This is not a track car, its a hot hatch where the most fun you'll get out of it is on backroads
On a B road you won't see which way it went trying to keep up in an f80, and if it's wet fugghheddaabboouitt - take it from someone who's owned both, and modified evo's and Gtr's, so you won't find anyone crying a river more than me for a proper awd drivetrain in a Euro quality car. Having said that, it's good enough at this price point, and never really an issue on the street up to about 8/10ths which is it's sweet spot- the lighter engine and ceramics will remove weight from the most important areas so the front end will turn in better than my old car
Re interior, imo audi's current simplistic design theme is hit and miss. In something like the r8, I think it's too simple and it doesn't feel premium enough in the few design details it has, but in the a3 I think it works fine. Add the virtual cockpit and even though the platform is almost as old as the f30/80 it does feel more current
Everything you touch and rotate has a quality feel that no bmw of merc can match and any price point in imo, the weight and sound of the rotary dials on mmi, volume and hvac are laughably better than BMW's rubbery knobs - it's little things like that that you come to appreciate after the new car novelty wears off
What it is missing is a heads up display, 360 camera, proper bolstered seats (the first gen press cars teased us with buckets that never eventuated) and the mmi unit is nowhere near as advanced as idrive, but it does all the same stuff essentially
Back to the OP's question, yes as a current m3 zcp I am considering a new rs3. The heart tells me that engine and exhaust, and my head says the f80 chassis is in another league, but for how I use this car, daily driver + occasional hill run, sound trumps chassis
