kellyfcwalsh

I've had my RS3 for two months now. I bought it without a test drive, which I really regret. (Not that one would have been available to test drive before purchase)
My car has pretty much all the features and options except the Ceramic front brakes (Why they are on option on this car no idea - should be standard)
I traded in my APR Stage 1 S7 to get this car.

First thing I noticed as I took it home was the exhaust. It's obnoxiously loud. Not Harley Davidson loud, but still loud. 2nd thing I noticed was the intelligence, or lack thereof of the automatic transmission while in "Sport" mode. The transmission has a tendency to hold at high revs for long periods of time after you take your foot off the gas. It doesn't do it in non-sport mode, and it didn't do it with my previous Audi (APR Stage 1 S7) while in sport mode.
I've actually found the automatic annoying to the point of having to familiarize myself with the manual paddleshift mode. The S7 had it, but I never needed a reason to use it, the same can't be said for the RS3.
I got the car home and went to program the garage door opener and realized the car didn't have one. I was stunned. Didn't really pay that much attention to the interior of the car when I was checking it out prior to purchase, and both my wife's base model TT convertible (which costs several thousand less than this car) and my S7 had the homelink garage door feature. There was even a housing in the trim where it looked like it should be, but I guess Audi figured if you can afford an RS3 why wouldn't you want to have an ugly garage door opener dongle hanging off your sun visor, because you know ugly remotes look awesome in RS3 sporty interiors...
Other cheap out thing that I noticed was the locks on the rear doors. For those who are not familiar with Audi, they come with proximity keys. When you are near the car and place your hand on the inside of the door handle, the door unlocks. When you press a small indentation on the outside of the handle, the door locks. The feature works fine on both front doors, but doesn't work with the rear doors (differs from my experience with the S7, and the TT doesn't have rear doors so can't compare) the doors have that little indentation the same as the front doors, but they don't do anything, and there appears to be no sensor to unlock, so when you have your hands full with bags and reach out to unlock the car via the rear door, because you want to put the bags in the rear door, you can't. You have to unlock the car with one of the front doors, then open the door, reach in and push the unlock button, then open the rear doors. Someone could argue that you should use the button on the keyfob, but the whole point of proximity is your key can be buried in a pocket or purse and you shouldn't need it in your hand.
While driving at highway speed there is a blinking red light on the dash to tell you that you are too close to someone, except that it's not properly calibrated and I can be traveling at the speed limit while giving the car ahead of me a full three-seconds of space and the red light will happily blink away. I would really like some way to reduce the sensitivity on that..it's like it's been programmed for my Grandmother's reaction time, and not the typical RS3 owner.

Last week the check engine light came on. Haven't had the codes pulled and the light didn't come back on the next day, but something I'm going to have to have checked out, probably when I put the winter tires on it.

I really wanted to like this car, and all the positive hype it's been getting really set my expectations to something that the car just couldn't deliver on. Yes it's faster than most of the other cars out there, but I feel like it's missing the usual polish that I associate with the Audit brand. From a 2-month owners perspective, I give the car a 7/10 and place it behind both the S7 and the base model TT in terms of owner satisfaction.

For reference - My cars owned list
2018 RS3
2017 TT Convertible
2015 S7 w/APR stage 1 (tied for favorite car owned)
3rd Gen WRX STI (really disliked the car and will never buy another Subaru again)
Dodge Neon SRT4 (very fun car, and best overall cost vs performance of all my cars)
A mini-van phase which I attribute to having kids and pretend never happened
03 VW Jetta Wolfsburg
88 Civic DX Hatch (tied for favorite car owned, 1st car owned)

Whiteshadow89

First off, thank you for the input. You typically see a lot of these “owner reviews”, and this would be the first one I have seen like this with some of these complaints. I am sorry to hear you are having struggles, and that you are dissatisfied with your RS3. That is a tough pill to swallow. That being said, I wanted to take a chance to address some of our notes made in your OP, perhaps I can shed a little light on some negative aspects you found with your RS3.

1. You mentioned the car being obnoxiously loud. I have to admit I am surprised to hear this, and while I respect your opinion I strongly disagree with it. Compared to cars like the M3 and M2 as quick examples the RS3 is virtually identical at WOT and noticeably quieter at 70mph or an idle. Shoot it even registers the same db levels at 70 mph cruising as your 15 S7 (according to Car and Driver). Have you tried messing with the engine/exhaust settings at all in the MMI? If not you have the ability to adjust the sound level you hear via 3 modes (comfort, auto, dynamic). My RS3 defaults to comfort, but I would suggest messing with the engine/exhaust sound modes in the individual drive setting under MMI/vehicle settings as there is a noticeable difference between comfort and dynamic sound levels for the engine/exhaust.

2. You stated the lack of intelligence from the 7 speed DCT auto. S mode is not meant for daily driving, or highway cruising. As you found out S mode holds gears way too long, even if you back off the gas. That is how every Audi I have owned is, and while I haven’t tested S mode in all the Audi’s I have driven in this manner, I have done it enough to know that S mode holding gear’s like this doesn’t shock me. Even Unitronics TCU tune didn’t change S mode in regards to holding gears, just made it more aggressive. In any drive mode, even dynamic, if you set it to “D” instead of “S” you will find it much better suited for what you are looking for. For me my RS3 learned how I drive and now it anticipates what I will want pretty well. My recommendation is drive the auto in “D” mode and save “S” mode for track, launch control, straight line pulls, and back road fun.

3. I 100% agree with you on the homelink and lack thereof. What is really frustrating about this is not just that a $60K car that doesn’t have the option of homelink or power seats in USA, but the fact that its little brother the S3 has the option for both. This wasn’t a deterrent for me, but a slight annoyance. This is not the firs or last time that German car companies in general do questionable things on their sportier models.

4. The rear door, I can only speak to the Audi’s I have owned. Whenever I drive someone else’s Audi, or test drive an Audi I typically don’t check the rear doors. For the RS3 you can only unlock it via the two front doors, you can also open the trunk via keyless entry. From the MMI system you can choose if you want one door, or all the doors unlocked when you grab the front doors. However, maybe it is just me, but if my hands are full with bags I don’t run to the rear door to put everything on my rear leather seating surfaces and floor. I use the trunk, not my rear seats. The trunk offers more room, and our trunks come with hooks for bags. Only time I use the rear seat’s or floor space is if I have one bag or if my trunk is full, and if I have one bag it isn’t a big deal to either hit unlock or just grab one of the two front doors. Perhaps using the trunk will assist you with some of your frustrations (no sarcasm).

5. The blinking read light for Audi pre-sense. I have only noticed it twice in 5 months of ownership, and that was right before it engaged for random abrupt stopping on the highway. Outside of that I have never noticed it. You can adjust the presense sensitivity and etc in the MMI. If it isn’t calibrated properly then that is on Audi and you need to take it in asap.

6. As far as the CEL, can’t help you there. You need to take it into Audi under warranty to have them look at it, shouldn’t cost you anything. I wouldn’t wait long though for a CEL. Odds are it was some electrical gremlin, but still it is a CEL lol.

7. You stated that you did not understand why ceramic brakes aren’t standard. Ceramic brakes aren’t standard on most performance cars in this segment, and they are expensive. This is an entry level RS model for starts, to add them would increase the price by 3-4K. Plus on many RS models ceramics aren’t standard, not too mention many people get caught in the ceramic hype. Ceramics are better for track use, but unless you plan to track your car why? Plus the stock brakes are more than up to the task of track duty in my book.

I hope some of these suggestions will help you, and again nothing here was meant rudely. Variety exists in the car segment because many people prefer something different. To me I don’t think it is fair to say the RS3 is missing the usual Audi polish. To me I think Audi jammed packed a lot of value into the RS3 given what it is capable of, and that it is a compliant DD too. Just because it lacks a few features doesn’t meant it lacks polish. End of the day this is a $60K sports luxury sedan that is very capable and has the compliance to suit DD duties. Someone who values a luxury sports sedan should stick with an S. Someone who values a sports luxury sedan should get an RS.

djdilliodon

kellyfcwalsh

Re: #1 - It's likely due to the fact that this car has to get the revs up much higher than my S7 did to get the same "city-driving" experience. When the revs are up, so is the sound. The quoted 70db at "cruising" was likely at highest gear @ 1800rpm or some such. The RS3 is going to spend more of it's time in the upper rev band because the torque band is much narrower compared to the S7 so consequently the car is making more noise than I'm used to. I have to baby the throttle around our house because I have neighbors I actually like and I don't want to annoy them when I come home late. I did find the setting for the exhaust in the MMI. It did help some, but I still find the car embarrassingly "Look at me" loud, which isn't my preference.
Re: #2 - Yes I'm aware of the difference. My issue is that I want the aggressive shift points and throttle response from the "S" mode, but I also want faster response when releasing throttle which I get from "D" mode. Back when I drove stick I could put the clutch in, or manually upshift to a higher gear to drop the revs and coast. If I'm not paddle shifting then I find I have to "row" back and forth between "D" and "S" to get the driving experience that I want, because the automatic in "S" mode isn't responding quick enough. To me taking my foot off the gas is just as important a signal to the computer as to what I intend to do as putting my foot down on the gas
Re: #3 Agreed. I think they can justify the lack of power seats on the alter of weight savings though, and my wife is a good foot shorter than me, so there is the inevitable seat shifting going on when she needs to borrow the car, or I've blocked her in.
Re: #4 It just felt like a cost/corner cutting thing to do. The same depression is there on the rear doors as the front doors, just they don't do anything because they cheaped out and didn't put the sensors in the rear doors.The rear door sensors worked on the S7, and I consider door locks and the mechanisms to open them basic 101-type things that should be included on all of the doors not just the front ones. I use both trunk and rear doors, and yes when I'm using the rear door it's usually because I'm putting something on the floor between the front and back seats that I don't want to roll around too much in the trunk while driving "enthusiastically"
Re:#5 Maybe I mis-described the feature. This is the red blinking light on the bottom right corner of the display which I think is not calibrated right. There is another display that I've only seen once which appears on the left side of the display which is some sort of pre-collision sense thing. Someone 15 cars up did something stupid and everyone in the lane slammed on their brakes and I got to see that feature working as intended. The one on the bottom right is also associated I think with the lane departure sensor thing, which I turned off because it was annoying (every time you change lanes the sensor thinks you're drifting off so it buzzes or vibrates the steering wheel) The sensor seems calibrated fine at sub-highway speeds but over 90km/h (55 m/h for US readers) it wants an unachievable amount of space between you and the car in front of you.
RE: #6 yep, but still disappointing.
Re: #7 I have a separate unrelated grief against Audi and their pricing on Ceramic brakes. I blame Brembo, who has a monopoly on the ceramic brake market.If anyone is aware of any 3rd party manufacturers who offer an alternative to Brembo that would fit an RS3 I'd love to hear about it.

I really would have preferred the TT RS Convertible, but not available here. I think it's some VW/Audi/Porsche conspiracy to force you to buy a higher profit margin Porsche instead...

tjacoby

I notice the car-distance indicator between the lane assist bars does flash red if the car starts to think I'm approaching a stopping car too quickly. The follow-distance for the Adaptive Cruise Control can be set on the stalk from roughly 1/2 a second to three second follow distance. The braking is more abrupt at the closer setting of course.

Whiteshadow89

I have extensive time behind the wheel of a TTRS. I personally love the TTRS. For you, you will probably have mixed feelings about the TTRS. You will like it more due to the nicer tech which includes a home link. The TTRS is more expensive, but you feel that in terms of the interior, and how the car feels more at home with the turbo 5 under the hood stock vs stock thank my RS3. It just feels like a better set up under the sheet metal. You won’t like that S and D modes are the same as the RS3, and it is every bit as loud as the RS3. The TTRS certainly emphasis sportier attributes more, which I am unsure if that is something you will like or dislike. I wish they would bring a TTRS convertible, but in time they will. Just curious did you order your RS3, or did you pick one up at your local dealer that was on the showroom?

Yea I am aware of the db levels, and the higher the rpms climb the louder it will be. At WOT it is significantly louder than your S7. Still I don’t think you grasp how many cars are as loud if not louder than your RS3. I say this because you seem very worried about your neighbors and upsetting them over a stock car. Just to put things into perspective the Cayman S, Boxster S, M3, M4, M2, Comparable AMGs to the M’s listed, Camaro SS, Mustang GT, Shelby GT350, any of the corvette line up currently, virtually an RS model, and there are many more out there are all comparable or louder on all fronts than your RS3. Odds are someone in your neighborhood has at least one of those cars so don’t “baby” it through your neighborhood at night. Exhaust levels is obviously a matter of opinion, but I think you hit the nail on the head when you said you aren’t used to the RS3’s level of sound. Only way you should get complaints with the RS3 if you are being reckless in your neighborhood.

2. Ok just making sure. If I may ask are you trying to use S mode in daily driving circumstances? To me it seems like it. One of my cars is stick, and for years my DD and fun summer car were both manual. I get your pov. Granted I have tunes on my RS3, but the only time I detect upshift problems with my RS3 is when I am trying to use it during daily driving situations as it is reluctant to reach 6th and 7th gear at a remotely normal time. D mode is still not far behind S mode, and you realize you can mix and match dynamic with D mode right? Might give you more aggressiveness in the shift points. If not you can always do a TCU tune which will help you some.

4. I agree, it was a cost cutting technique no doubt. It is one Audi and all other Car companies play on. This is an entry level RS model for the base model that Audi has. Not a higher tier model like the 7’s. I agree, all 4 door handles working off your hands touch is basic stuff, but car companies make questions decisions. Some of which are even dumber than the door handles. Looking at you Porsche with doing away with interior door handles and replacing them with seat belt loops on some of your models because of “weight savings” lol.

I am concerned though that you haven’t adjusted your MMI settings for your RS3 by this statement you made “o when you have your hands full with bags and reach out to unlock the car via the rear door, because you want to put the bags in the rear door, you can't. You have to unlock the car with one of the front doors, then open the door, reach in and push the unlock button, then open the rear doors. “ You know in the MMI settings you can make it so that when you grab either front door the entire car unlocks right? This way you don’t have to do that annoying process of opening a door, hitting unlock, then opening the rear door. That is not how you should be opening the rear of your RS3 lol, there are settings that will make your life easier.

5. Yea take that into Audi to get that sorted if tweaking. Maybe that is the car distance for ACC? If so you can adjust the distance on the stalk. I also think you can adjust it in MMI settings, as I want to say I did that in the first week of ownership when I was learning the MMI some. Regardless if you can’t find anything go to Audi to pick their brain more.

6. Yup, not saying it isn’t lol. You pay a lot and don’t expect those sort of issues. My Fathers TTRS sat in port so long due to a tune that was needed that the brakes actually got damaged and the rotors warped. Audi paid for it, but it was none the less frustrating.

7. Yea, but much like many things in life it isn’t a standard piece of equipment so you pay a premium price for it. To me the price they charge is not worth the premium over the stock brakes. Brembo certainly holds a huge market for brakes with the amount they do in the consumer and professional racing world.

S3APR'd

Dont own a RS3 but have a 2016 S3 with APR stage 1 (going in for upgrade to 2 in two weeks) and also did the tcu tune. The transmission operates the same way your S7 did. I realize that you will not likely want to get a TCU tune done but if you are frustrated with it that much then I would highly recommend getting the APR TCU done to it...and make sure you have them enable the automatic down shifting...its awesome!

Whiteshadow89

Interesting, my 15 S3 held onto gears in S mode similar to my RS3. Once I uploaded my Unitronic Stage 1 DSG tune it changed that so S mode behaved like D. Wonder if they tweaked things in the following year.

S3APR'd

Sorry I may not have been clear on my post. Mine was the same way in sport until i got the APR TCU tune, now its perfect.

Eran Levi

The red blinking light was very annoying to my liking. After someone here told me about how to adjust to blink only when you are closer to the car in front of you, I was very happy with the results.