The new Audi RS 3 smells of "nature and originality"

Five chemists evaluate the odour of over 200 interior parts. No, really...

Photo by: Audi

By: Stefan Wagner

Aug 21, 2024 at 4:05am ET

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Today belongs to the revised Audi RS 3. The Ingolstadt-based company has just unveiled the facelift of its compact sledgehammer and, of course, the usual improvements are in the spotlight: visual enhancements, suspension fine-tuning, a throatier exhaust sound, adjustments to the interior - you know the drill. However, the car is now also supposed to smell better. Wait, what?

When I went to the presentation a few weeks ago, I was a little perplexed myself. RS 3 spokeswoman Julia Winkler told me that more emphasis is now being placed on enhancing the olfactory experience in the vehicle. Sounds a bit strange at first, but let's be honest, most of us perceive the quality of a product through its scent, don't we?

In a low-priced small car, there are often plastic odours, which are one of the less pleasant things in life. On the other hand, you won't want to get out of a Rolls-Royce or Bentley. And yes, of course this also has to do with how the sinfully expensive materials flatter the olfactory bulb.

First seat (and odour) test in the new Audi RS 3

Audi

So if you want to be "premium", you should also smell like it. And Audi now apparently wants to emphasise this more in its communication. "Quality that you can't see, but that always travels with you" is how Audi describes it after establishing special standards for the odour in the interior. What you can smell is made up of natural emissions from the materials, such as the leather, and the inherent odour of selected polymers.

So that Audi customers don't immediately say that it all stinks, various quality measures have to be taken into account in the manufacturing process - from the selection of the leather to the tanning agents and the finish. All interior components - around 200 per vehicle - are chemically analysed and evaluated for this purpose. They are heated in a special component chamber and the air in the chamber is then analysed. This takes two to three hours per component.

Once all the individual components have been tested, the next step is to check how everything works together in the car itself. After all, this is where all the materials come together and should also smell pleasant in combination. And it's easy to forget this under all climatic conditions.

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Temperatures on hot summer days, for example, are simulated by radiant heaters installed on the outside. The resulting odours are then assessed by a team of five chemists in terms of type and intensity. If the experts give their approval, then the discerning Audi customer should be satisfied.

Even if many manufacturers are only too happy to indulge in the trend towards vegan interiors in terms of PR, you can still get genuine leather in the RS 3. This is obviously an important quality feature for the Four Rings, at least we are told that "the RS sports seats made of fine nappa leather or the new RS bucket seats with a high proportion of pearl nappa leather as well as the standard leather steering wheel exude the scent of nature and originality".

I'm not sure whether I really did savour the scent of nature and originality during my first seat test in the facelifted RS 3, but the car certainly smelled very good. With a base price of £59,510 for the Sportback (the saloon is £1,000 more expensive), it should be.