Red Hot Chilli Terror

What we like:

Daily driver which your wife can drive in tamed “Comfort” mode. Plush Executive automobile ride one moment

sublime sports car the next. It has boot! Fat boot! Big fat boot!

What we dislike:

Performance is addictive

hence it drinks (ok my fault)

With four drive modes, Comfort, Auto, Dynamic and Individual (customisable), the car responds differently in each case.

When cruising in “Comfort” the 8-speed Tiptronic unit switches up early, and shutting off one bank of cylinders to save fuel, effectively turning the RS6 Avant into a four-cylinder car. Audi, had taken into account the amount of vibration which would come from shutting off that one bank of cylinders, and had ensured that the engine mounts countered for that acoustically.

This pays off with interior acoustics comparable to any other mild executive car. Acceleration, when not floored in this mode is mild, and comparable to some 2.0 full sized sedans on our roads. Ride comfort is good, but you are always reminded that you are in something different due to the supportive bucket seats.

Switching the car over into “Sport” mode not only turns on the other bank of cylinders, but the engine mounts and suspension tightens up, providing an extremely sporty ride.

Pull down on the gearshift lever activates S mode for the transmission, and the exhaust note turns into a heavy V8 burble. Stomping on the throttle unleashes a head to the headrest, wicked 700Nm of torque at a mere 1,750 rpms, and is able to punch the 2,025Kg of German metal to 100km/h in just 3.9 seconds. Paddle-shifting the car down a gear always rewards you with heaps of torque at ready when you bang onto the throttle.

Any lifting off the throttle to take a corner is met with very angry-and-ferocious backfiring from the sports exhaust, which can be heard very well from the already well-insulated cabin. The adaptive air suspension which our test car came equipped with, made sure that our ride height was further reduced by another 20mm, with the wheels visually almost touching their arches.

Lateral stability is excellent, even when cornering through steep weight-unsettling hill climbs or descends, thanks to the Quattro system with a central locking differential. And in order to aid in car balancing, Audi had moved the battery to the rear of the car, to further keep it as neutral as possible. Undulations on the road do not make the car hop in skip, but rather, the machine just rolls over them, fully settled, with just a hint of a few bumps intruding into the cabin.

A factory standard seven-hundred Newton-Metre sure is addictive. Full on, I even found it hard to turn my head when pressed hard onto the headrests. Feed it well into the wheels at the right time when exiting a corner, the car rewards you with an extremely near neutral experience. Feed it too much, and the RS6 Avant is forgiving enough to help right the car for you. Steering inputs are a thing to get used to, while it is variable, there needs a little bit of feeling your way around the corners to get the hang of it. Finishing an extremely sharp corner with the huge Avant body shell trying its best to throw its weight sideways, and is met with just minimal side slip when flooring the throttle, and is extremely manageable.

Just in comparison, the Audi R8 with their V10 taken right out of the Lamborghini Huracán pushes 571hp at 8,250rpm, while the RS6 Avant, is not that far off… at 560bhp but at a more reachable 5,700rpm. While the R8 maximum torque is 540Nm, only attainable at 6,500rpm, the RS6 engine makes all of it usable at just 1,750rpm. While the 355Kg difference in weight, only yields a 0.4 second advantage in the century sprint timings, where the RS6 is slightly slower.

As compared to the BMW’s M5, now the numbers start to make sense. The Audi carries a smaller engine, is heavier than the M5 by a full 79 kilos, but the added torque and power, which is well planted by their famed Quattro system, gives the Audi the additional edge of 0.4 seconds less to reach the 100km/h mark.

On a side note, I was very impressed too with Audi's top-down view when parking the car. Wing mirror-mounted cameras pick up what surrounds the car, and gives you a "plan" view of any obsticles are in the way. I tested the system to attempting to park just by using the top-down visuals and rear view camera. The accuracy was just astounding!

But you must treat this car with respect. While it may be a refined machine in comfort mode, what lurks under the hood, is something which I dare say is the epitome of German engineering, which has so much to give.

The best way to enjoy the car, is really to turn off the tunes, and just simply drive it with the windows and sunroof open. Listen in wonder as that thumping, popping exhaust frightens the guy you are overtaking around a bend, while the melodic V8 burble provides the bass for such a work of art.

And just how much car is this really? The very same V8 engine which powers the RS6 Avant goes into the Bentley Continental GT V8, Continental GT3-R and Flying Spur V8.

Hey Audi, can I keep it?

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