Neither are fast cars by todays standards but that isnt really what they are about.
The fact that you dont see as many rs4's makes them a little bit cooler now. As much as i like the e46 they are old hat now imo.
lol, they are plenty fast enough for the roads and more.
I do however see your point, hot hatches are nearly/as fast as them these days. Imo the mk2 FRS is the daddy of hatches at the moment still, in standard spec it´s still slower than an m3/rs4 so hardly "not fast"!
Daft comments all round.