The Motor1.com Star Award for Best Performance Vehicle really had it all, with prices extending from a cheap-and-cheerful $29,000 sport-compact icon to a $154,000, 819-horsepower, all-electric monster. There was a supercharged 6.2-liter V8 wrapped in a powder blue body and a rip-snorting Hyundai with a face only a mother could love.
The Hyundai Elantra N, Cadillac CT5-V Blackwing, Honda Civic Si, and Lucid Air Grand Touring wowed our judges both on the track at Willow Springs and on southern California's serpentine roads, but it was the 2022 Audi RS3 that took the crown. Not because it was the quickest, the most agile, or the most engaging, but because it was nearly the quickest, most agile, and most engaging, all at the same time.
