5 Reasons to Own a 2022 Audi S3

Little Audi

The AudiWorld content team recently had a chance to drive the 2022 Audi S3 for a few days. The sportier version of Audi's little sedan is an impressive, versatile machine. The compact package offers city car practicality. But the unassuming Audi's friendly side is contrasted by the S3's performance-oriented nature, when the Sport driving mode is selected. If you're in the market for a new car, here are five reasons to consider the Audi S3.

1. Audi-Level Luxury

The Audi A3 plays the role of an entry-level product in the German luxury brand's lineup. With the S3, Audi has given the platform a more premium feel. What's great about these compact luxury sedans is the fact that much of the high-end Audi tech and modern creature comforts have been carried down to the S3 model. Plus, in terms of quality, the S3 isn't too far from the company's flagship of luxury, the S8.

2. S Performance

This car is genuinely fast! That's one area that we were very pleasantly surprised about with the S3. The turbocharged four-cylinder engine is rated at 306 horsepower. It provides a great amount of torque in the lower rev range. And the transmission shifts up and down very quickly. Various reliable sources have recorded 0-60 acceleration times as low as 4.4 seconds with the S3!

The adaptive suspension does well to keep the light-weight sedan planted around the corners, making the Audi the perfect vehicle to take through back roads on the way back home from work!

3. Compact Package

It had been a while since this writer had a small car to drive around town. And there's no doubt, the compact package comes in handy quite often, when parking space is difficult to find. That's especially true when your objective is to stay as far away from other people's doors and bumpers as possible. This is useful because it's hard to trust most folks' ability to keep away from your car's paint these days...

Driving a smaller car is also generally easier. The S3 is far more maneuverable than the majority of the cars on the road.

4. Interior Design

Audi's newest interior design philosophy mirrors that of its exterior styling in many ways. It features strong character graphics and a techy aesthetic. The interactive features within the cabin have also been simplified in the best way possible. The controls are now efficiently located and beautifully styled. The S3, in particular, has a bit more of a driver-oriented personality inside the cabin, as well, which further establishes the car's motto of being a bundle of luxury and fun.

5. Driving Assists

The combination of the adaptive cruise control and the lane departure/steering assists add up to a similar self-driving functionality as Tesla's. When both of the aforementioned assists are engaged, driving on the freeway, especially in traffic becomes a lot less annoying. As long as there are clear lines on the road, your Audi S3 can practically drive itself. All it needs is for the driver to touch the steering wheel every so often so it knows someone is alert behind the wheel. If left unattended for too long, the car will slowly come to a full stop. 

It does need to be said, though, that Audi's driving assists are not quite as sophisticated as Tesla's, which many consider to be the industry benchmark at the moment. The Audi system seems to have trouble finding the lines a bit more often than we'd like. And it doesn't do too well recognizing cars in adjacent lanes, even when they are in the process of merging ahead. Still, amazingly useful to help keep one's sanity in LA traffic!

Downfalls?

The most prominent shortcoming we experienced when driving the S3 was the infotainment system. The car's own system was just a bit too laggy for a 2022 product. And although the navigation interface was great, the functionality was rather slow, and the arrival estimates were not very accurate. 

Being of the rare breed of exclusive Android users, this editor had an even less pleasant time with the Android Auto application, which takes entirely too long to activate after connecting to the car's Bluetooth. 

Some would also argue that the suspension is too stiff for a luxury vehicle, even in comfort mode. In our experience, though it's true that the S3 doesn't have quite as airy of a ride as many of Audi's larger cars, the dampers and shocks do a very nice job of keeping the bumps and road imperfections out of the cabin. This gives the car an adequately comfortable ride feel.

>>Join the conversation about the 2022 Audi S3 right here in the Audi World Forum!

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