The 2015 Audi S3 meets its match on wild mountain roads

[S3Fan]

If you're looking for a road to nowhere in particular, you can hardly do better than Route 165 toward Carbonado, Washington. The narrow two-lane flirts with the Carbon River for a few miles before vanishing into Mount Rainier National Park. The road grows tighter, hugging canyon walls that were cut by the river below over eons. The S3 is nervous over the uneven pavement, skipping and bouncing across bumps and dips.

Seattle and the surrounding country is an oil painting in earth tones, a world hung in muted greens, blues, and browns. The S3 fits in like a firecracker, its blister-red paint shouting at the wan clouds in an inanimate act of madness. The dirt splayed down the car's flanks looks like a half-hearted attempt at camouflage.

Read more