The electric age may be near, but Audi’s ballistic quattro division is giving internal combustion one last hurrah. Say hello to the RS6 Avant Performance, a harder version of Audi’s weapons-grade wagon set to do battle against the Porsche Panamera Sport Turismo and incoming BMW M5 Touring.
While the heart of the RS6 Avant Performance is still Audi’s familiar four-liter twin-turbocharged V8, larger turbochargers pushing more boost bump peak output from 591 horsepower to 621 — not a huge change but more power is always more better. Torque also jumps by 37 lb.-ft. to 627, but peak numbers alone don’t seem to explain a claimed two-tenth reduction in zero-to-60 time. More likely, power under the curve could be boosted significantly and updated shift programming may also play an important part in decreasing acceleration times. (Sadly, no stick shift available. Only eight-speed auto).
Speaking of powertrain components, Audi has redesigned the mechanical center differential to be smaller, lighter, and more precise. The standard torque split is 40:60 front-to-rear, but this diff can send up to 70 percent of the vehicle’s torque to the front axle or up to 85 percent to the rear axle when the going gets slippery. Handy for, say, dashing through the snow in a 621-horsepower sleigh.
Have a gander down the options list and you can wrap those Contis around milled forged wheels that are each 11 pounds lighter than the standard wheels, which adds up to a serious reduction in unsprung mass. Oh, and so long as you pop for 22-inch wheels, they’ll come wrapped in new 285-section Continental Sport Contact 7 tires that allegedly cut 6.5 feet from the 62 mph-to-zero braking distance and reduce understeer. Audi also claims that steering self-centering has been improved, although it hasn’t divulged how.
In addition to the usual powertrain and tire upgrades expected from a more focused model, Audi has reduced the amount of sound insulation over the standard RS6 Avant to make the driving experience more emotive. While it only cuts weight by 17.6 pounds, sound is a huge part of interaction with a vehicle and giving up a little bit of isolation for some extra engagement seems like a fair trade.
On the inside, Audi’s going heavy on the fan service. The digital instrument cluster has been revamped to include shift lights and a white gauge theme that recalls the S6 Plus of the ‘90s, while a new blue RS Design interior option puts a subtle twist on the RS2’s interior theme with blue seat inserts, blue seatbelts, and blue-accented carbon twill trim bits.
Of course, beyond all the speed and glitz, the RS6 Avant Performance is still a commodious station wagon sporting 30 cubic feet of cargo space behind the rear seats and a long, easily-accessible roof for anything you wish to carry on a roof rack. It’s a genuine all-in-one car, even if it typically comes with a note bigger than many mortgages.
All of this speed and practicality doesn’t come cheap. The 2024 Audi RS6 Avant Performance starts at $126,895 including a $1,095 freight charge, and that’s before you delve into the options list. If you want to get really fancy, you can try to secure one of 75 Bronze Edition cars with black paint, gold wheels, and all the extras under the sun including steel sports suspension with diagonally-linked three-way adjustable dampers and a 174-mph top speed limiter. Oh, and if a fast wagon doesn’t float your boat for some reason, all the RS6 Avant Performance’s little improvements also apply to its $128,895 RS7 Performance fastback brother.
(Photo credits: Audi)
Support our mission of championing car culture by becoming an Official Autopian Member.
-
A Look At This Incredible Audi A8 Fax Machine For Sale On eBay, And Other Car-Fax Machines That Came Before It
-
Here’s How Audi Is Renaming Its Lineup To Make Identifying EVs Easier
-
Watch Thieves In A Stolen Audi Brazenly Drive Through A Toronto-Area Shopping Mall
-
I Want To Love The Insane Audi Activesphere Off-Road Sedan Concept
-
There Was A Time When Americans Could Buy A 300-Horsepower Supercharged Wagon From Audi: Holy Grails
Got a hot tip? Send it to us here. Or check out the stories on our homepage.
Those wheels are insane. The spokes are so skinny that it looks like just a wire frame, hardly there.
Does it still have the third seat? 😀
I think only Merc E-Class wagons do. It seems the new upcoming ones will no longer have them.
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO 🙁
So my old ZJ we could go out and bomb around in the snow with strong confidence. Maybe 215 or 235 tires.
I knew a lot of people who got the same confidence in their Subaru – just a LITTLE bit of fun and lots of traction.
What would the modern day equivalent be? Tires are so wide and with no sidewall … What do you get for just scrambling about in the slick and having fun?
You get nowhere. With that much surface area you’re sliding off the road.
what purpose do review embargoes serve? this is the third review of this car I’ve read today! (and I am here for it, don’t get me wrong, but why is it like this?)
Title correction: It’s a giant “FU” to long-time Audi Enthusiasts. I even made a meme about it:
https://i.imgur.com/g6pG5Sm.png
Audi is printing money with these things, and they’re all owned by people who want to be cool. The guy with the AAN swapped 4k is cool. The guy with the B5 Avant is cool. UrS4/S6 guys? All cool. Coupe owners with swaps? Cool. OG Audi guys have been cool for a long time, with basically zero support from Audi America- they don’t produce parts to support their older models like BMW or Mercedes, and now they have the audacity to advertise this car parked next to RS2s to suggest “Hey remember when we made actually epic stuff for hardcore enthusiasts and then never sold it here so all of you had to build your own?”
This? Not cool. Too angry looking, probably because it knows it only comes with an automatic and is covered with fake vents and a fake diffuser Also, lol at those steamroller tires being any good when the white stuff piles up.
I hate this car. It’s all just poser nonsense. Give me one and I’m selling it, buying a real RS2, and maybe building an S1 replica to remind people they used to build things that challenged the entire world.
/rant
I’ve got to give it to you…you are passionate and informed when it comes to cars you care about. I’m not sure that I agree with all of your takes, or even very many of them, and have a very different approach to being an enthusiast myself…but I’ll be damned if you don’t know your shit and stand by your convictions.
Thanks for the compliment (I think?). lol. Appreciate your comments as well!
Well I think it’s cool, and I think if I had one, I would be cool too!
As the long time owner of a B5 A4 and a modded-to-hell B5 S4…thanks for the compliment!
Gotta be nice to B5 guys because their cars are always broken 😛
Late to the party but I agree. As the resident VW apologist I hate what has become of a brand I have loved for my entire life. But the market wants SUVs and so that is apparently all we can expect a car manufacturer to make.
Okay but why does it look like an Elantra N?
That rear 3/4 view on these just jaw-droppingly gorgeous, even after a few years in production. The squat athletic stance, the wheels, the wide tires, the muscular flares, the roofline… just give one to me in Voodoo Blue.
I just saw one of these on the road last night. Coming up from behind on it, it definitely had a presence. Unlike many on this site, I’m not a big longroof fan, but this is a really nice looking car IRL.