The badge always promised sizzle – now you can more easily feel the burn. But is the S3 ALWAYS going to be the understudy?

Price as tested: $98,700

Powertrain and economy: 2.0-litre turbocharged inline four with 231kW/400Nm, seven-speed dual clutch automatic, AWD, combined economy 7.4L/100km, CO2 160 grams per kilometre.

Vital statistics: 4351mm long, 1960mm wide, 1415mm high, 2630mm wheelbase, luggage capacity 325 litres, 19-inch alloy wheels.

We like: Latest look, more incisive chassis.

We don’t like: Synthetic five-cylinder soundtrack, options expensive.

SOME superheroes operate on their own, some have second-tier sidekicks: In Audi ranks, S models invariably ride shotgun to RS editions.

As always, the S3’s elevation flagship of the A3 range is a temp position it’ll abdicate in the first half of 2022, when the next RS3 lands. From that moment, there’ll never be any doubt which is Batman.

Still, while the going’s good, the S3 is a good car in which to get going. Sure, if you have the desire and extra dollars to await it, next year’s Renn Sport always brings more. Not just in respect to pure grunt - 294kW and 500Nm as opposed to 231kW/400Nm – but also cylinder count (five versus four), litreage (2.5 incoming, 2.0-litre here now), time expended in the 0-100kmh sprint (4.8s now, 3s flat ahead). These are different phwoar stories.

The RS ultimately holds the better streetscape status, too, not simply through being a legend, but also because the next will undoubtedly be the last built to the current, since-2011 five-pot formula.

But when a brand – actually, make that a brand family (because, in addition to the Audi models there are such related luminaries like the Golf GTi and R and Cupra models) - has such awesome hot hatch history, settling for S3 silver isn’t necessarily an admission of accepting second best.

Every Ingolstadt car has its role to play and, as much as it is ultimately an understudy, this latest S3 reminds why this genre attracts enough genuine consumer interest to earn a decent living.

Ehen considered in isolation, as it certainly can be for at least another six months, then this latest will surely hardly struggle to win interest.

Ultimately, there’s a lot of fun feedback from the driving. On top of being genuinely feisty, it’s also properly agile and adhesive; the chassis speaks clearly and encourages driver involvement. The steering and braking feel have proper purity and the driving position is great; well-bolstered seat low, legs out almost straight, chunky and flat-bottomed (naturlich) steering wheel high and close.

This time around, too, the S3 benefits from having more boldness in its appearance. For sure, enough preview images have circulated to cement impression that time in the Audi Sport gym has made the RS more hunkered and purposeful in styling and stance, yet I’d suggest that apart from being obviously less wide-arched, the S3 has undergone enough design enhancement to also become a short-lister as the Devil’s shopping car.

What helps both is the donor body styling. Having dabbled with the three-door hatch and even a sedan previously, Audi NZ now only delivers the template of a compact body, four-wheel-drive chassis and high-output turbocharged engine in a five-door Sportback shell that is a striking, angular thing in any specification, never mind at halo level.

To be fair, having the car in a truly banging colour - as the tester’s Turbo Bluecertainly is – makes for a great start. Also, take note that Audi NZ had been generous in outfitting the press car with cost-enlivening decorative extras.

The black optics styling package and black roof rails are a $1500 hit in their own right. Taking the mirror housings in that hue adds $300.

The interior received carbon inlays for $750, a Bang and Olufsen stereo that costs $2250, rode on $2400 five-spoke 19-inch alloys and had matrix LED headlights and tail lights, a $2000 choice.

Hot hatch format also delivers a new Singleframe look up from with a large rhombus-patterned grille and large air inlets. Other S-specific details are silver detailing all over the body, a rear spoiler, front splitter and a lower body kit; and then quad-exit exhausts at the back, none of them fakes BTW.

The standard suspension is 15mm lower than the cooking A3 and S-specific suspension adds adaptive dampers to adjust the ride for any given driving situation.

The big A3 update is a new centre console with a new stubby 911-style gear selector. A 10.25-inch digital display sits behind the steering wheel while another 10.1-inch display running the next generation of MMI (Multi Media Interface, Audi's in-car operating system) takes care of infotainment responsibilities. The S3 environment isn’t too different to that of a regular A3 in S line specification. It has a flat-bottomed steering wheel and a few displays in the instrument cluster unique to the S model, but otherwise treads common ground.

Gone are the days when S3 offered with a manual gearbox. Now the engine pumps its goodness via a seven-speed S tronic dual-clutch automatic. That might have you wondering what level of Audi-ness you’re buying into, but a good road will show there’s nothing to fear. It’s a disarmingly fast car. Simple as that. You can put your foot down and it gets on with it.

However, in that respect, it’s a good little bad boy. As with so many S3s that have gone before it, it tempers down the dramatics. There's little to report in the way of turbo lag or that weird hesitancy some Volkswagen Group dual-clutch transmissions can display, for instance, but if you’re looking for a full-out immersion then best await the RS.

As much as grip and traction are impressive, and it has good brakes and pretty decent steering, there’s a slightly stand-offish feel to everything it entertains.

There are a couple of aspects that feed into my thought that the design and engineering team were encouraged to make it sporty … but not too sporty. For instance, there’s the noise.

Actually, two aspects to that. One, it’s not very sonic at all unless you put it into Dynamic mode. Then it does start to get a bit shouty, though by affecting an artificial accent, in that makes a five-cylinder-like warble. It’s a nice sound but, since it is a four-cylinder, and given the only five-pot has always been the RS, it seems a bit silly to pretend, doesn’t it? Another oddness is that the S3 is bereft of external quattro badges; there’s just one on the dash, right above the glovebox, and that’s it.

It’s a shame it’s like this because, otherwide, the driving experience is far more positive. There’s not only a lot of grip but the traction out of corners is quite something else; you can absolutely smash the throttle coming out of bends and it simply holds the line you require. Sure, I have no doubt you could find understeer, but it does seems reduced to minimal levels. Plus the body control is excellent.

Tone everything down and it cruises well, too, though the ride quality is on the firm side. But it is quite refined in those circumstances, even on coarse chip.

So there’s talent here, no argument. But how’s the value? As always, with S3, it’s challenged by being one ingredient in a multi-layered sandwich. As specialist as performance hatches are, none are more occupied by their creation that VW Group. Every mainstream brand has at least one, and all have common DNA with the S3.

It’s not fair to suggest the VW Golf GTI or the Skoda Octavia RS are quite the same thing. You’re talking front drive versus all-paw, the same engine but in lower state of tune; giving away 30Nm and 51kW. Plus there’s no question that an Audi presentation is just always a cut above the mainstream.

Even out of the box, the S3 is a $89,700 spend. Add in a few fripperies as Audi has done here, and you’re just $14 short of that next RS3 and a long way north of quasi sister ships that, while not as well furnished, as really just as much fun. In the Skoda’s case, a lot more practical, too.

Some decisions are easy to make. This one much less so.