Welcome to Tech in the Car! This is a brand new 2023 Audi RS3 Vorsprung Saloon in the UK and that
is a brand new 2023 Honda Civic Type R! check out my full review of that car and this car on
the channel but I'm going to compare it in this video today. What are the differences why should
you pick one above the other or should you and how do they drive right let's start with an obvious
fact these cars cost different amounts of money significantly different amounts of money the Civic
Type R comes in at 49 000 pounds here in the UK and the Audi RS3 which is not available to order
any longer at least in the UK but I know you can still get it in Europe and the US starts at around
55 000 pounds this car aspect is 59 000 pounds or 60 000 pounds list price have it had a price
increase as well and if you were to buy one of these now if you could it would cost around the 65
000 pound mark That's fifteen thousand pounds more than the Civic Type R so why am I comparing them
well it's a very simple reason the quality of German cars in terms of interiors and build
quality has decreased I've seen that on all my Channel videos the quality is going down
for what does less money get you with a Japanese car is it the same or actually is a quality better
do you get better value from the Civic Type R than from an RS3 if you're in the market for a
hot hatch stroke Saloon I think the answer is the fl5 Civic Type R is a better value car than the
RS3 but I'll explain why in this video let's start off talking about the pound performance and the
differences between the engines of these cars so the Audi RS3 is the only car in the A3 range that
has a five cylinder engine every other car has a four-cylinder engine but this has a five cylinder
engine putting out 400 horsepower and 500 newton meters of torque this is a very very fast car that
can do 0-60 in around three and a half seconds in most conditions so that's much faster than
the Civic Type R with more power this is also an automatic so you don't have to worry about
changing gear and it's four-wheel drive using Audi's famous Quattro all-wheel drive system so
this car has more power it's got a bigger engine two and a half liter five cylinder engine and it's
more expensive over here at this Civic Type R we have a four cylinder engine this engine is
only available on the type R in the UK because the standard Civic has a hybrid assisted system which
check out my video that is very very interesting this engine has had some changes made to it got
less fans in the turbo the software management for the engine has been tweaked and it's just a
very very nice sounding and high revving engine when you're changing Gears of course this is
manual six-speed manual transmission front wheel drive only it's got a limited slip differential
to give you what sports you're handling the RS3 obviously is Quattro four wheel drive that
has a drift mode which lets you send 50 of the power to the rear wheels and then 100 of that
to either left or right so you can drift around corners so that's a trick that this doesn't have
so this car can't drift it's really quite rare to have a hot hatch which doesn't have a drift
mode this is an exception in the current climate of cars it's staying true to its Origins which
is a front wheel drive which has been like that all the way since the Civic Type R starting in
the 90s let's talk tires now this is a staggered setup on the R3 265 30 on the front 245 35 on the
rear that's to help with the handling of the car we've also got really big brakes on the RS3 two
which look fantastic eight Part brakes on the wall spring available in black on these other
models including the launch editions available in red which I much prefer we've got a glossy black
with a metallic print design on The Voice spring however is available with a matte black version on
the launch edition and there is a standard silver wheel as well on the non-special editions of the
RS3 if you can get them here on the Civic Type R we have the same wheels on front and the back it's
a square set up 265 30 r19 Wheels same as on the RS3 front 19-inch Wheels but these are the same
on front and back we've got a matte black design red Brembo brakes which are really really grippy
and good much prefer the color there the RS3 also has Brembo pads but it's branded RS and
not Brembo I much prefer the matte black design on the Civic Type R with the contrasting red brake
calipers why Audi you make strange design choices like Blackberry calipers doesn't look good with a
car which has bright colors on it it's fair to see the rear of these cars could not be more
different we've got a tiny little boot spoiler on the RS3 which is really just there for well looks
if we're being honest it doesn't do much we've got a horrible mesh design on the back bumper just so
it looks doesn't do much we do have the beautiful dual oval RS tailpipe so which I love the look
of but aren't actually connected to the actual exhaust again it's a bit of a design feature there
but at the back of the RS3 although aggressive is quite understated if we look at the back of
the Civic Type R well I don't need to remind you that there is a massive spoiler on the back of the
Civic Type R which I'm leaning on right now which the RS3 doesn't have the other difference is this
is a hatchback and that is a saloon now there is a back support back version of the RS3 available
but this is actually a bigger car because this is more in proportion with the RS3 Saloon than it is
with a hatchback so actually if you look at the car it looks more to me like a saloon and in fact
when you open the rear up you're a bit surprised because there is a lot of space back here which
comes from having a hatchback even though it's more like Saloon shape bit of a strange one good
design choice for Honda in terms of practicality though it's met the middle of ground between a
hatchback swap back and a saloon not a fan of the sportback version of the RS3 I know
lots of people are going to be disagreeing with me as I say that I don't think it looks good on
the eight wide generation I think it looks a bit soft compared to the previous generations I just
had to show you this Wing in a bit more detail at the back of the Civic Type R it is enormous
that was enormous a previous generation but a lot bigger than on the RS3 and you can't actually see
it through the back window because it's actually higher than the back window which is very very
handy and the other thing I didn't mention is a triple exhaust out here which basically looks
like a rocket ship with three exhausts connected to the exhaust system tips and everything all in
one and it just looks great at the back however I would say that I prefer the rear light design of
the RS3 the Honda Civic type 5 is a bit basic for me the RS3 has a bit more of an advanced design
plus I like to do a dance when you turn them on and off front and at the rear time to compare the
interior of these two cars well you can safely say that despite this car being between 10 15
000 pounds or less than the RS3 the interior is better we've got these beautiful bucket seats I
don't find them very comfortable but I don't deny they are very beautiful they've got a topaz logo
they look fantastic and then we've got the red carpet some people love it some people won't
but they've made some effort to put some special differentiating designs inside the car on their
top car we've got the Civic Type R plaque just there which means that you know that you're in
a special car we've got an Alcantara steering wheel as standard something you do not get on
the UK RS3 versions we also have special shift lights above the gauge cluster which are actually
physical lights put in there by Honda at extra cost extra design that's a really really nice
feature overall the quality materials inside these are soft Plastics at the top just like
on the RS3 but then across here we've got this really cool mesh design now in the RS3 I have
a carbon fiber design which looks very very cool but I'm not sure it's better quality than this I
just feel like this mesh design shows a bit more thought has gone into the design of the interior
of this car in the middle here I much prefer this metallic finish than the glossy black on the RC
because that just gets covered in fingerprints and scratch if I've put a layer protective film over
the top of my dashboard because I don't want it to get scratched this really interesting design
here which I love on the previous generation it did actually pull forward it doesn't but this is
nice again Alcantara we don't get Alcantara on the center of the RS3 we've got these two big
cup holders we've got flimsy cup holders in the RS3 these are really substantial and they're much
deeper too over overall the qualities in here feel better in terms of materials yes there is still
hard plastics on the door handles just like on the RS3 which exists there but they're just nicer to
touch areas on the inside of this car than the RS3 and this is what I was saying I was talking about
the quality of interior and materials in modern German cars are dropping unless you go right to
the top of the range which is no longer a 65 000 pound RS3 it's actually a hundred thousand pound
RS6 for example only then you really start to see the materials all over the car improving well here
we've got a car which when it launched was 47 000 pounds yes now it's 49 it's gone up a bit to just
like the RS3 but the quality feels really really good for what it costs whereas the RS3 feels down
on what it should do in terms of interior in terms of quality so yes this is better value in terms of
interior than an RS3 at least in the UK spec inside the RS3 I've added some stuff to make
it more particular and special to me I've added the Alcantara steering wheel I've added the red
highlights to the vents in newest European cars you can get the seats with red on them as well and
also red stitching in the center console and on the doors in the UK you get a round cereal which
is leather no Alcantara and it's round you'll notice on the type R it also has a round steering
wheel but it's in Alcantara but depending on the trim you buy you can get an RS3 with a flat bottom
steering wheel which looks a lot more sporty yes we have this carbon fiber Trim in here but as I
mentioned in the taper this is horrible glossy black plastic these cup holders are really flimsy
just the interior this is soft this is soft these vents hard plastic the inside of these doors hard
plastic bottom of these doors hard plastic just overall if you're being particular about what
you get for the car the price of this car the interior of this is substandard compared to
the less expensive Honda Civic Type R RS3 or Civic Type R when driving well the first thing you have
to notice is the transmission we've obviously got a six-speed manual transmission and this is front
wheel drive only which means that all the drive comes from the front and you're changing gear
now this gear shifter is a magnificent feat of engineering at 40 millimeters gear to gear this
is a fantastic gearbox which is comparable with a better Porsche makes on their manual side so
it's a fantastic transmission to have now we're going to compare obviously the cars you have to
say well is that a good thing or a bad thing for Pure enjoyment of driving if you're in a place
where you're able to change gears in a sporty way like a great road then it's fantastic but if
you're in a town like I am now changing gears is just a bit of a pain in the neck I'd rather have
an automatic car also let's be honest manual is slower than automatic comparing the rs3's
acceleration to the Civic Type R isn't necessarily Fair because the RS3 has more horsepower but even
comparing an S3 to a typo the S3 is faster because it's got an automatic transmission and this car
is manual so the benefits of manual are great for a sporty road but not so great if you're
driving around town not as good for economy either because you're changing gears when you feel like
it and that may not be the most economical time ride wise you can see this car is a lot firmer
in ride than the RS3 you can probably hear it in my voice unfortunately under of me the suspension
much firmer on this car which I would say is a negative compared to the RS3 now of course a
thermos suspension is a more sporty suspension and to be fair there are three Mo's there is a comfort
spool and R mode and we also have individual and the truth is in that mode the suspension
can be soft and the rest of the car can be sporty which is fantastic but I still think it's a harder
ride than the RS3 has that isn't in question and I think there's a negative on this in terms of
handling it's very precise very good so let's just rev the engine up a bit here and see what happens
you can get the nice noise
changing up a gear down here
it's very responsive in our mode I love the rev counter the way it changes to give you
a much more sporty look it's a lot of fun to drive the steering wheel feels great as well
I think when you compare the two cars this car is a more pure sports car and the RS3 is more of
a hyper hatch the RS3 is a very different car to the type R the fact is unless you have the
engine revving unless you're driving in dynamic or RS performance mode it just feels like an A3
now this is my car I really love it and I love how it's sedate yet can become amazing and you
can hear that engine I'll do that in a second but just the interior the presence of this car just
doesn't feel as special overall as a Civic Type R and that is a big win for the Civic Type R A
Car which is yes more expensive than it used to be but a lot lot less expensive than this card feels
a lot a lot more special just getting in it and driving it of course where this car wins is the
engine I'm going to put into RS performance mode now and you can hear the engine and it's not just
the engine it's the power the power difference is enormous now again this is a more expensive
car and it's got more horsepower so it should be faster engine is what personally for me makes me
an RS3 lover the combination of the size and the convenient and a specialness from the engine but
as a overall car is this as special as a Type R no does it drive better than Type R
it drives very very similar I would say super Type R feels a bit more sporty handling
it's just the engine wins it here but if you were to say to me
to have a choice pick a Type R or pick this
really the sensible choice and not just a sensible choice because the Civic type
of eyes are fantastic car but the car loving lava Choice should be the type of ultimately
the thing which helps me decide here is the fact that this is my car and so I'm obviously going to
be biased towards my car it's got a much more special engine than the Honda Civic Type R but
again maybe this isn't a fair comparison if you're comparing an S3 with a Type R I would absolutely
100 get the type R you're getting a better quality car which is more fun for the same price or less
an equivalent S3 when it comes to an RS3 maybe it's the next category up because of the engine
because of the power but I love what 100 done with Type R I think it is a tremendous feat of
engineering a tremendous car an improvement on the previous generation and a car which is very very
special and I think it's going to be cherished as the best Civic Type R that you can get
how could Honda make it better do an automatic version it will be faster and much much much
more impressive the fact is in 0-60 times this is a lot slower even than the S3 but overall
fantastic car quality on cars aren't German he's going up quality and cars origin is going down
so you should definitely keep your mind open to a car which isn't an Audi or BMW Mercedes
and look at the Hondas look at the keys look at the Hyundai's look at even the Volvos for example
thank you for watching this video let me know what you think in the comments which one would
you go for please give this video a like And subscribe for more on Tech in the car thank you