Audi RS6 Avant review

Ironically enough, the motor does have some hybridisation here as well. A 48V electrical architecture and starter-generator allow the engine to ‘harvest’ power at up to 12kW under regenerative braking and also mean the RS6 can coast at cruising speed in an ‘ignition-off’ state for periods of up to 40 seconds. It retains cylinder deactivation technology as well, and all of that means the car tops 30mpg on the extra-urban test cycle of the outgoing NEDC equivalent fuel economy lab test.

Like the last RS6, this one has full-time mechanical four-wheel drive with a passively locking Torsen centre differential that splits 60% of drive to the rear axle by default, varying it by as much as 85% as traction deteriorates up front.

Rearward torque is then split actively and asymmetrically by Audi Sport’s locking rear differential, which can overdrive the outside wheel using a system of electrically controlled clutches. The car also uses brake-based electronic torque vectoring.

Meanwhile, Audi simplified the RS6’s suspension and steering specification options for the Performance edition, so all cars now come with four-wheel steering and a torque-vectoring rear differential. The RS6’s diagonally interlinked, coil-sprung and adaptively damped DRC sports suspension system remains an option, though (air springs are standard), as do carbon-ceramic brakes.

The new 22in forged alloy wheels and Continental SportContact 7 performance tyres that Audi Sport has chosen for the car only come on upper-level trims.

The active rear steer is really nicely judged, too. It’s rare that a manufacturer tunes these systems to feel as natural and predictable as Audi has done. You don’t end up cornering as if navigating the rim of a 50 pence coin. Rather, you just turn the moderately weighted, slightly soft yet accurate steering and feel the RS6 want to point towards a corner.

Unless, that is, you’re on the open road, in which case the rear wheels assist high-speed stability – which, even on winter rubber with some squidge in its tread blocks, is as good as you’d hope for a car with a top speed as high as the Audi’s. On proper ‘summer’ performance rubber, it’s very good indeed.

One of the first things you appreciate on track in the RS6 is the reduced need to consider its width compared with fast road driving.

That said, its four-wheel steering gives it surprising agility through tighter corners, but this doesn’t come at the expense of perceived stability. Grip levels are tremendous and, although you’re aware of its mass during quick, twistier sections of track, body control remains steadfast. This affords the car the ability to carry impressive speed through corners, although you never really shake the feeling that it’s more precise, grippy and assured than out-and-out fun.

Comfort and isolation

Combined with weight-saving carbon brakes and those new lightweight rims, the RS6’s sportier suspension is less punishing than it used to be. The more aggressive operating modes of the Dynamic Ride Control set-up certainly feel firm on UK country roads, and make the RS6 quite grabby in its body control, and given to pogoing a little on uneven surfaces. Pick the middle-ground suspension calibration using the driver-configurable RS1/RS2 settings, though, and the ride has greater suppleness.

Noise isolation is also first class. It probably helps that Audi’s 4.0-litre twin-turbocharged engine is naturally more muted than any comparable Mercedes-AMG unit or even a BMW V8, but with low idle, cruising and revving noise, and with a fine-quality sound system, the RS6 is perhaps the easiest-going car in this class.