- Active rear-axle torque vectoring
- Two new RS 3-specific driving modes for circuits and drifts
A new RS model only means a lot of delight for an enthusiast. And if it's an RS model in a pocket-rocket guise, it's bound to get us all wide-eyed and drooling in anticipation. And to make things even more alluring, Audi has dropped the teaser for the upcoming RS3 hot hatch and used some heavy-hitting words like ‘torque splitter, ‘variable torque vectoring’, and ‘modular vehicle dynamics controller’.
Powering the new-gen RS 3 is a 2.5-litre TFSI four-cylinder making 400 horsepower and 500Nm. The Stuttgart supermini is capable of hitting 0-100kmph in 3.8 seconds and has a top speed of 290kmph. But that’s all the usual stuff. What’s ‘torque splitter’ is what we want to know.
Audi says it's nothing but an active, fully variable torque vectoring system between the rear wheels. Unlike the rear axle differential and the multiple disc clutch packages on the rear axle, the torque splitter uses one electronically controlled multiple-disc clutch each on the respective drive shaft. It can increase the drive torque to the outer rear wheel with the higher wheel load, thus reducing the dreaded UNDERSTEER!
What’s more, the torque splitter can also enable controlled drifts by sending all the engine power to just one of the rear wheels – and up to 1750Nm. The distribution of drive torque depends on the drive mode selected. Each of the two multiple disc clutches has its control unit, which use the electronic stabilization control’s wheel speed sensors to measure the wheel speeds, steering angle, throttle position, selected gear, yaw angle and more.
Similar to the A3 and S3, the modular vehicle dynamics controller (mVDC) is present in the RS3 which works in tandem with other electronic hardware for better precision, dynamics and synchronization. Like usual, there are seven drive modes – comfort, auto, dynamic, efficiency, as well as RS Individual, RS Performance and RS Torque Rear. The RS Sport suspension and adaptive damper controls are part of the package as well. So we could see a ‘Ring lap record attempt from Audi pretty soon.
We expect a global debut of the Audi RS 3 to happen in the coming few weeks.
