Remember that hotter Audi RS 3 Sportback test mule spied at the Nürburgring and that this website has since referenced with RS 3 GT renderings HERE and as recently as last week HERE? Well, a new source has stepped forward with what appears to be valuable details that could bring the car into more detail.
What we know for sure is that Audi is readying some sort of close-out special-edition slated for the RS 3. Whether or not that’s the end of the line for the 2.5 TFSI remains to be seen, but other intel (like THIS and THIS) seem to suggest we shouldn’t count it out just yet.
However, all that is what was already known.
IS THE RS 3 GT BOGUS?
In those previous stories, this website has been running renderings of an RS 3 GT. Inspired by the RS 6 GT, they imagined what could be done with a close-out RS 3. Given the RS 6 GT’s obvious nod to 1989 Audi 90 IMSA GTO and the RS 3’s spiritual tie to Audi’s iconic 5-cylinder quattro motorsport legend, the idea of an RS 3 GT was fun to imagine… but it was never based on any known intel. Further, the RS 6 GT with its carbon fiber panels, bespoke wheel design and other special tailored changes made it prohibitively expensive… something Audi likely wouldn’t bother on a car in the RS 3’s price range.
We know this because they also didn’t go that extreme with the RS 4 Avant’s own close-out model. the RS 4 Edition 25 Years. That car harked the RS 4 Sport of 2001, a different nostalgia play entirely.
So, in short… yes. The RS 3 GT is bogus. It was only ever a guess.
SO WHAT CAN WE EXPECT THEN?
Audi has neither revealed nor teased anything, but that doesn’t appear to have slowed down fans of the brand’s 5-cylinder RS car. Shortly after publishing this website’s most recent piece, the @ooooIYKYK Instagram account was approached by @mastachazrs on Instagram who shared that he more information. This was our first interaction so I’m not sure of the accuracy, but details shared paint a compelling picture.
According to him, the RS 3 will be known as the RS 3 competition limited. Audi has produced “competition” models in the past, so the nomenclature is consistent with brand lexicon and history even if the name itself is a little more generic and less directly nostalgic than the RS 6 GT or the RS 4 Edition 25 Years.
He also provided some interesting images. Exterior shots appear to be a configurator tool front end shot that is perhaps the most questionable of what he provided. In it, we see a grille that has been reworked to show new patterning to the cross-hatch slats and vertical struts toward the outer edge of the singleframe where the cross-hatching ends. The image also shows what appears to be a poor attempt to make the lower side vertical intakes silver. This is a puzzle because it seems unlikely Audi would commit to such a hard part change when it didn’t do this for either the RS 6 GT or the RS 4 Edition 25 Years.
Another image he provided depict the parts diagram for the front of the car. Here, we see what appears to be the front bumper winglets also seen on the Nürburgring test mule. In this diagram, those winglets appear to be #22 and #24, along with perhaps some form of fastener #23 and #25.
Another puzzle are the interior shots and it’s here that I find these to be most credible and revealing. While similar to images in Audi’s configurator tool, one striking difference is the lack of seat backs so that the rear seat can be seen unobstructed.
What we see is a new color of stitching and seat belts. Checking the European market RS 3 configurator, no such color appears to be available at this time. Worth noting, the color here seems to hark the slightly gold-tinged Grey referred to as “Titanium” that we’ve seen on the Concept C and Audi’s new R26 F1 car. It could also be “Chalk”, another color that will play a roll in the Audi Revolut F1 Team’s branding.
There’s one other detail worth highlighting in these photos he provided. Those interior renderings aren’t’ of an RS 3 Sportback. Closer inspection of the RS 3 Sportback and Sedan configurator tools show those rear quarter windows in these interior shots to be the RS 3 Sedan and not the RS 3 Sportback.
North American RS 3 fans will be encouraged by this detail. The Nürburgring test mule was a Sportback, which is relevant to Europe but quite irrelevant for North America. There’d need to be a Sedan for this car to come to the U.S.A. and Canada, and here it appears there is.
DOES THAT MEAN THE RS 3 COMPETITION LIMITED IS CONFIRMED?
No, not yet. We know something is coming and we believe it is also coming to the USA. That’s expected later before the end of the year and likely following Audi Sport GmbH taking another stab at setting a Nürburgring track record.
This evidence is all very compelling and may very well prove to be proof of the final car. However, there’s been no official confirmation of that yet so it is being shared here more as information for those watching the space with great interest.
PHOTO GALLERY
