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Audi’s rapid wagon returns. We know it’s fast, but can it engage us - and does it have more than raw power to compete with rivals like the Mercedes-AMG C63 estate?

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Fast RS models have propagated throughout Audi’s range, but the Audi RS4 still holds a special place in the memory of enthusiasts.

The RS2 estate of 1994 was the first Audi to wear the RS badge, and it was a corking car to drive. It was succeeded by the second Audi RS model, the RS4, in 2000. That was less rewarding but incredibly usable, and really kick-started the RS spawning process. The RS4 of 2006, however, still shines brightest, and is remembered for its fluid ride, engaging handling and superb powertrain.

The RS4’s ability to find grip in the wet is almost without peer

There are some things you can predict about an RS Audi. That it will have monster performance and traction will be a given. That it will retain all the interior furnishings of its lesser siblings is taken as read, too.

But just what kind of dynamic demeanour it will take on is harder to imagine. Some RS models have ridden well, some dreadfully, some have been engaging and some utterly inert, while some are a complex mix of all the aforementioned. All of which goes to make a test of the new RS4 a particularly intriguing one.

Promisingly, RS Audis of late have been getting more consistent, and getting better. More promisingly still, the best of the breed has, to date, been the previous-generation RS4 – a car that many of our testers would have chosen over a BMW M3 at the time.

And now it’s back, in its third generation, retaining a high-revving, naturally aspirated powertrain rather than following the rest of the industry’s inevitable progression towards blown motors. That was one of the high points of the most recent Audi RS4, so it sounds promising again. Let’s see if it delivers.

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DESIGN & STYLING

Audi RS4 Avants dual exhaust

This isn’t the first time that Quattro GmbH’s performance specialists have developed a car based on Audi's MLP platformthe RS5 has the same mechanical base – but it is the first time we’ve seen a fast Audi estate with anything even approaching perfect weight distribution.

Our scales bore testament to that. Having permitted a shortening of 
the front overhang and a rearward repositioning of all of the longitudinal engines that power the ‘B8’ A4, the MLP platform 
has redistributed about 90kg of the RS4’s overall heft from front axle to rear. The ‘B7’ saloon we weighed in 2006 had a nose-heavy, old-school-Audi 60 per cent front, 40 per cent rear weight distribution. This time around it’s 56/44.

It is the first time we’ve seen a fast Audi estate with anything even approaching perfect weight distribution

That’s all the more impressive given that power comes from the same hand-built, 4.2-litre normally aspirated V8 that powers the RS5 – which dodges the modern trend for engine downsizing, and which we wholeheartedly approve of for doing so.

Relative to the previous RS4, power climbs by 30bhp to 444bhp at a heady 8250rpm, while peak torque remains unchanged at 317lb ft. No fat wad of forced-induction shove, then, but the trade-off should be crisp throttle response and real fireworks at the far end of the rev range.

That power finds its way to the road via a sophisticated quattro drivetrain. Suspension is via multi-links at both ends, with stiffened springs that deliver a 20mm lower ride height than a standard A4 Avant. The latest version of Audi's Dynamic Ride Control damping system is on the options list, with diagonally interlinked dampers cancelling excessive body roll. Our test car came with that system fitted, as well as Audi’s ‘active’ variable-ratio Dynamic Steering.

It also had optional carbon-ceramic front brake discs. As standard, you would otherwise get eight-piston calipers and new 365mm iron discs cut in a wave profile, making them lighter and better at heat dissipation. Assessment of the latter, therefore, must wait for another day.

INTERIOR

Audi RS4 Avant driver's seat

Nestling oneself into the RS4’s cabin is a pretty pleasing experience. The front seats are heavily bolstered but comfortable with it, and the cockpit ambience is a welcomingly purposeful one.

Materials and fit and finish endow the Audi RS4 with a high level of perceived quality, on top of which come the usual whistles and bells that accompany a high-performance derivative, including a stop-start button, carbon-effect trim and metallic highlights to the pedals. It feels like a place to do business.

With lots of adjustability, most drivers should be able to get comfortable

Because the RS4 is dual-clutch-only, it doesn’t seem to suffer from the offset pedals that blight manual A4s, so finding a comfortable driving position is easy. A large degree of reach and rake adjustment to the wheel means you can sit yourself down low and pull the wheel in close in the best racing style.

But coupled to all that is the kind of practicality you’d hope for from the car you might sling your gear into when your Cayman isn’t quite big enough for the job. Those large front seats make little difference to rear seat accommodation, while the boot is just as good as that in other A4 Avants.

In other words, there’s no compromise asked by having the additional RS mechanicals beneath the floor.

ENGINES & PERFORMANCE

Audi RS4 Avant rear

Numerically, the Audi RS4 promises much and the pay-off is administered with crushing finesse.

The inertia and listless response of one too many faceless Audi engines is expunged from the memory banks by the rapacious revolution of the Avant’s eight cylinders. Doubtless there are other big-capacity powertrains in circulation capable of replicating the RS4’s raw figures, but few measure up to the ever-ready, ruthless proficiency of Ingolstadt’s 4.2-litre V8 option.

Fourth gear is ‘the one’. Slot it at a little over 20mph and it’ll take you to 120mph in little more than half a mile

Despite shouldering the burden of two well fed road testers – not to mention the Audi RS4’s own well furnished 1880kg bulk – that engine, and its launch control-equipped seven-speed S-tronic accomplice, recorded an average 0-60mph time of 4.4sec. Tellingly, the car feels as though it could repeat the gut-punch recital ad infinitum, and never miss a fraction.

Even more impressive are the in-gear results. With a wide-open throttle from low revs in third, the RS4 will canter from 20 to 40mph in 3.0sec. Several heartbeats later, in the same gear, it will get from 70mph to 90mph in 3.1sec. Certainly there are pyrotechnics to savour at the far end of the 8250rpm limit, but it’s the sheer consistency of the performance and its choke-hold on the business of going fast that lingers in the mind after you’ve arrived, early and slightly bemused, at your destination.

Best of all, the RS4’s aluminium fist is shrouded in a refined glove. It may spark into life and hit its limiter like a WRC privateer, but treat it gently and the V8 disappears into the backdrop. The super-wagon – again, aided by its free-flowing dual-clutch ’box – is supremely civilised at slow speeds, and the default mode offers a sympathetically mapped accelerator pedal to get around lawfully.

Clearly this is also meant to stretch the car’s stride towards Audi’s optimistic 26.4mpg combined economy mark, but you’ll have to work harder than 
we did to stop yourself tapping its mind-warping potential; we only managed an average of 19.8mpg.

RIDE & HANDLING

The 444bhp Audi RS4 Avant

Audi has stamped a specific identity so firmly on its RS-branded cars that the broad strokes of the Avant’s character barely require preamble. You know you can expect iron-willed grip and staggering all-weather traction, more often than not with benign and prudent dynamics that make the business of going fast all but idiot-proof.

To a degree, the latest RS4 repeats the formula. Drive without regard 
for anything other than the safety 
net of all-wheel-drive forgiveness and it will detach itself from the road at the front and groan wearily around a corner. But adjust your own attitude, respect the 444bhp fighting its way to the floor and the weight around your ears, and there’s plenty more in this car’s repertoire to gratify.

The RS4 is rigorously stable in all but the most testing conditions

As you might imagine, it’s the improvements underneath that tell. Redistribution of a fat man’s mass from the nose has left the RS4 discernibly pointier. There’s better balance now – despite a continued lack of genuine detail from the steering – and an enhanced change of direction. Such agility would be a worthy augmentation on its own, but it’s the newly fettled quattro system and that locking rear diff that help deliver more of the oft-promised rear-wheel interaction to the experience.

The result is still not as immersive as, say, an encounter with the C63 AMG estate, but equally that car is not capable of getting around MIRA’s sodden wet track in such a deployable surge of aggressive, grasping supremacy. Here, amid the standing water, the crown gear centre diff reveals not only a natural inclination for finding frankly momentous levels of grip, but also a flair for delivering outbursts of opposite-lock levity.

Admittedly, away from such extreme challenges, the RS4 can still feel a mite cumbersome. The most belligerent settings for its adjustable dampers and variable steering ratio are simply too hardcore for road use, and it lacks the animated feel some of its rivals manage to convey at everyday pace. But these demerits, such as they are, are difficult to square fairly.

Select the right options from the on-board menus and the Avant will ride reasonably, steer faithfully, grip manically and get from A to B like nothing else in the class.

MPG & RUNNING COSTS

Audi RS4 Avant

Our market analysts think the RS4 will retain some of the strongest residual values in the Audi range – stronger even than the BMW M3 coupé.

Fitted with the carbon-ceramic front brakes of our test car, it also resisted wearing through its consumables admirably during its time with us. It spent days on a circuit for a road test and our previous Best Driver’s Car feature, during which it steadfastly refused to burn through its tyres and brakes.

The RS4 retains more than 45 percent of its value over four years. That’s good, even in this class

It did, however, burn through quite a lot of petrol, as 32.4mpg even on our relatively gentle touring route would suggest. That might limit its appeal in the eyes of some buyers but, if you can live with the fuel consumption, it remains one of the most intoxicating drivetrains around.

VERDICT

4 star Audi RS4 Avant

Most cars have dynamic depths that are beyond the reach of road driving. But the Audi RS4 has so much more in its locker than most of us imagined, even after taking it for a spirited road drive, that it’s scarcely credible.

It combines the most extraordinary, race-like powertrain with, much of the time, perfectly respectable comfort over long distances.

All the best traits of an RS Audi and pleasingly few of the worst

When you do want to get everything out of the RS4, it pays not to approach it with smoothness and delicacy, as you might to obtain the best grip and pace of most large cars.

No. Instead, you take it by the scruff and bully the heck out of it, simply applying more throttle when you think grip is running low, whereupon it will find unfathomable reserves of grip and traction. It responds like a plus-size variant of the most aggressive, brutal rally replica.

The latest RS4 will go down as not just one of the fastest RS models, but also one of the finest.

Matt Prior

Matt Prior
Title: Editor-at-large

Matt is Autocar’s lead features writer and presenter, is the main face of Autocar’s YouTube channel, presents the My Week In Cars podcast and has written his weekly column, Tester’s Notes, since 2013.

Matt is an automotive engineer who has been writing and talking about cars since 1997. He joined Autocar in 2005 as deputy road test editor, prior to which he was road test editor and world rally editor for Channel 4’s automotive website, 4Car. 

Into all things engineering and automotive from any era, Matt is as comfortable regularly contributing to sibling titles Move Electric and Classic & Sports Car as he is writing for Autocar. He has a racing licence, and some malfunctioning classic cars and motorbikes. 

Audi RS4 Avant 2012-2015 First drives