Green Audi RS 3 from a front three-quarter on a residential street

Five Cylinders

Green AudiRS 3

Four hundred and one horsepower from an engine layout nobody else still builds, in a saloon with five seats and a boot.

It costs less than a hundred and eighty dollars a day and it will beat almost everything else in this issue to sixty.

The RS 3 keeps the five-cylinder engine Audi has been building since the Quattro — 401 horsepower, an offbeat five-cylinder noise nobody else can make, all-wheel drive and a rear axle that can send everything to one wheel. In a colour that makes no attempt to hide any of it.

Specification

Horsepower
401
0–60 mph
3.6s
Top speed
155mph
Seats
5

2.5L turbo inline-5 · AWD

Green Audi RS 3 in profile on a Los Angeles street
01From the side it is still a compact saloon, which is exactly the joke. The arches are wider than the doors and almost nobody notices.

Five cylinders is an odd number in every sense. The firing order gives it a beat no four or six can produce, which is why Audi has kept the layout alive for forty years after everyone else abandoned it — and why people who could not tell you what an RS 3 is will still turn around when one goes past.

The rest is quietly serious. Sixty arrives in three and a half seconds. The rear differential can put all of its torque through one wheel, which is how a car this shape gets round a corner faster than it has any business doing. And it still has five seats and a boot.

Nobody else builds five cylinders.
One block away, everybody knows.

Green Audi RS 3 from a low front three-quarter against a concrete wall
Rear three-quarter of the green Audi RS 3 showing the oval tailpipes

02A grille that fills the whole nose, and at the back two oval pipes that are the only clue to what is under the bonnet.

Cabin of the Audi RS 3 with honeycomb-stitched sports seats
03Honeycomb stitching across the seats, a flat-bottomed wheel, and a driving position low enough to forget the car has back doors.

The particulars

The guest book

Queries

How much does it cost to rent an Audi RS 3 in Los Angeles?
The green RS 3 is $171 a day, with multi-day stays discounted. Delivery to our Beverly Hills partner hotels is complimentary.
Is it really as quick as the price makes it look?
Sixty in three and a half seconds, from a five-cylinder engine nobody else builds, in a car with five seats and a boot. It is the quickest thing in the fleet under two hundred dollars a day by a distance.
Can I see the dates before I call?
Yes — the diary on this page is the live fleet calendar. If a date is open there, it is open.

The diary

When you can have it

Checking live availability…

Reserve

The cheapest way to be the quickest.

Tell us the dates and we confirm the car straight away — delivered hand-detailed to the address and the hour you name.

Check dates & reserve or call +1 (424) 303-6496

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