Skip to main content

What Do an Audi RS 3 and a Pontiac Grand Prix Have in Common?

The Audi RS 3 is surprisingly engaging and fun to drive, something that you can’t say about a lot of other Audis.

Audi’s RS models are very fast and feature an advanced all-wheel drive system, so they feel very sure-footed, which is great for driver confidence and bad weather, but perhaps not the best for getting giggles while you drive. They’re amazing cars, but they don’t feel very alive. In fact, they can feel quite sterile.

So when we drove the new Audi RS 3 for the first time recently in Salalah, Oman, we were surprised (and delighted) to find it a bit tail happy, sliding up and down some of the switchbacks in the Gulf state. Considering that the competition for this car includes the rear-wheel drive, easy-to-drift BMW M2, Audi’s entry in this segment has to be just as much fun to drive. Fortunately, it is.

So how did Audi make the RS 3 feel as lively as the M2? One trick they used was a unique tire setup. Unlike the Toyota 86, the German automaker didn’t use tires known for limited grip — they used staggered sized tires instead. That means the tires at the front and rear of the vehicle are differently sized. In most applications of staggered tires, vehicles have wider tires at the rear to increase the contact patch and improve traction, preventing oversteer. It also looks pretty cool.

2018-audi-rs-3-review-tree

On the Audi RS 3, however, that’s reversed because the all-wheel-drive car is offered with an optional tire setup that puts wider tires up front. By increasing the size of the contact patch up front, the car has excellent turn-in and there’s more grip in the front than the rear, allowing the car to slide a bit. This makes the car feel more playful and gives it some personality that other Audis might be lacking.

According to Audi, this optional tire setup was also offered on the last-generation RS 3, a vehicle that wasn’t sold in North America. The last stock car you probably saw with this front-biased staggered setup was the old 2005 Pontiac Grand Prix GXP.

Who would’ve guessed it? Not only is the new Audi RS 3 model a blast to drive, but it also shares something in common with an old Pontiac! We think it goes without saying, but the Audi is far more enjoyable than the Grand Prix could ever be.

This article first appeared on Auto Guide

The post What Do an Audi RS 3 and a Pontiac Grand Prix Have in Common? appeared first on VWVortex.



from VWVortex http://ift.tt/2oiG7bH
via IFTTT
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Review: Saying Goodbye to the CC V6

For all its size and its global reach, Volkswagen is still, in many ways, a deeply human company. There was, for instance, the Bugatti Veyron an ego project if ever there was one. Then the purchase of Ducati, a move most called folly. And then there was the Phaeton, the Volkswagen that most folks can’t afford. Not only were these moves all strange, I’m sure that they made VW’s accountants furious. None of them made good business sense, but they were all deeply interesting and they all are evidence of the heart that beats at the center of VW. Among these follies is the CC, a car that everyone agrees is rakishly handsome, but that no one really wanted to buy. The car couldn’t last, but the world is brighter for its having been in it. With the approach debut of the Arteon, it seems like a good time to look back on its sadly departing predecessor. The version I drove, because I live in Canada, is a V6 Wolfsburg Edition, which apparently isn’t available in the States. Nor is the V6, not as...
Post a Comment
Read more

T-Prime Makes World Premiere at Beijing

[ See image gallery at www.vwvortex.com ] The SUV segment is one of the fastest growing segments in the world and Volkswagen is showing the world how to do it. With the new T-Prime Concept GTE that was revealed today, the company is showing off all of the technology you can look for in its coming models. The T-Prime is a full-size hybrid SUV that can go up to 31 miles on a charge and gets 87 mpg. The hybrid power station is good for 375 hp and 516 lb/ft of torque and puts the power down with 4MOTION all wheel drive. It’ll get you up to 60 in six seconds. The concept’s real party piece, though, is its interior, which features exclusively touch, gesture, and voice controls. Everything from the infotainment, to the display, and even the gears are controlled by touch-screen. The T-Prime Concept GTE is bigger than the Touareg, and design elements are likely to find their way into all of their SUVs, of which there will be many. Volkswagen is also announcing that they expect to make an S...
Post a Comment
Read more

Watch: The Stig Drives (nearly) Seven Generations of Golf GTI

With Volkswagen announcing “major” updates to the Golf, it seems an appropriate time to look back on what we’ve had so far. And who better to guide us through the rich history of the most popular European car ever made than Ben Collins, the former Stig? Some say he’s never met a GTI he doesn’t love, and that he can’t grow any of his own facial hair. All we know is … Ben Collins is actually a pretty solid presenter. Working his way through seven generations of the GTI (skipping over the Mk6) Collins tells us a little bit about each one and matches each mark to its corresponding facial hair craze. The Mk1 GTI for instance, is light and quick, but can lose traction under hard acceleration (in heavy rain). Despite that, Collins calls the Mk1 a “pure gem.” The Mk4, meanwhile, is a powerful return to form after the perhaps too sensible Mk3. Collins ends in the only way he could, with the Mk7, which accelerates faster than a Lamborghini Countach and is all kinds of wonderful. Watch, ...
Post a Comment
Read more