All through the night, and even despite a tailgate-related headache, San Bernardino had been rolling through my mind: where do I know that name? The answer comes, as we’re filling up just outside town in the morning, via a surprisingly small signpost saying simply, ‘Passo San Bernardino’. Running parallel to the region’s main highway, the pass stretches for 15km from San Bernardino towards…well, pretty much nowhere, winding its way Monte Carlo Rally-style around the neighbouring mountains. The drops are insane. The views are spectacular. And the corners, as the Satnav demonstrates, are out of this world.
I’ll admit that, until now, I’ve been struggling to love the Audi. It’s certainly striking, both comfortable and practical, and of a quality any self-respecting premium German SUV should aspire to. But so far it’s offered neither that RS spark nor the sense of drama I’ve come to expect from those two letters. With the help of The Arctic Monkeys and When the Sun Goes Down, all that’s about to change.
Ratios for the seven-speed S Tronic gearbox have been closely spaced in the RS in the name of stronger acceleration, and out of the tighter corners as the Pass begins to wind snake-like against the rockface, this sense of urgency begins to shine through. Even in full-spec Sport mode (let’s not mess around), the suspension feels tighter, the steering more responsive and the throttle more alert than during our highway cruise yesterday. A little more precision and feel for the front wheels wouldn’t go amiss – that old Audi tendency rearing its ugly noggin once again – but the balance of the Q3 through the turns is mightily impressive. At the base is the same platform one finds on a Volkswagen Golf, the solid frame making the SUV much tauter and less flobbery through the turns than I’d expected, the RS sports suspension – complete with adaptive dampers – once again proving its effectiveness as the whole car hunkers down into and through the turns.
So keen am I to crack on with the climb though that I’m mashing the right pedal too hard out of the corners, the sudden impetus of momentum causing the front wheels to break traction and skitter a little on the gradient. The Quattro all-wheel drive system is keeping the rear wheels nicely in-check, but the process is not as composed as the road or indeed the car deserves. Far better to lean on the brakes a little heavier and earlier then feed in the power more gently: there’s plenty of feel through the brake pedal and massive stopping power in those discs to bring this 1655kg mass to a halt without issue. The gradient is increasing. Time to put my new style to the test…hang on, how long has Sultans of Swing been playing…?
Better. Much, much better. With 340bhp of power being fed more gingerly through the pedal, the front-end feels much more composed, and I can concentrate more on nailing the apexes (which is just as well, since we’re some 1500m above sea level now and, if anything, the road is getting tighter). Acceleration from that five-cylinder is strong, there’s no doubt, each swift change through the seven-speed box ushering a more furious burst of thrust, and a pleasingly energetic baritone call from the exhaust system. If there’s one thing starting to grate though, it’s the lag in the lower gears below 2000rpm, comparative to the rejuvenated fury as the turbo begins to spool up in the mid-range. It makes the sensation of speed that much more dramatic, but in a few of the slower corners, I am looking for delivery that’s a little more predictable.
Soon we crest the mountain, whipping at dizzying pace past Lake Laghetto Moesola and yet more snow-capped peaks. Even despite the much lower temperatures, the road is packed with bikers, Porsche 911s, Golf GTIs, and the occasional bus. A morning playground for us, to others the Pass is just the morning commute, and we can’t help but feel a bit jealous. Particularly since, having ignited some of the tempered fury within the RS Q3, I’m finally starting to click with it.
Though on this road it doesn’t have the panache or the insanity of an RS7 or similarly badged Avant, it’s proving equally as adept as any hot hatch (albeit on stilts), the sense of composure through the turns – despite the odd hiccup – still impressive. Having throughout our journey offered more of the ‘Audi’ premium qualities of comfort and practicality, on this road, the RennSport nature is beginning to shine through. Even if the steep descent on the other side works those massive brakes a lot harder than I expected.
Some three hours and several hundred motion shots later, we start winding our way back to the highway, destination Reims, a solid 800km and seven hours away. Plus a quick stop at Lake Lucerne for a gander at Chapel Bridge and a chat with a French officer who pulls us over at the Franco-Swiss border cotrol (“must be a fast Audi thing”, Tim proffers).
If stunning scenery and an epic stretch of driving road are my main memories of Switzerland, traffic –and git-loads of it – will stay with me from France. As a result, a seven-hour journey from San Bernardino turns into a nine and a half hour teeth-gnasher (the less said about the Sat Nav’s ‘shortcut’ through Strasbourg, the better). Once again though, even amongst the human misery that is rush hour, the Audi receives an inordinate amount of attention from our fellow motorists. In many ways, the RS Q3 has proven a revelation.
It’s perhaps not the most dynamic of vehicles (I do catch myself wondering how an R8 would have handled that dizzying San Bernardino Pass) and lacks a little aural refinery at highway cruising speeds, but my enthusiasm for the RS Q3 has grown considerably across a three-day, 1600km drive from Munich. As a cruiser, there’s more than sufficient room to counter fatigue: at no point have I worried about twinges in my back or cramp in my legs, or felt the RS-derived sport seats were not offering enough support. Nor for that matter has the sport-tuned suspension adversely affected the ride comfort, impressive in itself given the effective manner in which it handles load into even the tightest corners. It’s a similar situation with the chassis, stiff enough to reduce body roll to a minimum on the winding asphalt but supple enough not to affect cabin comfort.
Where perhaps the RS Q3 is let down is with the five-cylinder engine, which although certainly powerful enough does lack oomph in the lower revs. Fortunately a gutsy turbo and that superb seven-speed gearbox keep the Q3 aggressive, but it is perhaps this lack of precision low down that makes me question whether ultimately an RS Q3 would be my choice over, say, a similarly priced and equally practical RS4 Avant, a car we’re big fans of at crankandpiston.com. Much like the Porsche Macan S though, my time with the RS Q3 has given me pause to re-consider the performance SUV segment as a whole.
Before we hit our final destination – Le Mans – there is one last stop we need to make.
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