If there’s an Audi Hall of Fame, the new generation of the RS4 certainly deserves its own pedestal. Stop in at our auto repair shop in Cincinnati this week, and you’ll see it’s all we can manage to talk about in between repairing European cars.
Audi unveiled its next gen RS4 at the Frankfurt Motor Show last September. This is what James Bond would drive if he were a lethal weapon and soccer mom all rolled into one. It’s exclusively a wagon affair, a body style referred to as an Avant by Audi. There’s plenty of room in the back for kids, and beefy sports seats up front for mom and dad.
Fast Yet Smooth as Silk
But don’t be fooled. The RS4 is still designed to outrun anything on wheels. How fast?
“The 2.9-litre twin-turbo V6 (already in use in the RS5 Coupe) pushes out 443bhp and 443lb ft, and can wind the new RS4 up to 62mph in just 4.1 seconds,” Jake Groves writes for Car Magazine. “Top speed is limited to 155mph, but you can push it up to 174mph with the RS4’s optional ‘RS dynamic’ pack.”
And yet the RS4 is still smooth enough to handle the speed.
“You pretty much got to slam on this Audi’s brakes to realize you are actually going that fast,” Viknesh Vijayenthiran writes in Motor Authority. “Sport-tuned suspension with a driving modes selector is standard. However, for optimal handling buyers have the option of a rear differential that splits the torque between the rear wheels. Other performance options include magnetic ride suspension, carbon-ceramic brakes, and RS-specific tuning of the steering.”
Deliveries of the RS4 Avant begin in early 2018.
