Facelifted four-door RS3 gets new lights and grille but will keep its 2.5-liter inline five
https://www.carscoops.com/author/chris-chilton-cc/
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by Chris Chilton
3 hours ago
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Prototypes of the 2025 facelifted Audi RS3 hot hatch have wandered in front of our spy photo teams’ lenses a couple of times over the past few months, but its sedan brother has been keeping a decidedly low profile. The last time we spied an RS3 sedan on test was way back in October 2022. But with the launch of both models probably only a few months away, the four-door variant has been putting in some road miles to make sure it’s ready.
The RS3 hatch, which isn’t sold in the U.S., and the sedan, which is available in most markets, are pretty much identical bar their different trunk arrangements. So the same visual upgrades we’ve already spied on the 2025 hatch are also present on this sedan prototype spotted in Germany. It’s only a facelift and not an entirely new car, meaning the changes over the current 2024 model amount to new lights and a revised grille.
The most obvious will be those new lights, which get Audi’s new style of DRLs comprised of multiple LED blocks that enable them to show different patterns. We’ve already been officially introduced to them on the Q6 e-tron. But the grille change is also easy to spot, the current car’s oversized chain-link-style grille mesh giving way to a new double diamond pattern. We can also expect the model to be outfitted with the new four-ring logo that debuted on the Q8 e-tron.
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Related: 2025 Audi RS3 Sportback Spied Alongside The Current Model
Naturally, there are changes to the rear lights, too, and we seriously hope Audi ditches the cheap-looking fake vents in the rear bumper like Honda did when it introduced the latest Civic Type R. It’s hard to tell if the fake mesh has gone but we can see that the reflector in the bumper has moved from a horizontal to vertical position, and the lip spoiler on the trunk also looks much smaller, though it might not be a final production item.
Audi will retain the RS3’s existing 2.5-liter inline five, though, no doubt it will liberate a few more horses to go with the facelift. The current car is rated at 394 hp (294 kW / 400 PS) in Europe and up to 401 hp (299 kW / 407 PS) in the U.S., but its AMG A45 S rival trumps both with a 415 hp (421 PS) output.
