I am a huge fan of the RS models from Audi, and my Car of the Year for the past three years has been the RS6 Avant, but I am always on standby to be disappointed – everytime there is a model change or an update.

This is the fourth generation since it was launched in 2011, and to prove its credibility, Audi took on the Nürburgring and the title of the fastest compact car to lap the Green Hell, as it is better known. The record was held by the BMW M2 - ‘was’ being the operative word as the record is now held by the RS3.

The new model is not as ‘boy racer’ as previous models; therefore, it looks a tad more sedate, but it still has a great rear spoiler, new front and rear bumpers with a larger rear diffuser, and new daytime running lights. The 2.5-litre, 5-cylinder turbocharged engine is a total work of art and, married to the famous Audi Quattro system, offers 394bhp, a 0-62mph time of 3.8 seconds, and a top speed of 174mph. It is furiously fast and planted on the road like Gorilla glue has been used.

The red steering wheel buttons offer various drive modes: Auto, Comfort, Dynamic, Efficiency, RS Individual, RS Performance and RS Torque Rear (yes, it will drift). Complicated? Do as I do, set it to RS Individual, then rip the others off and chuck them out of the window. It allows you to fine-tune the steering, engine and suspension.

The RS3 is very impressive in terms of performance, and it becomes highly impressive when driven on windy B-roads, as it absolutely glues itself to the road; the lack of body roll is really impressive. You need your head on straight as it encourages the drive to push it, and many drivers are just not good enough to do that, and the local hedge awaits you. But really, you have to be an idiot to lose this car as it is so well planted to the tarmac.

With all of this going on, you might expect a poor ride, but that is not what you receive unless it is a really bad surface. This is easily a daily driver and, with a few knob changes, a daily supercar. I covered 650 miles during the week, including motorways, A-roads, B-roads and the odd cart track and at no point was it unsettled, at no point did it feel that l had reached the end of its ability, and at no point could l think of a car l would rather be in (barring the RS6 Avant, of course).

Then there’s the torque splitter - bear with me as this is the tech bit. The torque splitter is essentially what it says on the can - it uses a separate clutch on each side of the rear driveshaft to allow it to throw 100% of the available torque to whichever wheel the system desires.

When you’re going fast, the splitter electronically messages the drive to throw a bit more torque to the loaded outer rear wheel to kill understeer and make the car feel more agile. Plus, with the facelift, it now simultaneously brakes the inside wheel to help you turn in even quicker. Once you’ve turned in (and if you’re in the right mode), you can pretty much bury the throttle at any point, and it’ll hook up and fire you out of the corner.

Stopping is fairly important, and my car came with the optional £4,590 ceramic brakes. The only problem with stopping is the red mark left across your chest as it hauls to a stop, as if someone just threw an anchor out the window.

The interior is not much changed. Why would you when it’s already well paid out? The quilted Nappa leather seats grip well, the layout is intuitive, and there’s enough space for all the gubbins we all carry around with us. My niggle is with the gear selector. It’s a switch that you slide up or down to select forward and reverse, but when trying to perform a fast three-point turn, it’s a bugger to get it right, and a few times I found myself revving it like hell before realising it was not in the gear I wanted.

I only have a week with each car, so no doubt if you drove it every day, it would be fine. Also, changing the sound volume on the steering wheel means you hit the mute button more often than not. You are then left confused as to why things have gone silent, meaning you then need to slow down to take your eyes off the road to sort it out.

The fantastic Virtual Cockpit is as brilliant as usual, with SatNav on the screen; you can select it on the dash and the head-up display. If you ever get lost, you really are a twit. The 12.2” screen works well and connects to Apple CarPlay/Android with ease.

In summary, this is a brilliant piece of machinery that just makes you smile all day – your Mum could drive it, but flick a few buttons and Lewis Hamilton would be ecstatic.

Tech Stuff

Model tested: RS3 Sportback Carbon Vorsprung S tronic
Power: 394bhp
Speed: 0-62 - 3.8 secs
Top: 174mph
Economy: 30.2 mpg combined
Price from: £76,495
As tested: £82,380