Audi RS 6 Performance 2023 Review – Track Test

The 2023 Audi RS 6 Avant Performance is priced at $241,500 plus on-road costs and is the only model in the RS 6 range.

The ‘vanilla’ RS 6 has been boned in Australia, although the 2023 Audi RS 7 Sportback Performance (from $248,500) is available for those who want a coupe-like body style.

As one of the world’s wildest wagons, the performance car has a Teutonic twist: it’ll go from zero to 100km/h faster than you can say ‘Renn Sport’ while proffering more passenger and boot space than some large SUVs.

The powerful yet pragmatic five-metre-long Audi RS 6 Avant Performance is available in eight different of colours including metallic and matte paint effects, headlined by the new Ascari Blue hue.

Fresh new 22-inch alloy wheels are offered in grey, gold or chrome finishes for no extra cost and also save 20kg of total unsprung mass.

Ingolstadt’s wild wagon comes with pretty much everything you could want, including HD LED Matrix headlights with laser lights, a panoramic glass roof, power-assisted door closure, heated and ventilated RS sports seats finished in Valcona leather, while fine Nappa leather adorns the dashboard, centre console and door inserts.

The German juggernaut is backed by a five year/unlimited-kilometre warranty and a capped-price service plan will cost $4360 in total, across a five-year/75,000km period. Service intervals occur every 12 months or 15,000km, whichever comes first.

There’s so much to like about the 2023 Audi RS 6 Avant Performance because what you’re dealing with is, fundamentally, an expertly engineered vehicle that looks, feels and performs like a genuine Triple A product.

After several laps around one of the fastest racetracks in Australia, the Phillip Island GP circuit, it’s manifestly clear that the Avant (wagon) body shape doesn’t blunt performance, the low-slung land missile scorching around the track with a level of casual aggression that is, at times, somewhat alarming.

It’s exceedingly capable on the racetrack and comes with all the gear required to withstand repeated punishment including customised Continental SportContact 7 (285/30) tyres shod to the larger, lighter 22-inch alloy wheels.

By reducing unsprung weight by 5kg at each corner while employing adaptive shock absorbers and adaptive air suspension, the chubby 2150kg German track tool tips into more challenging and tighter corners (Turn 4, Turn 10) at the Phillip Island circuit decisively, the front-end holding its nerve, the tyres biting keenly into the asphalt.

Despite the ‘quattro’ all-wheel drive layout, up to 80 per cent of engine torque can be shunted to the rear axle and this seems to help reduce understeer, as does the active four-wheel steering system.

The suspension does a tremendous job keeping the body flat and controlled and predictable through corners and the brakes are reassuring, especially coming off the main straight at Phillip Island and into Turn 1 at 230km/h-plus.

Indeed, the RS 6 delivers convincing deceleration, the massive 420mm front disc brakes clamped by big 10-piston aluminium callipers that wash off speed as effortlessly as the wipers wash water from the windscreen.

The Audi RS crew has upgraded the self-locking centre differential, which is now smaller and lighter and works in tandem with the enhanced 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8 to ensure meaningful and sustained power delivery.

Audi’s Renn Sport hot shop has also made changes to the sonorous 3996cc turbo-petrol V8, with a pair of new (and larger) turbochargers cranking up peak turbo boost pressure from 35 to 38psi, in turn generating 22kW and 50Nm more power and torque respectively.

A rather handy 463kW at 6000rpm and 850Nm from 2300-4500rpm is metered out by the recalibrated (and very effective) conventional eight-speed automatic transmission, which now has more aggressive shift mapping, ensuring the RS 6 punches out of corners with vehemence.

Together with a modified launch control system, which sees the 0-100km/h sprint now take just 3.4 seconds (two tenths faster than before) and 8kg of acoustic damping material removed, it feels faster, sounds gruntier and is a smidgen lairier too.

Audi’s latest RS 6 is agonisingly competent on the racetrack and pootling around the car park and through pit lane reveals an exceptionally approachable vehicle, one that’s effortless to drive slowly as well.

The asking price of more than $250,000 once on-road costs are added makes the 2023 Audi RS 6 Avant Performance out of reach of most buyers. And it’s a significant step up from the previous version, which started from $229,300 and before that opened at $216,000.

Another less-than-perfect aspect of the incendiary family wagon is the steering. It’s great at low speeds, light and easy, but lacks meaningful feel when you’re going at it hammer and tong on the racetrack. The electric power steering system won’t be a deal breaker but let’s put it this way – BMW’s M division does it better.

Other quibbles include the fact that it subsists purely on a premium 98-octane petrol diet… but we’re splitting hairs now. If you’ve got the coin and the inclination, this is a fabulous purchase.

Well, we just answered that question, so let’s just say this: Powerful and pragmatic, the latest iteration of the Audi RS 6 is an achingly brilliant vehicle, making small but meaningful gains across most dynamic metrics.

The new 2023 Audi RS 6 Avant Performance is blisteringly fast on the racetrack, and despite the less-than-perfect steering set-up it’s a very engaging family chariot and, pleasingly, has a more evocative voice now.

Personally, I’m feeling very grateful to have had the opportunity to drive such an iconic and astonishingly capable car on the racetrack.

It’s a privilege few will get to experience and if you ever get the opportunity, whether through good fortune or good luck or prudent decisions, I urge you to do it.

Petrol-powered wagons of this calibre – especially V8s – will be a relegated to the history books by electric sports cars before long and more’s the pity because the RS 6 Avant Performance is a truly extraordinary vehicle.

2023 Audi RS 6 Avant Performance at a glance:
Price: $241,500 (plus on-road costs)
Available: Now
Engine: 4.0-litre V8 twin-turbo petrol
Output: 463kW/850Nm
Transmission: Eight-speed automatic
Fuel: 11.8L/100km (ADR Combined)
CO2: 269g/km (ADR Combined)
Safety rating: Not tested