engine, we love this engine. A little 1.6 turbocharged triple
1:51
it's got so much guts but it feels even more responsive and more urgent because we've got
1:59
an eight speed automatic gearbox in this so we've got close ratios it's actually a torque converter
2:05
it's not a DCT so I had to call it a direct shift and the changes are good you put it in manual mode
2:14
there's a bit of a lag and it kind of slurs into gear a little bit it doesn't absolutely snap like
2:20
a DCT. But you know what, it makes the car feel relentless, you haven't got that pause
2:27
of changing gear. I love the shift in the standard manual GR but this kind of gives
2:33
it a relentless intensity and even more performance. I mean the standard car is something that's
2:40
hard to stay with on a B-road like this but the auto you can just flick flat between the
2:45
gears. So this is the Gen 2 and it's got 276 horsepower, which is a little bit more than the
2:53
original. And it kind of has a more boosty character. There's more turbo whistling here
3:00
but it still sounds quite rough. It's not super poppy and musical like the RS3's engine
3:09
Nothing in a hot hatch is really, but it sounds quite industrial and mechanical. The whole car
3:14
kind of feels like that you know there's no sort of histrionics there's no jazz to it it's just
3:20
basic and it feels quite raw a massive all these things are just awesome as soon as you jump into
3:31
it it feels obviously a lot smaller than the other two and a lot more responsive and a bit more agile
3:37
and I find I have a better connection to it straight away
3:46
The thing that was always so lovable about this car was its simplicity and its honesty
3:52
and that shines through from the moment you drive it. The other two cars kind of revel in their sophistication and their complexity
4:01
and the amount of adjustability in the car. the yaris comes at your driving pleasure and the best way to attack a great road from a
4:14
completely different direction i think it's a very transparent character you just get in it
4:21
it feels much smaller which is helpful there's less power but you're straight on it you know
4:28
exactly what the car wants you to do it communicates its limits and its characteristics
4:36
really clearly so you just find your feet so quickly and you just get down to having
4:43
having fun you don't have to drive it fast to feel that either it just has a
4:50
tactility and an approachability and a kind of warmth if that makes sense it's just a welcoming
4:57
characterful car that you can enjoy on any road. Of course up here is epic and on many
5:06
of these stretches this car feels like it was born for the direction changes and the
5:12
lumps and bumps. It really comes to life. So the Audi's kind of grown on me throughout the test and initially it's quite an intense car
5:31
I mean if you ramp it up on all the modes, the engine's mighty, it's got loads of mid-range
5:36
sounds wicked but initially I found it quite wide and quite big for a hot hatch and you can drive it
5:43
quickly but you're almost hanging on to it and it's got a bit of torque steer and with that rear
5:48
diff it can kick out and sort of get a bit jumpy so it takes a bit of time to grow accustomed to it
5:55
but you kind of learn to just manhandle it and go for it and then it comes alive
6:13
As soon as you get in this car, the thing you fall in love with is that amazing five-cylinder
6:24
turbo engine. It's always been an absolute stunner. It's won no end of awards
6:31
and it been the heart and soul of every car it found itself in it getting a bit long in the tooth but that doesn matter I think we we all here to celebrate great petrol engines
6:44
while they're still with us and this is certainly one of the best engines you can get
6:50
not for any money that's a big statement but in any kind of car that you would wish to use as an
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everyday vehicle it's really special there's a little bit of hurricane and r8 in the in the tone
7:08
and in the specialness and clearly there's some there's some relationship there between five
7:13
cylinder and ten cylinder but yeah god it makes such a special noise and it of the three cars we've
7:20
got here it produces the most pleasurable noise and the most impressive performance from the
7:29
moment you open the throttle it just feels so muscular and smooth and yet it's still got some
7:37
fire at the top end it's not like it gives everything low down and then you have to accept
7:41
that you don't get the fireworks at the top. It's a real character and it just gives this
7:51
quite ordinary car in some respects. It's an Audi A3, isn't it? You see them everywhere
7:57
but this just has that special bit of exoticism which sets this car apart
8:03
so you might think that the rs3 is all about that engine and it is a wicked engine it sounds amazing
8:15
so much torque i think it's got the most character out of any engine here
8:20
but there's more to it than that and if you really drive it hard well you notice that
8:26
this thing has a really adjustable exciting chassis as well it does feel quite big on the
8:34
road for a hot hatch and quite lively over bumps as you can probably see
8:39
but where older generations have been a bit wooden and not very adjustable
8:46
this latest car this latest generation of RS3 has got a torque vectoring rear differential they
8:54
call it a torque splitter and it just makes the RS3 feel really energized and adjustable
9:00
because you can get hard on the power the rear takes a set and then it kind of rotates underneath
9:07
you it doesn't feel completely natural at times sometimes the rear end can sort of hop and skip
9:15
over bumps and it can be a bit snappy but once you get tuned in you can drive it so hard
9:23
and it's rewarding in a way that old RS3s just wouldn't. Mercedes, I've taken the longest to understand that car, I think
9:42
It's quite aloof in a way. It's very effective and I kind of respect what Mercedes have done with it
9:48
but it feels like a very Germanic exercise in what they can do with that platform of car
9:56
It's like it has to be the most powerful, it has to have this, it has to have that. But it's very within itself and quite contained
10:03
so you're struggling to find points of connection, particularly the steering. For me, it doesn't have any real on-centre feel, so I'm a little bit lost
10:12
You know the grip's there, but you have to trust it's there rather than work your way into it
10:17
So, yeah, it's a bit of a slow burn, I think, the Mercedes. Okay, so on paper, this has the most ordinary engine of the three
10:31
It's a 2-litre, 4-pot turbo, like you get in most hot hatches
10:35
but this is one with 416 horsepower. And the way it revs, I think it feels the most energetic at high revs
10:46
of the three cars. I think the Audi feels a bit more muscular in the mid-range and it sounds
10:53
better but this is so so revvy and short geared and the box is good too. It's an eight-speed DCT
11:01
a lot crisper than the Yaris's torque converter and you just kind of live at high revs in this car
11:10
wow i mean the world is going nuts we got a 400 horsepower plus four cylinder hot hatch here
11:22
as a character the a45 in some respects is hugely exciting it's really really powerful
11:37
and very, very quick point to point. It's one of those class leading cars in many respects
11:43
That's always been its appeal. It packs a really hefty punch and a lot of technology to go with it
11:51
So you get a real sense of being in a super hatch almost
11:56
because of the adaptive damping and just the way you can play around with a powertrain
12:02
so there's lots to engage with on the technology side but I've always found them slightly aloof
12:10
as cars to bond with I think the root of that for me at least is there's almost no
12:21
on-center feel with the steering so not only are you kind of trying to sense how much grip you've
12:28
got but you don't really get much impression of how hard you work in the car or how much you're
12:34
loading it up so even if you work on the basis that you kind of need to use your internal gyro
12:42
to sense when it's reaching its limit of grip it's really hard to connect with the car and I find
12:51
that frustrating because on the right stretch of road it's really nicely
12:57
throttle adjustable and actually quite playful surprisingly so so it's a bit of
13:04
a contradiction bit of an enigma I hopeful that in a track environment although this is not a track biased car but should you take one on a track day I think you would discover a different dimension
13:18
of its dynamics and its performance. That's something to look forward to
13:23
but for now, I'm going to grit my teeth and carry on on this particularly bumpy road
14:07
so we're Anglesey which is a very different kettle of fish to the mountain roads we were
14:15
on yesterday absolutely glorious conditions as well and I'm back in the Audi which says a lot
14:21
because you tend to gravitate towards the car that you're enjoying the most on any of these
14:27
tests and I've really fallen for this in quite a big way actually I loved its character and its
14:33
capability on the road and on the track you can really enjoy the full performance of the
14:40
car which is pretty spectacular I have to say. It's not a natural track car because again it's quite big and heavy nearly 1600 kilograms
14:54
but it's super exciting when you get up it and you get the diff working it almost feels
15:01
rear drive but it's still got really good traction you can drive it really hard
15:05
and it feels super quick so yeah I think it's an all-round package it's not a car
15:11
that you take on a track but when you drive it here you kind of see what
15:16
they're trying to do how to make it more exciting than old RS3s which are quite
15:20
wooden understeery things it's a curious mix of front wheel drive car and rear wheel drive car it rarely feels like a
15:34
conventional all-wheel drive car if i'm honest um you really get a sense of why it has those
15:42
oversized tires on the front axle and wider track at the front
15:46
even on the track it pulls itself around a little bit and it's quite
15:50
not a handful but it's it's certainly um boisterous shall we say it rotates into the
15:59
corner with great agility which is where the front wheel drive feel comes from but then as
16:04
you pick the throttle up it then comes out of the corner much more like a rear wheel drive car so
16:11
it requires a bit of thought because you sort of engage two different sides of your driving brain
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almost in a front wheel drive car if it starts to slide you need to keep the throttle pinned
16:27
but in this car if it starts to slide you have to balance the throttle more like you're in a
16:33
rear wheel drive car and then you've got that engine in the mid-range it hits so hard you don't
16:44
actually need to be up in the revs the whole time you can just ease it through and let the mid-range
16:50
build and it's massively exciting and where you can feel it hopping and skipping on the road at
16:59
the rear as that diff starts to work it does the same thing but a much higher
17:05
speeds on a circuit so you've got to be absolutely on it it doesn't feel as
17:12
stable and as flat and as racy as the Merc but I think it gives you more
17:18
options and it feels more on its toes more adjustable We came to the track to fully explore the cars, free from road regulations and laws
17:35
just to really push them to their limits and I think that's when the Audi steps up a gear
17:42
because it's got these different modes and maybe a more playful four-wheel drive system
17:48
whereas the Yaris is much more consistent with how it is on the road
17:54
So the Yaris is probably my favourite car on the road. just gives you so much confidence it's small you can place it and honestly in real terms it wasn't
18:04
any slower than the other two but on the circuit it's really good but it kind of doesn't come alive
18:12
in the way that particularly the rs3 does it's quite conservative in its setup on the brakes
18:19
into here to get it moving you kind of have to do a bit of that
18:23
It's not really a car that comes super alive and adjustable when you start putting loads
18:32
through it. It just takes what you can give it. So you can't really knock it for that
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but at the same time, I want a little bit more bite from this car
18:45
It's just not as exciting as the Merc or particularly the RS3
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massively capable though and probably the easiest of all three to drive quickly
18:58
the reason that it gives so much confidence on the road is what kind of is its undoing here
19:06
because it's not so adjustable and exciting as the other two and it just does the same thing that
19:12
it does on the road but at higher speeds and you kind of just bleed into understeer you can get it
19:17
move around you can feel the diffs kind of working to keep you hooked up but it's not like the other
19:22
two in that they give you options on the throttle and you can drive them on the limit so i like the
19:27
yaris and i think it's probably the most accessible car and straight away it feels the most approachable
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but i think it doesn't quite have the peaks of especially the rs3 all its qualities that you
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enjoy as a road car are still present and correct on track but I think what you realise is it gives almost as much as it can give on the road so you get to the track and think right I gonna really drive quickly now
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and you go for it and there isn't really much left in reserve certainly in terms of the engine it
20:03
feels very outgunned here compared to the to the Audi and the Mercedes which is understandable
20:09
because it's over 100 horsepower down on the Audi and best part of 150 horsepower down
20:17
on the Mercedes. It is a lot lighter, it's 1,300 kilos, so significantly lighter than
20:23
both the German cars, but you can't really make up that power and torque deficit
20:32
You can work your way through the modes and there's the normal mode, gravel and track
20:36
I think it does feel best in track which is as you'd hope
20:42
but it doesn't fundamentally change the car or the extremes of the car
20:47
in the way that the Audi and Mercedes can be turned into these cars
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that are quite happy to drift around I don't mind that if I'm honest because
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it is what it is I suppose you're expecting too much of this car, a much more simple car than the Germans, if you want
21:11
it to suddenly transform into a different character of car. But I love that it's so
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generous on the road. If driving on the track tells you one thing, it's that this car drives
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its heart out on the road. And yeah, for that, I absolutely love it
21:35
I think the surprise for me was the Mercedes on track because suddenly all the missing feel
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and that doesn't really come into it on track because you immediately turn in and you're
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not working in that woolly kind of numb zone that it spends most of its time in on the road
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and you know it's fully loaded and then suddenly you feel the balance in the car and you feel
22:05
the different modes do and it's higher up the rev range more of the time so you feel where that
22:11
extra power lives whereas for the most part the audi seems the bigger more muscular performer
22:22
so i don't think any of us really gelled with the mercs chassis
22:27
on the road but out here the way it feels quite low and flat and pointy
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kind of suits it. Steering's a bit slow for me, but as you can see there
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it's quite adjustable when you get hard on the throttle. It's got a great balance
22:49
I think the Audi feels a bit taller than this. And actually, if anything
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slightly heavier, even though it is the lighter car. Because the way this changes direction
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and how revvy it feels. It just feels super urgent and really racy
23:08
No, I like this thing on the track. The diff works in a similar way to the Audi in that you get on the throttle immediately
23:17
and the car stays neutral, but if you stay committed and stay in the power
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it gradually pivots towards oversteer. the Audi can feel quite sketchy when it does that especially over bumps it starts hopping
23:34
and skipping at the rear this is a bit more linear I'd say a bit more natural than how it
23:39
breaks away still exciting I mean it moves around under brakes a bit get the nose in
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use the throttle to neutralize it out of here it's good it's really good on track
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Yeah, the Mercedes was great fun around here, but it's just too heavy
24:04
Like if it was the weight of the Yaris, it wouldn't overwork its tyres and you could
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really treat it as a more like a GT3 911 or something
24:13
They kind of need to do a black series, I think, take a load of weight out and make it more aggressive and suddenly you have this really super cool thing
24:25
It suddenly feels like the most powerful hatchback you can get and it suddenly feels like a car with an interesting driver focused 4WD system
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it takes you a while to access it you have to go through the motions
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put it in track mode put it in manual mode put traction in sport and then in completely switched
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off and then engaged drift mode and then it asks you if you're sure all the usual stuff but once
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you're there it really comes alive we could record two endings to this film because i can get it set
25:12
my head right yeah absolutely definitely the yaris is the best road car and then i look over there
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and think but which one would i like to drive home would probably want to be in the audi because it's
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you know you're going to miss all of the all the cool stuff that that car has but um oh man i don't
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know i i think i think probably as an all-around ownership experience the audi has more about it
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but it's a lot more money so it should have those extra aspects that the Yaris
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doesn't but I think to head to a great road in difficult conditions and and
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certainly come to a place like like Wales I think the Yaris is still it's
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the most special when it's right at its peak I think it epitomizes what an
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all-wheel drive car should feel like but yeah as it stands I think my head goes
26:07
with the Yaris my heart goes with the RS3
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