Sportback styling adds extra zip to the Q3, though for full zap we’d always prefer the RS.

RSQ3 (above) is a true stomper, but we also like the 45 TSFI Sportback styling

AUDI RS Q3/RS 45 TFSI Sportback

Prices: $111,900 (RS Q3), $114,900 (RS Q3 Sportback)

Powertrain and economy: 2.5-litre turbo-petrol five-cylinder, 294kW/480Nm, seven-speed dual clutch automatic, AWD, combined economy 8.8L/100km, CO2 202g/km; 45 TFSI 2.0-litre turbo-petrol four-cylinder 169kW/350Nm, seven-speed automatic, AWD, combined economy 7.7L/100km, CO2

Vital statistics: 4506mm long, 1851mm wide, 1571mm high, 2680mm wheelbase (RS Q3), 4507mm long, 1851mm wide, 1557mm high, 2680mm wheelbase, 20-inch alloy wheels.

We like: Spunky Sportback styling, well-specced, quality.

We don't like: Annoying auto stop/start, RS3 still beats Q3 version.

POWER doesn’t just express in kiloWatts – it can also show as killer looks.

In respect to that statement, then, I know exactly what question is formulating in the minds of Audi-philes smitten by the cars on test here today.

So, let’s fast track to the answer. Which is a ‘yes’. Yes, the RSQ3 also formats in the Sportback shape also under scrutiny, in a 45 TFSI guise.

And, yes, I’m also glad about that. As eye-catching as the original, more rounded styling continues to be, it’s still beaten by the newer, leaner and lower-roofed but still five-door look now also delivered for the second smallest SUV in the four-ringed circle.

Achieving the sharpest shape with the sharpest engine is a more premium buy-in. Audi adds bumps up the regular RS price by another $3000. That model, by the way, is defined as a wagon in Audi-speak. I don’t see quite see it, either. Then again, I’m still wondering why they just don’t call the Sportback what it emphatically is. A ‘coupe.’

Anyway, semantics. This new shape? Money well spent. Whatever the sportback gives away over the regular edition in respect to practicality – and it’s really not TOO much - it more than makes for with additional panache. There’s just something about a coupe, right? Which is what it is, even if this maker is reluctant to call it that.

The wagon and co… sorry, ‘Sportwagon’ models are much of a muchness in styling detail, especially at the front. When viewed from that aspect it’s clear Ingoldstadt expects you to like large grilles. The new singleframe item is not horrendously large as in the latest BMW sense, but is still pretty big and, with the RS, it’s backed up by more vents in the bumper and under the leading-edge lip of the bonnet. Sad to say, some are fake.

Obviously, the RS interior is rather sportier than the 45’s – for starters, the latter misses out on the performance car’s high-backed, perforated leather bucket seats – but they don’t differ too hugely in terms of general ambience.

It’s all highly digital in respect to the displays, which deliver as a big touchscreen angled towards the driver in the centre of the dash and a TFT screen in front of the driver that delivers all the instrumentation. With the RS, you get specific layouts set up to deliver lap times, cornering Gs, torque and power loadings and all the other stuff that will be useful when on the racetrack you’re never likely to visit. At least, not in your own car.

The flagship has a flat-bottom steering wheel, clad in Alcantara suede of course, and which has the RS button that allows you to easily flick it into the monster modes.

From the inside looking out, differences between the body styles are really only noticed by rear seat occupants and when you’re loading the boots.

Boot space in either better than you might expect. An extra 77mm in wheelbase and 100mm in overall length means this Q3 is space efficient enough to encroach on Q5 territory. Of course, the sportback is the more compromised - you’re giving away around 125 litres’ cargo space – and yet the shaping of the luggage space doesn’t seem too unfriendly. The 45mm-lower roofline means it concedes a small amount of headroom and rear-seat flexibility, but the sister ships are much of a muchness for overall occupant space.

From the outside, the 45 gave a great support to the ‘looks can thrill’ concept. It didn’t look outrageously muscled, as the RS car obviously does, but just portrayed as being particularly sophisticated, in an impressively suave way.

Mind, you, it had all the right ingredients: In addition the performance-themed S-Line bits and a spectacularly eye-catching Tango Red paintjob, this example was outfitted with an Audi Exclusive back styling package, had dark tinted glass and the regular 19-inch rims were replaced with 20-inchers in a five-spoke design.

It looked extravagant and, assuredly, in altogether adding $6600 to the car’s regular $87,900 sticker, served as an excellent example of how to make an already fairly expensive front-drive two-litre car all the pricier. And yet, if you’re among those who can afford admission to this show, the premium might seem fair value, given how you’d seen how much attention the car received.

All the same, as much as each will doubtless have their own enthusiast circle, it seems to me that the RSQ3 is the more alluring in, simply though being the edition that conceivably stands better chance of carrying itself higher, for longer, given that it simply leaves no stone unturned in its quest for performance bragging rights.

I wouldn’t like to get into debate about whether the most powerful Q3 is the best car that comes from the Renn Sport division – realistically, it is not – but equally it’s pretty hard to argue against the pedigree.

Though the 2020 RS maintains its 2014-born predecessor’s basic elements – so a 2.5 litre five-cylinder, dual-clutch tranny, quattro – everything has been sharpened all the more, including that eponymous engine. Add in the additional RS-pure loadings of 21-inch alloys in anthracite black with diamond-turned finish and 255/35 tyres, RS sports suspension plus with adaptive damping, an RS sports exhaust system (with dual black-edged oval tailpipes) and every available assistance system in the Q3’s safety-tech cache. Well, it’s really very appealing.

The engine gains an aluminium cylinder block and crankcase for an overall weight saving of 26kg, but it’s the improvements in outputs that more keenly appreciated; with 294kW and 480Nm the 2020 edition has 24kW and 15Nm more than the previous car to at last assume level-pegging with the RS3 hot hatch.

Start up from cold, in Comfort mode, and it's distantly rumbly. Nice for the neighbourhood. Let it warm, switch up to Dynamic mode, stiffen up the dampers, put the gearbox in Sport and open up the taps in the sports exhaust … and, well, put it this way. Those modes, if used on the school run, would have the car in detention within minutes.

Restrict the full-out rudeness to special occasions and it’s a fairly decent accomplice. The engine in the less than full-out mode is quite driveable for every day mooching; it’ll happily burble along at a meander. But you don’t want to be heavy-footed on the urban beat.

Adjust all the settings to the other extremes and, yes, it’s a creature of the fright; top speed of 250kmh, 0-100kmh in 4.5 seconds and drawn to redlining the boomerang-shaped digital tacho at every opportunity. Keeping yourself from running it hard means having to resist the exhaust note, and that’s a challenge. Thanks to the 1-2-4-5-3 firing order, it is quite unlike anything else for sweetness of tone and snap-crackle. There's no direct connection between this engine and the original 1980s Audi Quattro five-cylinder unit, but the aural lineage is unmistakable.

All this horsepower, but does it have a chassis equally worthy of it being worthy of being in the big boys’ club? Well, it’s certainly eager to prove this, the RS refit delivering stiffer, lower springs compared to the 45 Sportback and faster, sharper but also heavier steering. You can get adaptive dampers and ceramic (front) brakes. So, yeah, straight away it’s a firmer, more resolved car than the 45.

That doesn’t obviously make it better for every occasion. The RS recipe is rather between firm to outright chunky for urban driving and, yes, tyre-generated road noise is more obvious, even when measured against a Sportback on its optional, enlarged wheels and wide tyres. But, then, that’s the breaks with an RS.

The bonus comes on an entertaining road; which is where it really sets a high bar; sitting flat, composed and possessing endless grip and traction. Yes, the 45 will also shine in this condition, but not as brightly. The difference of one having a Haldex-based multi-clutch system, that can send as much as 100 percent of the power to the rear wheels, and the other having a more traditional viscous coupling differential is one factor. The degrees of separation in sheer shove … well, yes, that counts too.

So, within the family, it’s rightly the star. If consideration is broader, though, it’d still be challenging to recommend the RS Q3 over an RS3. As fast, capable and steadfast as the crossover is, it still hasn’t the same level of deftness and I’m not sure it will communicate quite as directly; understandably because, with the Q3, it’s all about having to keep higher-standing mass in check.

Still, it’s not as if Audi has created a one-dimensional character. The cleverness of the ‘RS mode’ button on the steering wheel avoids this. You can use it to configure the suspension’s drive-select set-up into two distinct arrangements. Perhaps lighter steering, cushier ride, less engine noise for everyday and more athletic settings for special times.

So much about this car, so little said about the ‘45’. Yeah, sorry about that. It’s that the lesser is unworthy of comment in respect to its performance. Everything’s okay there. But fair to say it’s a different kind of thing; that 2.0-litre engine is more about good manners and reasonable economy that presenting an absolute level of energy.

Both models drive with a real sense of quality but, notwithstanding that neither are really designed for anything that could be termed as ‘off-roading’ – regardless that there’s a mode to support just that - the ‘45’ feels more like an SUV for the urban dweller. Still, if you're looking for style and refinement it’s pretty handy in the city chic role.