Audi RS 3: Born for the Track, Fun in the Snow
YouTubers set out to get the Audi RS 3 stuck in the snow… But it turns out Audi’s compact track weapon still has a lot of rally car capability in its DNA!
TFL Studios recently snagged the Audi RS 3 for review, which is pretty standard for YouTubers and other Auto Journalists. But unlike our track day and drifting adventures in the new RS 3 last year, mother nature had a different plan for Tommy Mica and the TFL team. Nine inches of Rocky Mountain snow. So how does one then properly test and review a 401-horsepower sports sedan with only 4.9-inches of ground clearance?
You try to get it stuck in the snow, of course.
But the RS 3 isn’t just any sports sedan. It descends from a long line of quattro Audis built for Rallycross Championships. And what happens next (which you can watch below) looks like a LOT of fun. Shoed with a fresh set of Pirelli snow tires, the RS3 powers through the snow without issue. Even starting from a stop, the combination of the new all-wheel-drive system and proper rubber made for an unstoppable WRX-in-the-snow rival.
“Dare I say it, [Colorado] feels like the natural home of the Audi brand,” says Roman Mica from behind the camera. “For a few years now, the marketing has been all about the Quattro system, and for a long time, all-wheel drive or four-wheel drive was only for unique vehicles like Jeeps and pickup trucks, but it really became a thing of luxury.”
Behind the wheel, Tommy talks about the different drive modes. For him, what worked for the snow was putting it in Dynamic mode and enabling the traction control to a lower threshold to allow a little bit of wheel spin. He notes that the previous Haldex system did promote a lot more understeer from the front, making it not very confidence-inspiring in low traction conditions. But, the new system makes the RS3 feel like it’s now a “rally beast.”
