Audi’s all-new S3 didn’t arrive in the U.S. until late in 2021, but the company’s R&D team is already out and about testing facelifted versions of both the sedan and the hatch model that’s offered alongside it in Europe.
The Ingolstadt-based firm prefers an evolutionary approach to design, and even the clean-sheet 2022 car didn’t look radically different from the car it replaced, so we’re not expecting any seismic shifts in design for the S3’s mid-cycle facelift. The basic shape of the light units won’t change, but Audi has still worked up a few tweaks that will help you tell this upgraded 2024 car from the current 2023 model.
The most obvious of those is the very different DRL graphic visible in the top portion of the headlight. On the current car, this is one strip of light punctuated by a trio of Adidas-like stripes close to where the turn signal sits. But the facelifted car gets a more digital-looking, two-deck design that almost mimics the look of a pair of hi-tech headlights. It also recalls a style of DRL used in the A6 e-tron concept, though that car featured fashionable split headlamps that the S3 doesn’t get.
We can also see that the bumper and grille have gone under the knife. There now seems to be more plastic, presumably body-colored, separating the grille from the leading edge of the hood, and the lower section of the grille also appears to have gained a new surround.
Related: 2024 Audi Q5 SUV Spied Inside And Out Revealing Radical Interior Overhaul
Moving to the back we can see that, again, the lights have a subtly different internal design, and that the horizontal reflectors have been switched for vertical alternatives. It also looks like the current car’s four diffuser fins have been replaced by a single central fin. The test cars’ disguise prevents us from saying much more than that, but we’re hoping the changes also include getting rid of the large areas of nasty fake mesh found on the current S3.
Under the skin, it’ll likely be a case of business as usual. The current car is powered by a 306 hp (310 PS) 2.0-liter, turbocharged inline four hooked up to a seven-speed dual-clutch transmission driving all four wheels. But since the S3’s Golf R cousin already produces 315 hp (319 PS) and the new Honda Civic Type R now attracts the same rating, we can expect Audi to at least match those numbers. It’s not only the S3 that’s getting a refresh, of course. The regular A3 and the even hotter RS3 are also in line for a similar makeover, and you can bet our spy photographers will catch them testing in the next couple of months.
