First Drive: The 2025 Audi S3 Is a Cornering Kingmaker

After an earlier go behind the wheel of the European version of the 2025 Audi S3, the carmaker set us loose for a few hours with the U.S.-spec luxury subcompact sport sedan. Generally, differences are minor between the two cars—U.S. variants come with more standard content, while Euro models are offered with more options—but the biggest difference is torque output. In America, the 2.0-liter turbo-four in the 2025 Audi S3 makes 295 lb-ft, while across the pond it churns out 310 lb-ft, mostly because European-spec engines are tuned for higher-octane fuel.

The good news for driving fans is this doesn’t water down the near-limit driving experience one bit. The power upgrade, chassis improvements, and addition of the RS3’s torque splitter, as well as some exterior and interior changes, amount to a better midlevel sedan. It all helps the 2025 Audi S3 keep up with entry-level luxury performance car bogeys like the Mercedes-AMG CLA35 and the Acura Integra Type S.

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Sport Compact Stance

Under-the-skin improvement isn’t all that’s at play here. This refreshed S3 looks buffer, too, starting with a ride height that’s 0.6 inch lower than the Audi A3 (not new but still important). The S3’s sizable grille now comes decorated with glossy L-shaped accents, while just underneath the maw is a new front spoiler with two vertical struts molded into the front bumper. Forward intakes in the lower corners are also revised.

Around back, accents like the grille’s span the length of the ream bumper’s lower part, and the diffuser is restyled to look more like the RS’ similar item. Audi also offers an available carbon-fiber trunklid spoiler the blends in nicely.

The 2025 S30 comes with updated exterior lighting that includes new selectable daytime running light signatures for the headlights. U.S.-model wheels come in a standard 18-inch diameter wrapped with 225/40 run-flat summer tires or an available 19-inch wheel with 235/35 conventional summer tires. German S3 shoppers get a much wider selection of wheel styles (seven total, three 18s and four 19s), but the American-market choices might be the best looking.

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Gaming PC Vibes

The car’s updated ambient lighting deserves a callout because of how it transforms the interior in the dark. Fabric panels that resemble Alcantara adorn the front doors just above the armrest, which Audi laser-cut with perforations that go from large to small. Behind the material is a light source, and the illuminated effect is like a wave of colored light fading across the inner doors. There’s also more conventional pinstripe lighting along some creases in the cabin. Both lighting effects can be customized with one of 30 available colors. With the right combo, the inside of the car looks like the inside of the PC gaming setup we just built.

The contour lighting now stretches to the center console and cupholder. There’s also a new shifter design and air vents, both of which are flatter, and the shifter now sits practically flush with the center console. As before, the S3’s seating is comfortable, and the quilting is an appreciated touch. The standard 10.3-inch driver display is nice and big for the dash, but the size and positioning of the 10.1-inch infotainment touchscreen isn’t as advanced as what some competitors offer (namely the combo screens in rivals from Mercedes and BMW).

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Cornering Confidence

There isn’t much more embellishment we can add to the praise we’ve already shined on the 2025 Audi S3’s full-tilt driving experience. The U.S. version is just as thrilling to pilot as the Euro model—if you love to drive, you will almost certainly love hustling this car around corners. Even if you’re an average hot shoe, the S3 can make you feel like a pro behind the wheel.

Corner turn-in is impressively direct thanks partly to the improved, progressive steering and additional negative camber that come with new front knuckles. From the rear, the car’s new standard rear torque splitter and swivel-bearing suspension (both pinched from the RS3 top-performance model) help to put the power down through turns. Grunt is more readily on tap due to a new turbocharger preload feature, providing peak torque for a longer duration (now from 2,100 to 5,500 rpm, instead coming on at 3,000 rpm as before) and shorter gear ratios. There’s also more horsepower, an increase of 22 ponies to 328 hp.

The net result of these features and others (like the adaptive suspension) working together is an S3 that sticks in corners, and not just in the sportiest of settings. But the fun isn’t only for grip fans. The sedan’s new Dynamic Plus mode highlights the car’s updated electronic stability control tuning, which now allows experienced drivers to drift (our favorite torque-vectoring exercise).

Our official MotorTrend testing, when we get our hands on the car again, will reveal if the 2025 Audi S3 is indeed quicker than the last one, but our butts say yes. Braking feels great, too—bite is easy to find and modulate. Audi gives the S3 six drive modes now, but if we had to choose just one to live with, Dynamic might be it. This suspension isn’t the same stiff-riding setup we’ve experienced in past S3. Indeed, in Comfort mode the ride is surprisingly supple. In Dynamic, flintiness is better moderated.

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Fun Car Made More Fun

The updated 2025 Audi S3’s approachable performance is akin to what Porsche has done with the 911 for generations. You don’t have to be an ace behind the wheel to have a blast driving it, but the more you’re capable of, the more fun it is. More important, though, cars like this build confidence and encourage experienced drivers to find legitimate thrills, and they can turn simple drivers into true driving fans.

Still stylish and still at the affordable end of Audi’s performance car range, the 2025 S3 feels more capable than ever as a driver’s car. The RS remains the A3 lineup’s most serious athlete, but it’s hard not to dig the lower S trim’s mix of sophistication and sportiness. Technology plays an enormous role in how easy it is to drive this small sedan near its maximum, and those limits are substantial. Color us very much looking forward to seeing what testing tells us about the updated S3.