First drive: Audi S3 Cabriolet

Audi’s discovered another niche?
 
Yup – meet the hot hatch convertible, or the Audi S3 Cabriolet to give it its official title. It’s not a new invention, though; hot hatches have been having their roofs peeled back since the days of the days of Pug 205 and mk1 VW Golf GTIs. However, Audi’s take on the genre is a little more sophisticated than that…

How so?

Well, at £39k it ain't cheap. A Porsche Boxster kicks off at a couple of hundred quid less, in fact. But then a Boxster only has two seats and its performance is no match for the S3; the Audi's turbocharged 2.0-litre four-cylinder engine churns out 296bhp and 280lb ft, while the Porsche's bigger 2.7-litre flat-six lags behind with 261bhp and 206lb ft.

That ensures the S3's 5.4sec 0-62mph sprint is nearly half a second ahead of the Boxster's. For those who care most for numbers and bragging rights, the S3 steals a lead.

What about those of us who don't?

The Boxster driver will have much the bigger grin on their face on a twisting road. Though you’d probably expected that. But let’s not discredit the S3 too much; it’s actually jolly good.
 
The current, third generation hatch is the most fun S3 yet, and the cabrio gets close to its dynamic sharpness, with the loss of roof rigidity afflicting the body control much less than in cabrios of old. And while it’s not as entertaining as its Golf R second-cousin, its four-wheel drive system is willing to be a little playful when pushed.

At 1620kg, the S3 cabrio carries an extra 205kg over a comparative hatch. That's a lot. In a straight line though, you're hard pushed to tell: this remains an insatiably quick car and given that it makes quite an appealing noise, too, it might call into question why you'd spend £7500 more on an S5 Cabriolet.

Why should I have one over the £30k hatch?

The roof is the obvious place to start. Audi’s posher ‘acoustic hood’ comes as standard, and it operates electronically in 18 seconds, at speeds of up to 31mph. Roof up, the classily appointed interior is a placid place to be. Fold the rag-top back and pop the wind deflector up where rear passengers normally go, and the cabin is reasonably bluster-free up to 70mph. But you may have to crank the stereo up a notch on a dual carriageway.
 
It also helps justify its £9000 premium over a regular S3 tin-top with an array of additional standard equipment, including 19in alloys, sports suspension, adjustable magnetic dampers and Audi’s S-tronic twin-clutch paddleshifter. Unlike the hatch, there’s no manual gearbox option, which seems right given the more relaxed demeanour with which we’d expect the vast majority of S3 cabrios to be driven.

Surely BMW has a rival in the works?

Correct. The new BMW 2-Series Convertible range will be topped by an M235i variant. Compared to the S3 it has an extra 30bhp, another half-second lopped off the 0-62mph time and all the thrills its more expressive rear-drive chassis ought to serve up. Spec an automatic gearbox and it's level on pricing with the S3, too. Ought to be a cracking twin test...