One, two, four, five, three. The firing order of the idiosyncratic five-cylinder engine that powers the RS3 is important. Everything joyful about this car flows through it somehow. Without it, the new Competition Limited is just a £93k hatchback.
When the engine starts up, it does so with an industrial twang. When it’s stretched out past 7000rpm, it vibrates in a way to elicit pleasure rather than worry. And the glorious wastegate flutter at 4000rpm… It’s all thanks to that firing order. It has been 50 years since Audi first slotted a five-cylinder engine into one of its cars. It was the 100 (a car designed by a ruler and not much else), and the reason was simple: it combined the economy of a four with the power of a six.
But here we are today, celebrating half a century of prime-based cylinder counts with a tinge of sadness, as things stand, this engine will fall foul of the new Euro 7 emissions regulations coming into force in November.
Anyway. In terms of what separates the Competition Limited from regular RS3s, Audi has seen fit to implement adjustable coilover suspension with a stiffer rear stabiliser and ceramic front brakes.
It has fitted a few matt-finished trinkets, red, grey and black heritage badges (as previously seen on the RS6 GT), exclusive Malachite Green paint (as seen in these pictures) and 19in wheels finished in matt gold. I’ll address this now: Audi is charging £93k for an A3 (up from the £30,895 for the base car.)
It’s a collector’s item: production is capped globally at 750 (split between 585 hatchbacks and 165 saloons), just 11 will reach British shores (all hatchbacks) and Audi UK has already squirrelled one away for its own heritage fleet. But even though you’re highly unlikely to be buying one, it’s still worth reviewing to answer the question, if Audi throws the kitchen sink at the RS3, will it go down as an all-time great?
The five-banger found in the front of this special edition hasn’t changed from the ‘regular’ RS3s. But elsewhere there are some serious changes afoot. For one, the firewall and sound-deadening have been reduced. This saves 4kg, but it also makes the 2.5-litre engine’s workings much more apparent from behind the wheel. Although 394bhp doesn’t seem like a lot in this age of 1000hhp EVs, the Competition Limited is, at 1.5 tonnes, practically a featherweight in 2026, and it does monster through the gears.
There’s a real potency to the way it gets down the road, and I love how it rewards you for straining it out past its optimum revs. Peak power comes relatively late at 5600-7000rpm, and the noise thereafter is even more exciting. The flaps on the exhaust open earlier in the Dynamic and RS drive modes too, which certainly gets things flowing. At the lower limits, it sounds quite guttural, boosty and very old-school in some respects. And when it’s wrung out, it still doesn’t scream: it just barks at a higher pitch.