Audi S3 Saloon goes on sale in the UK – price from £33,240

The Audi S3 Saloon (pictured) is now on sale in the UK

If you want a relatively compact pocket rocket, Audi has you covered with the S3. So far, we’ve had the regular S3 and S3 Sportback (and the S3 Cabriolet is on the way), but if you prefer your S3 in a standard four-door saloon guise, you’re in luck – the Audi S3 Saloon has arrived in the UK.

With the same 296bhp 2.0 litre TFSI engine as its S3 siblings, the S3 saloon offers strong performance – 0-62mph in 4.9 seconds – and an official combined economy of 40.9mpg (which means emissions of 159g/km (if you opt for the S Tronic gearbox).

The impressive official economy (not that you’ll come close in the real world) is thanks to stuff like direct and indirect injection, the manifold integrated in to the cylinder head, thermal management for a quick warm up and an eye on weight (the S3 saloon weighs in at 1430kg).

The S3 saloon also gets four-link S Sports suspension at the back, the latest quattro 4WD, electromagnetic damper control, variable ratio progressive steering, Audi drive select adaptive dynamics and a decent set of brakes to get the most out of the 296bhp on offer.

Cosmetically, the new S3 saloon gets the usual Audi S bits such as the S grill and front bumper, big side sills and a new back bumper with grey diffuser and four oval tail pipes, whilst the interior gets grey dials and white needles, a flat-bottomed multi-function steering wheel, aluminium-look flappy paddles and heated sports seats covered in Nappa leather.

If you need it, the S3 saloon also comes with Audi’s MMI Nav Plus which uses 4G to deliver stuff like Google Earth and Street View as well as Audi Music Stream, Social Media and text to speech.

The new Audi S3 Saloon is now on sale in the UK from £33,240, with first customer cars expected in March 2014.

By Cars UK