AUDI claims it invented the “Premium Compact High-Performance SUV” niche with its first-ever RS Q3, which launched in Australia back in early 2014. And there’s no doubting the success of this performance flagship, seeing around 500 of them found homes here over the next five years. 

But the old RS Q3 was never quite all it could be. Riding on a circa-2003 platform (the PQ35, a la Golf Mk5/6) with an oddly undersized body and an undoubtedly oversized engine (Audi’s 2480cc iron-block five-cylinder), the original RS Q3’s balance of powers didn’t quite unite to form a strong party. 

But second time around, the new-generation RS Q3 knows exactly what it needs to be – as practical as any SUV within earshot of its size and price, backed by not only bahn-storming performance but also cutting-edge dynamics and a standard equipment list with more highlights than a Schitt’s Creek show-reel. 

All for a price that’s only marginally northwards of what a 2014 RS Q3 cost when new.

In fast SUV terms, it not only sounds promising, it is promising.