late checking in here - I'm trading in my S3 for the RS3, arriving at the local port Friday. I was able to test drive one a few days ago.
This car desperately needs a Manual, but those days are fading. The back seat's big enough for my adult kids, and I can just get my road bike in the trunk with the back seats down. It'll let me drive our local mountains year-round. It's a little smaller and roughly the same price as a C43, and that's a tempting choice. I can hide the pop-up tablet in the Audi, and I prefer smaller, lighter, and more power myself. The CLA45 is too ugly imvho. if I could fit my kids in the back of the Evora we'd be having a different conversation. For days I want to actually drive and shift for myself, I keep a 348 spider.
The extra cost of the RS3 certainly isn't for everyone, but the sport exhaust is addictive. And as a few have said, it's a tiny market segment for a sub 4 second small awd family sedan.