New RS 3 Drops In at Malibu Cars & Coffee

Photos: Denis Podmarkov

How do you follow up the launch of the latest RS 3 sedan in Las Vegas (more on pp. 22-25 of q3_2022)? If you’re Audi of America, you drive them over and park them three abreast at the officially unofficial Malibu Cars & Coffee.

On one hand, Malibu Cars & Coffee is definitely a thing. It qualifies as a regular automotive hangout for car folks like Jerry Seinfeld, Jay Leno, Motor Trend’s Johnny Lieberman, plus prominent automotive podcasters like Spike Feresten, his co-host (and Sport quattro owner – ed.) Paul Zuckerman, and The Smoking Tire’s Matt Farah. Why should you care? Besides Zuckerman’s impeccable taste of short wheelbase Audi homologation cars, this group gets a lot of attention for this casual SoCal car gathering. This includes Audi of America, who has shown up to unofficially debut the RS 6 Avant, e-tron GT / RS e-tron GT, and now the RS 3 sedan.

On the other hand, Malibu Cars & Coffee is definitely not a thing. Like a lot of cars and coffee style gatherings around the country, the casual nature of these weekend morning get-togethers is part of the fun… at least for car owners. Throw in some peacocking car enthusiasts who can’t resist showing off and these events often run afoul of local powers-that-be or not-in-my-back yard (NIMBY) types. With the celebrity status of the gathering, crowds gather. Add in L.A. levels of money including hyper owners of hyper cars and things have been entertaining to watch from afar via the pages of the Los Angeles Times or via episodes of Feresten’s Spike’s Car Radio podcast where the spy-versus-spy nature of the gathering makes for regular story telling.

In an era where organized industry car shows are on the wane, Audi’s choice to show up from time to time with their latest and greatest is guerilla marketing in some of its most pleasurable ways. It’s casual, offering those who attend the chance to get up close and personal with the cars, if not drive them as journalists did the week before at the launch.

Had you swung through as regular contributor Denis Podmarkov did, you’d have caught three examples, early press cars (in Python Yellow, Kyalami Green, and Turbo Blue) weeks and possibly months before units start showing up at dealerships.  Plus, the Audi team on location also threw in a few RS 6 Avants for good measure.