First Drive AUDI RS4 AVANT

AUDI RS4 AVANT

The 4 awakens Another fast blue estate from Audi? Except this one edges closer than most to the dynamic excellence that’s so often missing. By James Taylor

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AST ESTATES ARE great. That’s incontrovertible lore in the automotive kingdom; the seemingly contradictory cocktail of dog-friendly boot space and dog-unfriendly acceleration makes them peculiarly tempting.

So the new RS4 is a likeable creation, even before it’s turned a wheel. It combines the proven physics-bending powertrain from the RS5 coupe and the sober-but-suave estate body from the A4 Avant – an undeniably strong pairing, but not necessarily an out-and-out thrilling one on paper. You’re so excited about the prospect of your first drive in some cars that you consider making a themed advent calendar in the run-up, but the RS4 isn’t that kind of car. You expect, and require, it to be fast but unflustered, a minimum-effort, maximum-ability kind of car.

Seeing it for the first time might pique your pulse a little, though. It has more presence in the metal than it does in pictures, those widescreen wheelarches (punched out by an extra 30mm each side compared with the standard A4) and gigantic oval exhausts somehow making it look lower as well as wider. The (fake, disappointingly) vents flanking the tail lights help, too. Audi claims its designers took inspiration from the

bell-bottomed 1989 Audi 90 GTO IMSA race car for the wheelarch treatment – a good thing to draw inspiration from (exactly how much visual DNA it shares with the RS4 is debatable – but it looks good, regardless).

The RS4’s lineage dates back to the 1993 Audi 80 RS2 – also a chunky, mid-sized turbocharged wagon. This is the fourth-generation RS4, and like the majority of its ancestors it’ll be sold as an estate (Avant in the Audiverse) only.

While the previous RS4 housed a naturally aspirated V8 behind its giant grilles, the new one’s bang on downsizing trend with the same 2.9-litre twin-turbo V6 as the current RS5, hooked up to the same drivetrain. Hiding its turbos in the vee of the cylinders, it packs near-as-dammit the same power output as the retired V8 (444bhp), despite having 1269 fewer cc to play with. More pertinently, there’s 125lb ft of extra torque, while generating a quarter less CO2 on the test cycle, and eking out an extra 5.7mpg. The extra twist makes it 0.6sec quicker than its predecessor from zero to 62mph, at 4.1sec (two tenths slower than the lighter RS5). It tops out at 174mph, if buyers spec the optional RS Dynamic package; otherwise it’s electronically limited to 155mph.

As tradition and quattro badges dictate, the

RS cabin majors on alcantara and aluminium. If you want brash, go for an AMG

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RS gets oval tail pipes, but noisier Sport system is an option. Neat carbon-trimmed vent is in fact a fake

RS4 could only ever be all-wheel drive. During typical driving 40 per cent of the torque goes to the front wheels and 60 per cent to the rear, but the system is able to direct as much as 85 per cent of torque to the front or 70 per cent to the rear as it detects wheel slip.

An electronically controlled Sport rear differential will be fitted to all cars in the UK as standard, with the ability to precisely portion more or less torque to each individual rear wheel as required. All cars also feature torque vectoring (by braking the inside wheels) to help trim their line at speed.

Rivals? BMW doesn’t make an M3 Touring, nor Alfa Romeo a Giulia Quadrifoglio Sportwagon, so the similarly priced Mercedes-AMG C63 is the most obvious opponent. It packs an extra pair of cylinders and a little more power (or a lot more in S spec), yet is rear-wheel drive only – a good thing or a bad thing, depending on your personal standpoint.

Climb aboard the RS4 and you’ll find yourself in one of today’s best-finished interiors, with micron-level fit and finish and judicious use of aluminium and alcantara to lift the ambience without crossing the line into gaucheness.

In fast Audi tradition there’s a pair of Audi RS4 Avant > Price £62,175 > Engine 2894cc 24v twin-turbo V6, 444bhp @ 5700rpm, 443lb ft @ 1900rpm > Transmission 8-speed auto, all-wheel drive > Performance 4.1sec 0-62mph, 155mph (optionally derestricted to 174mph), 32.1mpg, 199g/km CO2 > Weight 1715kg > On sale Now

UP AGAIN ST BETTER THAN Audi RS5 Because fast estates trump coupes WORSE THAN Mercedes-AMG C63 Estate More characterful and exciting WE’D BUY Secondhand Audi RS6 Avant Numb steering apart, it’s the wickedest wagon

Grip is up to the usual high RS level, but responsiveness is now much better

February 2018 | CARMAGA ZINE.CO.UK

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bearhug-bolstered sports seats up front, available in varying levels of cushion plumpness for the diamond-stitched leather. The once-novel, now-familiar Virtual Cockpit TFT instrument panel sits behind the wheel, with extra RS-specific displays including boost and tyre pressures, power and torque outputs, and a g-meter – which is probably the last thing you should be looking at while you’re cornering at any kind of meaningful g. It’s augmented by a pin-sharp head-up display beamed onto the windscreen, which includes an oil temp read-out so you can make sure you’ve warmed the V6 through properly, along with the usual vehicle speed and sat-nav instructions and, less usefully, a lap timer.

Get underway and you’ll find that in most respects the RS4’s probably exactly as you’d expect it to be: extremely fast, unstickably grippy and genuinely refined. What you might not expect is that it keeps the driver reasonably involved in the process, too. It’s not the last word in feedback, and you’ll get more thrills from a C63 or an M3, but you can subtly adjust the car’s attitude with weight transfer, and enjoy doing so. Lateral grip and traction levels are sky high, yet it doesn’t feel quite as inert as some fast Audis of old. It can be rewarding to drive when you want it to be, and entirely undemanding the rest of the time – which feels very much in line with the RS4’s ethos.

The two cars we tried were on 20-inch wheels (19s are standard) and fitted with the optional Dynamic Ride Control (DRC) hydraulically linked damping to cut roll and pitch. In the

Virtual Cockpit can be configured to show your g-forces, but who’d read the meter on the move?

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The RS5 hasn’t set the sales charts on fire. Same powertrain in an estate? That could work

iterations but still feels odd, firmest setting, Dynamic, the ride weighting up in an unnatural is choppy on all but the smoothest LOVE Covers ground with way. The regular steering set-up roads, and you’ll soon tire of it. equal speed and works well on its own, with three Comfort mode feels the best option ease levels of weight and response to for the majority of circumstances, HATE choose from (Comfort, Auto and and on the Spanish roads we tested Price, missing Dynamic). Regardless of mode, the RS4 on it felt less springy than last degree of there’s decent feedback, at least an RS5 I recently drove in Wales, involvement by fast Audi standards, especially with less vertical float in the softest VERDICT considering the giant 275mm-wide setting. For a 1715kg car – hardly a An RS5 wearing a front tyres. Good news – RS Audis lightweight, but 80kg lighter than North Face jacket are becoming less numb and more the previous RS4 – it controls its + + + + + comfortable. mass very well.

And the being-an-estate-car bit?

Merc-AMG’s rumblier, rortier V8 is the more charismatic engine and it will The RS4’s trick diff and giant wheels haven’t put a bigger smile on your face, but the V6 is still harmed luggage space, which is identical to the spectacular – or at least, its performance is. It’s regular A4 Avant’s. As with that car, the seats all about torque, and lots of it. While the old RS4 don’t quite fold fully flat, but there’s still a usable used a dual-clutch gearbox, the new engine’s space back there. Pure litre counts only tell part hooked up to an eight-speed torque-converter. of the story, of course – the shape is important I didn’t miss the DCT; the auto shifts unobtru- too – but the RS4’s 505-litre seats-up capacity sively when left to its own devices, and does its compares with 490 litres for the Merc-AMG job well enough in manual mode. The optional C63, and seats-down litres are identical at 1510.

Sport exhaust makes a theatrical belching For comparison, the soon-to-be-replaced Audi noise on upshifts under load, which adds to the RS6 offers 565/1680 litres.

The RS4 is not a cheap car. You’re looking at sense of occasion but does sound a bit synthetic, almost as if it’s been carefully programmed £62k before options (or £72k for the Carbon Edito do so. Otherwise the V6 makes a decently tion, with various option packs bundled in and characterful sound, a muted rasp with a bassy as much CFRP trim as the name suggests). But it at least feels expensive, and is quick enough to undertone.

We tried the optional ceramic brakes, and keep some supercars honest. It’s as much fun to liked them. They give confidence-inspiring drive as the RS5 – in fact, subjectively, it actually bite from cold and decent feedback through the feels better balanced – with a more unassuming pedal, and they’re easy to modulate. But much image. It’s not a car that’ll give you goosebumps, of the same praise could also be applied to the but most of its buyers won’t be looking for them.

Maximum pace, minimum effort – the RS4 standard steel brakes.

One option best avoided is the variable-rate nails the brief.

Dynamic Steering. It’s better than previous @JamesTaylorCAR