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Ready yourself for the inevitable screed of Clarksonian denigration ending in successively more nonsensical similes for how awful the Audi S3 and S3 Sportback featuring the flappy paddle shifters of the S-tronic transmission are. For the new model year, the S3s get the twin-clutch six speed selectable automatic transmission hooked to the 265 HP, 258 lb-ft 2.0 TFSI engine. The result will be hatefully despised as silly, but will make the car run to 60 mph in 5.5 seconds, that's two-tenths faster. Rubbish! Complete press release below. More »
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Audi has released an entire lineup of its freshened 2009 A3 lineup — the 2009 Audi A3, A3 Sportback and the much-more-fun 2009 Audi S3, and S3 Sportback. We're in a bit of information overload here, with a ton of new information and photos on the slightly angrier, slightly more powerful and probably all-around better lineup. What does Audi expect, the new A3/S3 lineup sports eight engines, three transmissions, a new magnetic ride and handling control system, remodeled interiors and restyled exterior styling (most of that restyling budget's gone up front). Take a moment and feast your eyes on the pretty new 2009 Audi S3 with too much booty in the back right there in front of you and hit the jump for the huge data dump and galleries on all the rest of the A3/S3 lineup after the jump.
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Though not the next generation of the Audi A3 line which winked at us from the cover of Autobild, this shot of what appears to be the new Audi S3 Sportback sure does look good in a shrunken, well-powered wagon sort of way. Snapped somewhere in Germany behind the oppressive bars of what we're assuming to be some sort of Audi facility, the upgraded four-door hatch gets a set of 18 inch wheels and some aggressive body work. We're told to expect an engine to match that aggressive-looking exterior — specifically, a 265 HP 2.0-liter turbo four with a six speed manual or a flappy paddle shifter. We're happy to see the more powerful version is just around the corner, as one of the biggest complaints of the A3 is its relative lack of motivation for the price — though we suspect all that motivation will motivate Audi to command a meaty premium over the standard A3. [Audiblog via Carscoop] More »
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