The 2025 Audi RS3 Is Cheaper Than Its Rivals

With a $1,300 price increase, the new RS3 undercuts the BMW M2 and Mercedes-AMG CLA 45 S.

2025 Audi RS3

Photo by: Chris Rosales / Motor1

Chris Perkins

By: Chris Perkins

Mar 20, 2025 at 11:00am ET

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Audi is making an aggressive push with tons of new models this year, plus updates for its entry-level sedan, the A3. On Thursday, the brand announced U.S. pricing for the 2025 RS3—$64,695 including a $1,295 destination fee. It's a rise of just $1,300 over the 2024 model, and it undercuts its nearest rivals by a couple thousand dollars.

Model MSRP 2025 Audi RS3 $64,695 2025 BMW M2 $66,675 2025 Mercedes-AMG CLA 45 S $68,200

With "just" 394 horsepower, the RS3 is less powerful than the 473-hp M2 and the 416-hp CLA 45 S, but its five-cylinder engine is arguably the most characterful of the bunch. It's the last five-cylinder engine in production, after all.

For 2025, the RS3 got similar exterior and interior changes as the A3 and S3, and tweaked the car's chassis components, too. Audi retuned the "torque-splitter" rear differential, which allows 100 percent of the power the RS3 sends to the rear axle to be apportioned to either wheel. Engineers also played with the adaptive dampers to both improve ride comfort and handling.

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Last year, the updated RS3 set a Nürburgring Nordschleife time of 7:33.123, an improvement of over 7 seconds from its predecessor. That's impressive, considering the updated RS3 gets no more power than the older model.

It's worth noting that the RS3 is substantially more expensive than the S3, which starts at $49,995 and makes 328 horsepower from its turbocharged four-cylinder. But, if you start checking off option boxes on the S3, it can eclipse the $60,000 mark, so really, the RS3 goes from where the S3 leaves off. Plus, that extra cylinder adds a lot of extra personality.