The explosive Audi RS2, all 311bhp of it, is often reckoned to be the world’s first high-performance estate.
Certainly it was the first car to combine the practicality of a bigger- booted wagon body with the straight- line speed of a supercar. Thanks to its quattro four-wheel-drive system and punchy turbocharged engine, it was actually faster to 30mph than the mighty McLaren F1, as discovered by this magazine’s road testers in the mid-1990s – but the first rapid estate car it was not. BMW’s E34 M5 Touring had arrived two years before it, in 1992, albeit in left-hand- drive markets only.
Another two years before that, Subaru had endowed an estate car with more power than was strictly necessary by offering the Legacy with as much as 197bhp in its home market of Japan.
Whether it was Audi, BMW or Subaru that invented the fast estate is a matter for debate, then. But which manufacturer builds the best high- performance wagons in 2018? That we can answer for certain.
As the leading proponents of the breed it’s a face-off between Audi Sport and Mercedes-AMG. First, we’ll pitch Neckarsulm’s brand new RS4 against Affalterbach’s C63 S, before lining the RS6 up against the E63 S.
Only then will one of these German companies be crowned king of the crushingly fast estate car.
RS4 vs C63 S:
There is something about this RS4’s Misano Red paint, in direct sun at least, that does it a disservice. It seems to flatten the topography of the bodywork, those squared-off box arches getting lost in the car’s flanks. The visual muscle seen in photographs seems to have atrophied to nothing. In fact, looking at it in situ, it’s hard to be certain this is the range-topping RS model, but for that modest badge in the grille. The Mercedes-AMG C63 S that’s sitting alongside the RS4 looks pumped- up and purposeful by comparison, despite its demure (and confusingly named) Brilliant Blue paint.
But it must be a trick of the light, or that colour. In Daytona Grey or Navarra Blue the RS4 looks as tough and muscle bound as any mid-size estate has ever done. The hue of the bodywork isn’t the only thing that’s a little baffling about the RS4, though. As we’ll see, Audi’s latest high-speed load carrier is just one of those cars that leaves you feeling... unconvinced.
Beneath its bonnet the RS4 has come full circle. Between 2006 and 2015 the Mk2 and Mk3 RS4 were propelled by high-revving, normally aspirated V8s, the kind of engine that made you prod the throttle pedal not only for the surge in acceleration but also for the serrated edge to the power delivery and the dramatic, soaring soundtrack. This fourth-gen RS4 junks the 4.2-litre V8 in favour of a twin-turbo V6 – the sameconfiguration of motor that powered the first RS4 back in 1999.
Giving up a pair of cylinders and more than a litre of displacement to the AMG C63 S – which, admittedly, is almost £8000 more expensive than the Audi – puts the RS4 at a disadvantage. The Merc’s 4.0-litretwin-turbo V8 is comfortably more potent than the Audi’s V6 – in fact, with 503bhp to 444bhp it’s not even close – and it feels it. Whereas the RS4 is simply very quick, the C63 S has the sort of unrelenting, runaway-train straight-line performance that makes your passengers panic. Sure, the four-wheel-drive RS4 is quicker off the line, but everywhere else the Mercedes emphatically hauls itself off into the distance. More important than its sheer performance advantage, however, is the manner with which the AMG delivers its power.
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Can't beat a Merc V8. Really
Can't beat a Merc V8. Really glad Merc did well in the group tests here. Faster, more fun and plenty of lunacy thrown in! IMO Audi can't compete and doesn't have the necessary heritage to do so when it comes to these sort of cars.
My old Ford C-Max has more
True
not everyone can afford an RS6. But don’t be bitter.
RS4
It seems to me that Audi didn't want to allow the RS4 to outshine the RS6 so they held it back. Hope the next gen RS get the 2 litre engine, or even a straight 5 (which wouldn't need the fake engine sounds).
I suppose reviving is too much to ask for.
Once the 'C8' RS6 is launched...
... or perhaps when the current one is dicontinued, I wouldn't be surprised to see a 'Performance' variant of the RS4 appear with circa 500 bhp. The C8 '6 should have 600+ bhp in 'base' form, rumours are that there will be a performance version with a hybrid-V8 with considerably more.