The 2021 S3 is only available as a sedan or five-door hatch.
Earlier this month, Audi revealed the 2021 S3 sedan and five-door Sportback. Missing from the show – and the rest of the A3 lineup – was a three-door hatchback offering. The body style, a rarity in the automotive world today, disappeared with the new generation. However, that hasn’t stopped one fan from imagining a 2021 S3 three-door hatchback in two renderings.
The result is a sporty, appealing, three-door hatchback we wish Audi would still offer; however, as more consumers gravitate toward larger vehicles, it only makes sense to discontinue the slow sellers. The S3’s new, angular front-end design fits well on the tiny hatch. It’s the same at the rear, the S3 in the renderings wearing the S3 Sportback’s rear-end.
The rear doors are missing, but the design flows from front to back without interruption. A lovely design line low in the door cuts through to the rear fender, which adds cohesion to the styling. There’s a similar beltline that wraps around the car, starting at the headlights, cutting down the sides and reaching around the rear.
If Audi made a three-door S3 for 2021, it’d use the same 2.0-liter turbocharged four-cylinder engine that powers the other two body styles. It produces 306 horsepower (228 kilowatts) and 295 pound-feet (400 Newton-meters) of torque. On the 2021 S3, Audi channels that power through a seven-speed S Tronic transmission and the automaker’s Quattro all-wheel-drive system. It’d likely perform the same zero-to-62 mph (100 kph) run of 4.8 seconds with the three-door’s top speed electronically limited to 155 mph (250 kph).
Learn More About The 2021 Audi A3 And S3:
Sadly, the three-door S3 will remain a rendering, living in our imaginations. The number of three-door hatches is dwindling, and will likely continue to do so until consumers began gravitating toward smaller vehicles. Maybe then automakers will roll out the quirky compacts and other types of cars we’ve seen disappear over the last several years.