Audi S3 S Tronic

Thirty-two grand seems like a gently terrifying  place to start for a hot hatchback-especially one that doesn't actually look particularly fiery- but the new Audi S3 is packing high-density engineering under an unthreatening layer of beige styling, making it one of the best Q -cars in years. Don't laugh.

The basic S3 philosophy remains the same, so you get a 2.0-litre turbocharged four-cylinder driving a front -biased, quattro four-wheel-drive system. This time,though, you get 296bhp (up 35bhp) and 379Nm, in a car that weighs 60kg less than before. The numbers are impressive : zero to 100kph in 4.8 seconds (0.4 more for the manual), 250kph, a smidge over 40mpg and 159g/km CO . Win, and indeed, win.

But the bit that makes the S3 stand out in the getting-somewhere-very-quickly-indeed stakes is the car's quattro. Because it turns an expensive hot hatch into a bit of junior supercar-baiter. Before, Audi's take on all-wheel drive tended to make the S3 a little nose-heavy,and stodgy to drive compared with lighter, more immediate front-drive hatches. In the new car, the front axle is 42mm further forward than before ( thank the VW Group's modular transverse platform for that little nugget ), and the engine is both a fraction lighter and canted backwards by 12 degrees. Small stuff. But now, you turn the wheel, and the S3 responds immediately, wrapping itself around a corner with an almost eerie neutrality. Up the speed, and the S3 just keeps gripping, to an apogee of gentle understeer. But, by this point, you'll be going very fast indeed.

The engine feels tireless and pulls cleanly in virtually any gear, mainly because it produces its peak torque from 1,800rpm all the way though to 5,500, so you never get caught in off-boost holes or gearing flatsports. There's even launch, control, and if three consecutive starts at five seconds dead on a greasy road are anything to go by, it works a treat. The upshot is a car that's a bit of a rocket, and incredibly flattering to drive quickly.

The only issues are pretty subjective. Firstly, it looks quite mild-18-inch rims, a modest 25mm drop in height, silver mirrors and quad tailpipes don't make it look too different from any S line variant chugging around the UK. Secondly, the steering is a bit numb. And thirdly,it's just a bit po- faced. Yes, a speaker in the bulkhead and valves in the exhaust make the four-pot sound fruity, but you have to hammer the S3 to make it feel fast and exciting. Something like the BMW 135i (priced within a tenner with the 8spd auto) is more fun at slower speeds. Likely slower across country, too, but more engaging when not at warp-factor, prison-sentence speeds. So the S3 is a brilliant bit of kit- it just depends on what kind of driver you are.

Audi R8 (Why does Iron Man Drive An Audi?)

Latest movie has more Audis than Ingolstadt. Steve Moody explains the dynamics behind this mass exposure

TONY STARK IS back driving an Audi R8 for the latest and third Iron Man film, having driven an Acura NSX in last year's Avengers Assemble movie. But it's no whimsical choice because he fancied a change: it's a decision based on a calculation of brand value-fit and the promise of tens of milions of dollars of marketing spend. This trade-off didn't cut it for Avengers Assemble, because Audi felt the film's car scenes 'weren't suited to the brand,'says an insider.

The official line from Audi, and the film's producers Walt Disney and Marvel, is that the electric powered R8 e-tron and Iron Man's suit are a good fit thanks to their 'progressive technology' (ahem). While Audi has pulled sales of the R8 e-tron, it's using the platform to promote next year's A3 e-tron launch to millions; cinemagoers have spent $1.2 billion (£770m) watching the first two Iron Man films in which Audi was also involved. That's a pretty large audience at which to advertise its new tech sub-brand.

Audi will spend more than $10 million on advertising Iron Man 3 and its cars across the world this summer, having supplied an R8 e-tron for Robert Downey Jr's character, an S7 for Gwyneth Paltrow's Pepper Potts and A8L,S5 and Q5s for other character and scenes. Even the baddies get A6s.

The result is Audi got to be on-set to advise director Shane Black on how best to show its cars. In Iron Man 3, last shot shows Tony Stark in the R8. In initial takes, Stark's face was in close-up; after a gentle reminder Black pulled back the camera to ensure to e-tron badge on the frame. Audi can even suggest changes to how scenes play out if it thinks its cars will be shown at the wrong angle or in a bad light.

While Audi is booking ad spots at great cost about Tony Stark's commute to work, it says it didn't have to pay a fee to be in the film. Not a cent. The cost are in supplying the cars and making sure everyone knows they were involved. Movie producers like having a car company save them the time and money of sourcing and buying vehicles, but strict agreements are drawn up about how the film will be marketed, and what Audi will spend on it. One of the keys to this deal was the popularity of the film franchise in China, ad execs reckon.

Despite the huge costs involved, Audi is surprisingly relaxed about the placements. There aren't agreements about the amount of on-screen time, as there might be in advertising, and even competitor brands might pop up in the background. The very distant background, mind.

An Audi insider said:'We don't insist that every car in every scene is an Audi.We think some brands overdid it in the past, like Ford with the James Bond franchise. It still has to look right, so there's no point having a town in mid-west America full of A4s and A6s'. Though after Iron Man 3, there might be a few more Audis in Illinois.