Audi RS6 2009 Review

Audi RS6

Road Test

Overall rating: 3.5/5.0
Engine/Drivetrain/Chassis: 4.0/5.0
Price, Packaging and Practicality: 3.0/5.0
Safety: 4.0/5.0
Behind the wheel: 3.5/5.0
X-factor: 4.0/5.0

It's not a pretty car, the Audi RS6. In fact, it looks downright brutal. Perhaps it's not as flamboyantly styled as the BMW M5, but with its blistered quarter panels, the optional black exterior styling package and the Audi single-frame grille, it sure looks purposeful.

And the purposeful looks match the RS6's function. This is the very epitome of a sedan designed to convey driver and passengers in a high level of comfort from point A to point B in the fastest possible time. Never mind that the road between those two points might be saturated, running around a cliff-face above the sea, rising steeply and descending precipitously.

On roads such as this, the RS6 is in its element. It boasts levels of performance so high that the car effectively outruns the straights on any stretch of road. Driving the RS6, even the least challenging road will seem as tight and short as Winton or Symmons Plains. Corners just leap up at you. So it's just as well that the RS6 has about the meatiest steering feel of any recently-driven Audi.

There's almost no tramlining and steering response might be described as direct but sanguine. There was no nervousness, it just turned in like it was controlled from the lower reaches of the cerebellum. All in all, the RS6 cornered with commitment and composure -- and it's a machine you can rely on to get you out of trouble in a hurry.

The ride was firm, but didn't skip over bumps. There was good grip from the front, although some of our writers have complained about a level of understeer in the RS6. But at speeds -- on known roads -- that had BMW's M3 Cabrio just a little twitchy at the rear, the RS6 maintained decorum. The rear end grips like a leech and there's no hint of camber change or significant weight transfer, although the car tracked closer to the inside of a corner with power off. It seems like the RS6 is more at home with wider-radius corners than the tight stuff.

Applying more throttle in measured increments had relatively little effect on the car's attitude though. Big bootfuls of power -- or suddenly lifting off the throttle, for that matter -- were quickly stomped on by the stability and traction control anyway.

The two safety aids will really put a crimp in your day if you don't disable them first. On one uphill right-hand bend, the RS6 was caught out in the wrong gear and off-boost as the traction control clamped down hard. Result: a whole load of 'whoofly', bogged-down engine on the exit. We didn't try it with the stability and traction control turned off on those corners, because there was an almighty drop on the outside of them...

That was the only occasion the engine was less than superb. It's a twin-turbocharged V10 developing 426kW of power and 650Nm of torque. At times, the powerplant emitted a rich bass note -- even at higher engine speeds (up to 6500rpm before the transmission selected the next gear up).

On lighter throttle settings and with a few revs in hand, the engine sounded like a bike chain being dragged across a railing wrapped in velvet. It's not the sort of engine note you'd describe as honey-toned, but it will make you sit up and take note.

When the automatic transmission changed up a gear, the engine fell back on the overrun with a triple-shock boom from the exhaust. It's a fabulous engine in the way it develops its power and offers plenty of character. 

Audi did ask us to ensure the engine was warmed up a little before driving away. From a cold start, the engine will idle at 1200rpm and the owner should wait a minute or so for the engine revs to drop back to around 700rpm or thereabouts. Initially, the engine sounded rough, as the induction system injected a rich mix of fuel into the engine and the heavy-weight oil circulated through the engine -- before the rough running subsided as the oil's viscosity changed and the air/fuel charge leaned out.

The transmission was very smooth and shifted rapidly when the paddles were used. We still say that it's not quite as responsive as the ZF box and supercharged V8 in the Jaguar XKR, but it's close.

We averaged 17.0L/100km in a combination of gentler open-road driving and some cut-and-thrust stuff, but if your RS6 is never going to see the open road, you'll be lucky to see mid 20s for fuel consumption. Is that an important consideration in a car costing well over $270,000 (before all the charges we must deny specific knowledge, lest the ACCC clamp down).

For its ability to cocoon passengers, the RS6 was impressive -- especially given the explicitly sporting character of the car. There was some wind rustling at open-road speeds and the engine was clearly audible too, but the tyres (Pirelli P-Zeros) were surprisingly quiet, even on patches of 'war-zone' bitumen festooning our country roads.

The interior was Audi's usual potpourri of attractive and tactile materials in a stylish layout. There was a dark woven headlining, joined by satin-finish chrome door handles, carbon-fibre decorative highlights and supple ivory leather. With the recessed lighting from the door trims at night, it was wonderfully ambient. There was some squeaking and rubbing of soft materials at times and the sunroof installation appeared to be principally at fault there.

The instrumentation was stylish and easy to read. Switchgear and instruments followed Audi's standard ergonomic conventions and worked well. The stability and traction control switch was a reach for the driver -- positioned as it was on the dash closer to the passenger -- and the cruise control was tucked away well out of sight and not especially intuitive to use.

Shift paddles rotated with the wheel provided the driver with the ability to grab a gear and steer in one sweeping movement without changing the position of the hands on the wheel. It's one instance of finding the right match of steering wheel diameter, proximity of paddles and general ease of use.

This reviewer harbours doubts about the intelligent high-beam headlighting for the RS6. There were no such qualms about the xenons and the adaptive cornering facility. They worked a treat, but the high-beam lights would dip on those occasions when the system picked up the xenons bounced back from a reflective road sign and yet wouldn't dip at the approach of a car with yellowy sealed beams or halogens.

As far as interior space was concerned, the rear-seat head and legroom were both adequate for adults of average height or taller. Headroom would likely be better still without the sunroof fittted.

The RS6 doesn't seem to be a lot bigger than the A4, which has grown in its B8 iteration. While the new A4 is more than 200mm shorter than the RS6, it's only about 60mm narrower and there's very little in it for wheelbase dimensions (2846mm for the RS6 and 2808mm for the A4).

Perhaps that's why the RS6 doesn't seem much more spacious than the smaller car. That extra length in the RS6 does seem to benefit boot volume, which was huge but comparatively shallow to make room for drivetrain components beneath the floor.

In total, the RS6 is a sort of tame monster. Utterly obedient, it will nevertheless startle the driver with the kind of point-to-point performance that's unseemly in anything other than a high-performance sports car -- yet the RS6 is a commodious sedan. It's hard not to wax lyrical.

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