Cape Town - Audi's RS6 is the most powerful station wagon or avant (Audi-speak) on sale in South Africa. Wheels24's Sean Parker spent two days with the 412kW beast.
The latest RS6 is bonkers, crazy, out of this world, manic, loud and so much more. It boggles the mind in so many ways - it's a practical estate perfect for doing the school run while boasting an astonishing top speed of 305km/h (limiter removed)!
What to do...
If you had a new Audi RS6 to yourself for a short amount time, what would you do?
I suspect you'd leave the office early, loosen your tie, head to a quiet piece of asphalt and revel in the sonorous growl of the 4.0-litre V8 during start-up (oh what a noise!).
You'd drive it in ferocious dynamic mode and savour the throttle blips, and grin at the blistering pace of Audi's RS-badged station wagon...and that's exactly what I did.
Here is my two-day experience with the blue rocket in 6 cool posts:
1. It looks like Darth Vader. Come on, look at the grille! Rivals will be petrified at the sight of it, that is if there were any in SA.
2. It sounds absolutely fantastic! Powering the RS6 is a 4.0-litre V8 turbocharged unit! Its deep volcanic growl is on point and so infectious that I found myself flooring the throttle at every opportunity just to hear it.
Click on the video below to hear the glorious sound:
3. It looks good from the rear too. I know styling is subjective but who wouldn't mind staring at that rear-end in traffic?
4. It has tons of grip.
See that Quattro logo emblazoned on the lower grille? It points to Audi's famed all-wheel drive system first launched with its Group B rally car, incidentally also called the Quattro. More than 30 years later and the RS6 illustrates how far technology has improved. Despite its size the RS6 hugs the road and never lets go regardless of how spirited your driving is.
5. It's a supremely comfortable cruiser.
Its air suspension provides a cosseting ride. Switch the drive select mode into Comfort and the RS6 becomes as easy to drive as a VW Golf. Its dampers, suspension and throttle also tone themselves down to 'PG-mode' to make tootling around town exemplary.
Click on the video below:
6. Audi claims its RS6 has 565 litres of luggage space that can be increased to 1680 litres with the seats folded. I didn't doubt those claims for a second.
Click on the video below:
(Wheels24 journalist Sean Parker has been seen wandering around the office in a dazed mode, curious with what do with his life and why the world isn't rushing past him as quickly.)