- Audi is updating the S3 sedan for 2025 with extra power and chassis revisions.
- It also gets the torque-splitting rear end function from the RS3, which includes a drift mode.
- We expect the revised S3 to arrive in America later this year.
UPDATE 4/8/24: Audi released more details and new photos of the updated S3 sedan. We have updated this story accordingly.
The middle child of the Audi A3 lineup is inching closer to its big sibling. For 2025, the S3 gains horsepower and torque, benefits from chassis revisions, and adopts the rear-end torque-split function from the top-dog RS3. The car also has some visual tweaks, including new headlights and taillights and four new exterior colors.
With new output figures of 328 horsepower and 310 pound-feet of torque, the turbocharged 2.0-liter inline-four is 22 horsepower and 15 pound-feet stronger than before. Audi claims a 62 mph time of 4.4 seconds, but considering we got the old S3 to 60 mph in just 4.3 seconds, the new one will likely beat that time. Audi also claims that the seven-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission features quicker shifts. To enhance the auditory experience, there’s a newly available performance exhaust system with a titanium silencer.
The S3’s rear end now has the torque-split system that employs two clutch packs, as on the 400-hp five-cylinder RS3. Excitingly, this enables a sort of drift mode, which Audi calls Dynamic Plus, that sends more power to the rear axle—and the outside rear wheel especially—to induce oversteer. Other chassis tweaks include retuned steering, a new front-end geometry with a different camber angle, and larger brakes with two-piston front calipers. Newly available Falken summer tires should make the S3 grippier than before, too.
Exterior tweaks include new headlights and taillights, with the taillights incorporating a new animation and the headlights offering four different customizable DRL signature lighting configurations. Ambient lighting is newly standard for the interior, and a flat-bottom steering wheel is optional.
Look for more U.S.-specific information to come on the S3 within the next few months. Its starting price is likely to rise somewhat compared with the current car’s $48,495 outlay.
This story was originally published February 13, 2024.
Despite being raised on a steady diet of base-model Hondas and Toyotas—or perhaps because of it—Joey Capparella nonetheless cultivated an obsession for the automotive industry throughout his childhood in Nashville, Tennessee. He found a way to write about cars for the school newspaper during his college years at Rice University, which eventually led him to move to Ann Arbor, Michigan, for his first professional auto-writing gig at Automobile Magazine. He has been part of the Car and Driver team since 2016 and now lives in New York City.
