Audi RS 6 Avant 2013 Review - International

Audi RS 6 Avant

What we liked
>> Astonishing straight-line speed
>> Powerful ceramic anchors
>> Classy, luxuriant cabin

Not so much
>> Unconvincing mid-corner steering
>> Raw engine note seems flat-ish
>> Just pipped by E 63 to 100km/h

OVERVIEW

It is many things done well and it clearly doesn’t pretend to be the things it isn’t. It isn’t nimble, for example. It isn’t small either, nor light, nor especially modest.

On a list of the things the RS6 has traditionally done well, you would probably find stuff like straight-line acceleration, brutal engine noise, extreme interior comfort and high quality materials, along with just a bit of menace from the exterior design.

You have every right to expect more of the same from the latest RS 6 Avant when it arrives here in November.

It will be all-wheel drive, as usual, powered by a ridiculously cranked version of the twin-turbo 4.0-litre V8 you can find in the Bentley Continental GT and the S8/S6/S7, and it will be wicked, wicked fast.

How fast? Try 3.9 seconds to 100km/h and a limited top speed of 250km/h. If you live in Germany, you can get that bumped up to 280km/h. If you ask really nicely they’ll lift it further to 305km/h.

If they took the limiter off altogether (they won’t, but they did in testing), you could expect it to top out at around 320km/h.

Audi says this very comfortable station wagon is also 20 seconds quicker around the Nurburgring’s challenging north circuit than before, which is no mean feat.

PRICE AND EQUIPMENT

There is significance in that, because it will be around $70,000 cheaper than BMW’s M6 GranCoupe (though that will, technically, be more of a competitor for the upcoming RS7).

Its $230,000 is precisely $500 dearer than the BMW M5 and about $20,000 cheaper than Benz’s upgraded E 63 AMG, both of which are only available Down Under in rear-wheel drive sedan form, whereas the RS 6 is an all-wheel drive wagon.

So, it’s safe to say that unless deals are in the offing, people will just go with what car they like, because price won’t be a huge factor.

Nor will power, because the RS 6’s 412kW matches up pretty neatly with the M5’s 412kW and the E63’s 410kW, even though it has the smallest of the three engines.

Tradition has it that you get plenty of stuff in an RS 6 beyond a big engine, and that’s been carried over. The trim levels in this car are astonishing, with quilted honeycomb stitching on the leather seats, aluminium pedal caps, thick carpets on the floor and slabs of carbon-fibre everywhere, doing nothing except, unusually, adding weight.

Up front is a pair of clinging sports seats with the head rests built in, while there are two heavily sculpted seats in the back, though Audi will give you a stock three-seat bench if you ask nicely (read: deliver an extra cheque).

Four-zone air-conditioning is standard (and, like the rest of the car, a bit of overkill), along with the mid-range Audi MMI navigation plus set-up and a 10-speaker audio system. Bang & Olufsen is Audi’s provider of even better audio at a cost.

Unusually, active radar cruise control is an option, as is night vision and the LED headlights to replace the stock xenons.

Audi Australia has confirmed all RS 6s will be delivered locally with a 360-degree camera, 20-inch wheels, carbon inlays, adaptive air suspension, digital TV, navigation plus and Audi connect features.

There will also be the option of 21-inch wheels/tyres, Dynamic Ride Control and a ‘matt quattro’ styling package.

Priced $30,000 higher at about $260,000, the previous RS 6 Avant (and $252K sedan) was sold here between late 2008 and 2010, during which time around 65 examples were sold.

PACKAGING
>> Everything an A6 Avant delivers, only faster
It has always been a pretty handy package, the A6. It’s big inside, its layout gives it a longer cabin than most cars its size and sitting on a 2915mm wheelbase means it’s not out-wheelbased by many.

It’s a tick under five metres, with an overall length of 4979mm including its new nose with massive vertical air inlets and its rejigged tail with its twin oval exhaust tips shrouding the four live exhaust outlets that actually do the exhaust outletting.

It’s wide, too, at 1936mm overall, and sits at 1461mm high. It can actually drop another 25mm lower than that if the driver asks for its Dynamic driving mode.

Despite the performance credentials, it can still carry 565 litres in the back or 1680 with the split-fold rear seat dropped flat.

It’s a very useful piece of real estate as well, with all manner of bits and pieces back there to secure things, including an elastic floor net, adjustable telescopic barriers and a flexi belt that slides into the rails on the floor.

There is plenty of space in all four of its standard seats (although Audi Australia is considering offering a no-cost “comfort” seating option comprising a traditional rear bench, totalling five seats), plus a healthy glovebox, a big centre console and disturbingly capacious door pockets.

MECHANICAL
>> Everything here is about managing the muscle
It takes two turbochargers to make something this heavy move this fast. They are the beasts and almost everything that has changed from the stock A6 has been changed specifically to feed them.

At 3993cc, the RS 6’s V8 is considerably smaller than the similarly twin-turboed V8s in its two main rivals, the E 63 and the M5.

Only 497mm long and 224kg, the RS 6’s V8 (which will also be found in the upcoming RS7) doesn’t give anything away to its bigger rivals.

That’s because it delivers 412kW of power between 5700rpm and 6600rpm, then backs that up with 700Nm of torque between 1750 and 5500rpm. There is just no gap in the urgency, then.

That’s actually 12kW less than the old RS6 delivered via pinching a Gallardo V10 and slinging two turbos on it, but the new car makes up for it with 50Nm more torque and far less weight. And cost.

The two twin-scroll turbos boost at up to 1.2 bar of pressure and it doesn’t hurt that there are no throttle bodies on the intake system. They follow the current trend of being mounted inside the engine’s vee.

And a 10.1:1 compression ratio on a turbocharged engine? That’s nearly unheard of in petrol passenger cars.

While it has idle-stop to lower its fuel consumption, it also has Cylinder On Demand to shut down four of its eight cylinders when the car is asking for less than 250Nm of torque below 3500rpm.

Audi says this saves around 12 per cent on the fuel consumption figure, which is 9.8L/100km on the NEDC cycle. Or, in other words, 0.1L/100km better than the M5.

All of this grunt is mated to an eight-speed automatic transmission that has been given a quick-shifting function, plus a purely mechanical torsen all-wheel drive system than can vary from the standard 40/60 front/rear split to basically whatever is necessary. And, if that’s not enough, there is torque vectoring.

There is also a set of switchable flaps in the exhaust to enrich the sound, though there is an optional sport exhaust if you really want to make noise.

The new RS 6 is also 100kg lighter than the old car, thanks to extensive aluminium use, and weighs 1875kg.

Beneath the wheel-arches lurks a specific air suspension system that can be raised, lowered, stiffened or softened as the driver prefers. There are steel springs as an option, but why would you?

It also has Audi Drive Select to tie the throttle response, the suspension, the exhaust noise, the steering, the gearshift and the skid-control systems together in different packages, ranging from Comfort to Dynamic and, our usual favourite, Auto.

Beneath all of that are 275/35 R20 Continental tyres surrounding 390mm front discs, though they can be swapped out for 420mm carbon ceramics.

ON THE ROAD
>> Unerring speed, unusual security
You can see why Audi launches this thing in Munich on days like today. The regions around Munich have some of Germany’s best autobahns and RS 6s of the past have been regarded as lead sleds – machines that charge hard in a straight line and work well on autobahns, but not so well in twisting mountain challenges.

That’s easy enough to understand. It’s five metres long and more or less 1.9 tonnes. It’s never going to whip through the hills, but it sure does whip along the autobahn.

In fact, it whips everywhere. The engine picks up revs so damned quickly that, in manual mode, you’re going to need to make your first-second upshift at 4000rpm to avoid smashing into the limiter at 6600rpm.

And what a limiter. It just sits there brap-brap-braping for three or four seconds before settling into a passable imitation of a pit-lane speed-limiter.

In first gear, you’ll strike it at 60km/h. In second, that reaches to 90km/h, then 140 in third, 180 in fourth, 220 in fifth and somewhere over 260 in sixth.

And the V8 doesn’t feel like it hits the limiter with any less alacrity in sixth gear than it does in second.

It throws the RS 6 at the horizon and it keeps spinning until the car is resting on its 305km/h speed-limiter, still feeling as though it wants to keep pushing on.

There is little doubt about its speed, then, but it’s a strangely deceptive engine and a strangely deceptive way to accelerate.

The RS 6 doesn’t feel like it punches in the same way the E 63 punches. Instead, it feels like it somehow garners its speed, unwaveringly and relentlessly, but without the bruising shove in the back you would expect.

Part of that is due to an engine note that, frankly, there just isn’t enough of.

There are all sorts of fabulous pops and crackles on the overrun, big blips on the downshifts and hard braaaps on each upshift, but when you’re just asking it to pull through the revs in one gear without all the fancy electronic soundtrack tweaks added in, the pure, deep, menacing muscle of its predecessors eludes this iteration.

And that’s a shame.

It’s a terrific gearbox, though, and changes its character brilliantly depending on what it’s being asked to do. Drive like a limo through city traffic? No problem. Snap an upshift at 6000rpm? Not a drama.

The all-wheel drive system is a pleasure, too. Electric systems try and try and get closer all the time, but the pure mechanical crispness of the Torsen system is “proper” quattro that is so fast that it’s like it has a sixth sense about when grip is likely to disappear and reacts to fix it before it happens.

The suspension is another highlight, with a ride quality that is more than you could expect out of a car with tyres this thin and with this level of performance. Left in either Comfort or Auto, it is supple without wallowing and masks the bump-thump you normally associate with rubber this size.

While it flits through the fast bends with astonishing authority, it’s lower-speed handling isn’t quite as convincing. We had a couple of moments where the car’s initial turn-in seemed pretty sharp from the electric power steering, only to find the car’s static cornering grip didn’t quite seem to match it. Progressive, for sure, but not sparkling.

It’s also a fabulously comfortable interior to dwell in and it’s an awfully low-stress place to sit while you’re eating up miles.

The short version really is this: If you’ve got an M5, M6 GranCoupe, E 63 or CLS 63 in mind and you can afford to wait six months or so, do yourself a favour and drive this first.

Because all of a sudden, with the E 63 and RS 6 in fighting form, the M5 doesn’t seem a clear-cut, default answer any more.

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