This week’s rendered car is one that never existed, though maybe it should have. As the brand shifted its small offerings into the MQB era, Audi debuted the A3 clubsport quattro concept at the 2014 Wörthersee Treffen.
Based on the then-new A3 sedan, the car featured radical widened bodywork featuring ur quattro-inspired box flares, trick active rear spoiler and of course the 2.5 TFSI 5-cylinder engine we’d eventually get when the 8V RS 3 also arrived. Though somewhat obscure today, the car was a natural hit then. And when I ran that event photo gallery last week, the positive response was equally robust as it was in 2014.
To be honest, I’d forgotten how much photography I had of the car. Its standard PR photos weren’t all that deep nor informative, but combined with the close-ups there was more than enough from which to work from in reimagining the car.
This also reminded me of an idea posed back then. With the 8V Sportback’s arrival and then the introduction of the sedan with its longer rear overhang, the natural question to ask was whether the handsome A3 sedan deserved an Avant form. Yes, many will tell you the A3 Sportback is just such a car, but it’s not. It’s a 5-door hatchback with a low roof – cool in a Lancia Delta Integrale sort of way, but not an Avant… not like the Golf Sportwagen or the Skoda Octavia Combi that also sit on the MQB architecture and share the greater length of the A3 sedan.
So, we’re not reinventing the wheel with these images. There are no massive changes to the design. What you see here is basically the A3 clubsport quattro concept in Avant form. Keep it simple.
So, should Audi have produced an RS 3 Avant?
