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By
EWAN KENNEDY in INGOLSTADT
21 July 2008
Station wagons are a big thing in Germany at the moment. Whereas
Australians still seem to have a love affair with fuel-hungry
4WDs, our European cousins prefer the utility of a wagon without
the big thirst created by carrying about hundreds of kilograms of
off-road ability.
A sub section of the European wagon market is that of the
high-performance sports variants. Audi is a past master of this
segment and anyone who has ever driven in German will have been
amazed at the number of rep-mobiles in a big hurry to get to the
next appointment. Avants, as Audi terms its wagons, make up
something like 40 per cent of all Audis sold in Europe.
And the king of them all is the RS6 Avant, a machine with full-on
sports credentials in the way of engine, suspension and braking
performance. And car with a speed limited to 250 km/h has to come
with the best in safety credentials.
Audi
does its vehicles in three stages. The A6 is the standard model;
those wanting a bit of sporting performance and an upgrade in
appearance opt for the S6; full-on revheads to whom only the best
is enough go for the topline RS6.
We
have just carried out extensive testing of a brace of RS6 Audis in
their home market, driving on a roundabout route between Munich
and Ingolstadt, the latter the site of the marque’s head office.
Audi
RS6 uses a Lamborghini designed V10 engine of 5.0-litre capacity.
If that’s not enough in its own right the engine is further
hyped up by a pair of turbochargers. These lift the peak power to
a slightly excessive 426 kW, or 580 horsepower in muscle car
terms, because this is very much a muscle car in the modern
manner. Indeed, it’s beyond that stage because none of the
muscle machines of the golden era of the 1970s and ‘80s had
anything like that sort of engine output, nor did they have 10
cylinders.
Even
more significant is that the old muscle cars had nowhere near the
refinement and safety that’s a given in the hot RS6.
Power is only half of the performance story; torque is, if
anything, even more important. Top torque is ‘only’ 650 Newton
metres. We say ‘only’ because on the face of it you may have
expected even more than 650 of Mr Newton’s finest. But when you
look at the full torque graph of the Audi and see that number is
generated all the way from 1500 to 6250 rpm it all makes sense.
Because every driver will have that full 650 Nm on offer virtually
all the time.
The
power is sent to all four wheels as a pair of wheels would be
overwhelmed by all that engine output. It goes without saying that
the famed quattro system is used. Sending that power and torque to
the four wheels is a six-speed automatic transmission. That unit
has been beefed up to cope with the huge torque being pushed into
it, at the same time the ratios have been lowered to a more
sporting level, finally the shift times have been shortened.
Final
transmission to the road is through ultra-wide 275/35 tyres
running on 20-inch alloy wheels.
The
result is an Avant wagon that can leap from zero to 100 in a mere
4.6 seconds, and pass through 200 km/h only 10.3 seconds later on
the way to the aforementioned governed speed of 250 km/h.
Excessive?
Probably, and not many people will really need all that
performance, despite the fact that it makes for exceptionally safe
overtaking. But those who want the very best in sporting station
wagons, and have the wherewithal of $259,000 will enjoy the
tremendous exhilaration the RS6 offers. (Note that the price was
set with a luxury car tax (LCT) of 25 per cent, this tax may
increase to 33 per cent before the car goes on sale during
September, resulting in an RRP of $271,000.)
In
any case Audi Australia only anticipates bringing about 50 RS6
cars to Australia. At this stage all will be Avant estates, sedans
will be offered sometime in the first few months of 2009.
On
the road we found the Audi RS6 to have full-on sporting
characteristics that will endear it to those who love their cars
big and bold. The engine provides immense grunt almost from the
moment you hit the accelerator pedal. One reason for this is the
use of two smallish turbochargers in place of a single large unit.
Thus letting the turbos spin up more rapidly. The aforementioned
torque peak of 650 Nm gives a huge surge of acceleration making
There's
a nicely uneven beat to the engine at idle and the sounds it makes
as it rises and falls through the rev range are sure to be music
to the ears of those who love their engines.
Road
grip is high, though there's no doubting that there's a lot of
engine hanging out ahead of the front axle, thus creating a fair
bit of understeer at times.
Audi's
latest high-performance Avant wagon is not for everyone, but for
those who demand only the best in life it will sit high on their
list of very desirable toys.
© Copyright
Marque Publishing Company
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