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Audi is sticking two exhaust pipes up to the environmental brigade with this, the ridiculously powerful new RS6, revealed here for the first time.

The new RS6 packs a faintly ridiculous 572bhp from the twin-turbo 5.2-litre V10 that's been squeezed beneath its lightweight aluminium bonnet - 145bhp more than its twin-turbocharged 4.2-litre V8 predecessor.

That surfeit of power instantly makes the RS6 to the leader of the muscle-saloon pack; the Mercedes E63 AMG has a mere 503bhp and ...Read the full article

I was with Mr Harris' editorial about the RS6 being uncomfortably over the top. But strangely, the RS6 has both lower emissions and better economy than an M5. Not sure why, but I can live with the M5 so why not the RS6. Now I've seen some more photos, I'm already starting to make the business case (2nd child on the way, we're going to need more space to transport stuff)... Audi really do seem to get high performance estates in a way that BMW really don't.

As astounding as it is, there appears to be some reserved concerns about the RS6's power and performance and whether the Audi is the first sign of a performance version of a conventional saloon (well, estate in this case) gone too far? Or is the fact that there is difficulty in accepting a car like this that is approaching supercar levels of performance?

Perfomance execs, namely the the M5 and AMG E-Class, have traditonally had power outputs similar to junior supercars like 911 Turbos, F430s and their predecessors but Audi seems to have raised the bar to the next level by a huge margin. Perhaps this hand grenade of an engine (boosted to 600Bhp maybe!) should have appeared in a RS8 instead as we may be able to accept supercar rivalling performance in a luxury car.

God knows what a new RS4/RS5 would produce and i wouldn't bet against anything less than 500Bhp.

Pointless is what I think. It may be an astounding piece of kit but if I wanted an A6 Avant I could get quite a good 'fully loaded' (and more than I'd need for an Estate) one near on half the price. I do think Audi (and I'm a fan) has gone a bit far with this one...

Like it. The power struggle goes on! However it is nice to see (eventually) an Autocar comparison where the road tester in question has to defer to liking the lazier style of the Audi's power delivery and huge torque, to the more interactive style of the BMW.

 Well done to Chris Harris for recognising that not everyone is hell bent on trying to extract every little handling nuance out of a car, in order to enjoy the drive!

 i am also quite a fan for the audi but still believe this increased power might not really help that much. the audi s4 performance also did not increase substantially after their initial power increase in it.

High powered estates are just stupid!, where in Britain are you going to exploit all this phalic one upmanship?, probably standing at the bar!, estates are for transporting large amounts of stuff, taking the family on holiday and other estate type things,if you can afford this type of car then you can afford the saloon versions of these cars, even if money isn't the problem, sense would say buy the saloon or get a sportscar like a Caymen for instance.

Peter Cavellini:

estates are for transporting large amounts of stuff, taking the family on holiday and other estate type things,if you can afford this type of car then you can afford the saloon versions of these cars, even if money isn't the problem, sense would say buy the saloon

 

Why? That makes no sense to me at all. I can't imagine  buying any saloon because i have a family, dog etc so they're no good to me. Tried getting a new telly or a dog in the back of a saloon Peter? The reason Audi are so successful in this sector is because they offer an estate.