Fifty years. That’s how long Audi has been banging on about its five-cylinder engine, and who doesn’t remember the 1980’s Audi Quattro, right? While every other manufacturer has been busy downsizing, electrifying, and generally sucking the soul out of the internal combustion engine, Audi Sport has gone the other way entirely and built something gloriously defiant: the RS 3 competition limited.
Just 750 of these compact little weapons will be built, and if you think that sounds like the kind of number designed to make collectors lose their minds at auction in twenty years, you’d be absolutely right.
The Heart of the Beast
The whole thing is a love letter to the five-pot that first appeared in the Audi 100 back in 1976, when the Sport quattro was making 225 kW from just 2.1 litres and turning rally stages into its personal playground. Fast forward to today and the 2.5-litre turbo inline five now pumps out 294 kW and 500 Nm. That’s enough to launch this compact missile from 0 to 100 km/h in 3.8 seconds and on to a top speed of 290 km/h. For a car roughly the size of a Golf. Let that sink in for a bit.
It’s also the only five-cylinder in its segment, which means that distinctive warble, somewhere between a rally car and an angry espresso machine, remains entirely its own. The firing order (1-2-4-5-3) creates that alternating ignition pattern that no four or six-cylinder can replicate. It’s the kind of engine note that can make a grown man weak at the knees, and Audi knows it. They’ve fitted an RS sports exhaust with fully variable flap control and stripped back the firewall insulation so more of that glorious noise reaches the cabin. In dynamic, RS Performance, and RS Torque Rear modes, the exhaust valves open earlier, turning the warble into a proper bark. No artificial sound pumping required, thank you very much.
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ABOVE: RS 3 competition limited
Carbon Couture
Visually, Audi Sport has turned the aggression dial to about eleven. The front end gets a pair of stacked carbon canards on each corner, sitting above vertical carbon air curtain blades, with a split front lip below. The effect is a car that looks like it’s been crouching at the gym, ready to pounce on the nearest BMW M2 and give it a thorough strumping.
Those 19-inch wheels in Neodymium gold matte are a statement in themselves, filling the arches like a well-fitted pair of gold cufflinks on a tailored suit. Carbon mirror caps, carbon side skirts, carbon rear spoiler, and a carbon-trimmed diffuser complete the look. There’s even a subtle matte treatment on the rear side windows bearing the model’s name, because if you’re going to be exclusive, you might as well let everyone know about it.
The headlights deserve their own paragraph. When you lock or unlock the car, the matrix LED segments illuminate in a 1-2-4-5-3 pattern. That’s the five-cylinder firing order, darlings. If that doesn’t give you a tiny tingle in your todger, you’re reading the wrong website.
Three colours are on offer: Daytona grey for the sensible types, the new Glacier white matte for those who like their drama subtle, and an absolutely stunning Malachite green that harks back to the Sport quattro rally days. If you’re not choosing the green, we need to have a conversation.
Suspension That Actually Means Business
This is where Audi has gone properly nerdy, and we’re here for it. For the first time on any RS 3, the competition limited gets a full coilover suspension with three-way adjustable shock absorbers. Not two-way. Three. You can independently adjust low-speed compression (12 steps), high-speed compression (15 steps), and rebound (16 steps).
In plain English: low-speed compression controls how the car behaves through corners, affecting tyre grip and turn-in sharpness. Crank it towards “+” and you’re carving apexes like a hot knife through butter. High-speed compression handles bumps and sudden steering inputs, so you can dial out the bone-jarring hits without turning the whole thing to mush. Rebound controls how quickly the suspension decompresses after being loaded, so higher settings give you sharper, more precise body control while lower settings smooth things out for daily driving. Audi even includes a setup manual and the tools in the boot, which is the kind of detail that separates a proper driver’s car from a poseur’s Instagram prop.
The front shocks use stainless steel twin-tube dampers with external reservoirs for better cooling under hard use. The rears get aluminium construction with larger diameter tubes and thicker piston rods for added rigidity. A beefier tubular rear stabiliser at 85 N/mm and matched spring rates at 80 N/mm keep the back end planted when you’re getting ambitious through fast corners.
Aero That Works
Those carbon canards and the split chin spoiler aren’t just for show. They were developed in the wind tunnel specifically for the competition limited and reduce lift at both axles. The Sportback gets a bespoke roof spoiler for additional rear downforce, while the sedan’s front elements rebalance the aero between axles. Combined with Audi’s torque splitter (fully variable rear torque distribution) and brake torque vectoring, which sends power to the outside wheel and gently brakes the inside one through corners, this thing exits bends like it’s on rails.
Optional Pirelli PZero Trofeo R semi-slicks are available for those who take their track days seriously, and standard ceramic brakes with red callipers are light, fade-resistant, and more than capable of reining everything back in.
Inside the Golden Cocoon
Open the door and you’re greeted by a colour scheme of black, Neodymium gold, and Ginger white that somehow manages to feel special rather than garish. “RS 3 competition limited” is projected onto the ground by the door lighting, embroidered into the floor mats, stitched below the headrests, and printed on the boot carpet. A matte serial number plaque sits in the centre console ahead of the shifter, just in case you needed reminding you’re sitting in something rather exclusive.
The highly contoured RS bucket seats are properly bolstered, with black leather on the sides and Neodymium gold Dinamica microfibre centres that feel like they were stitched by someone who genuinely cares. Ginger white contrast stitching picks out a diamond pattern across the seats, the door armrests, and the centre console. Even the rear passengers get the gold Dinamica treatment, while the front seatbacks in matte carbon provide a constant visual reminder that this is not your standard A3 with a body kit.
The 10.1-inch driver’s display serves up RS-specific performance data including coolant temperature, torque splitter status, brake temps, engine and transmission oil temperatures, plus tyre pressure and temperature. Everything you need to know when you’re pushing on and absolutely nothing you don’t.
The Verdict
At 750 units worldwide, the chances of seeing one in Australia are about as slim as finding a decent coffee at a servo. But for the fortunate few who do snag one, this is the five-cylinder swansong done right. Nearly 300 kW, proper coilovers with tools in the boot, wind tunnel-developed aero, a golden cabin that wraps around you like a very well-tailored embrace, and an engine note that’ll outlive us all on YouTube. Bravo, Audi. Bravo.
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Alan Zurvas is the founder and editor of Gay Car Boys, Australia's leading LGBTQI+ automotive publication. Before launching GCB in 2008, Alan's automotive writing was published in SameSame.com.au and the Star Observer. With over 16 years of hands-on car reviewing experience, Alan brings an honest, irreverent voice to every review — championing value and innovation over brand loyalty.
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