9 February 2011
New car report; Luxury to burn
Some cars are easy to slot into a pigeon hole, and on first impression it would be easy to jump to such conclusions with the RS5.
Being a 2 door coupe with a 4.2 litre V8 churning out 331kW of power at 8,250rpm and 430Nm of torque between 4,000 - 6,000rpm, with the capability of sprinting to 100km/h in 4.6 seconds, on paper it may seem obvious that it’s a hard-out performance machine.
However, unlike its German competitors, the BMW M3 and Mercedes Benz C63 AMG, when approached in the carpark the RS5’s performance attributes aren’t immediately obvious. There are no sprouting spoilers or aggressive side vents, and despite the wider haunches and tweaks to the bodywork, its looks are not unlike the 2 door A5 coupe, suggesting classy and sedate rather than fire-breathing hotrod.
Open the long solid door and step into Audi’s typically refined cabin. The interior is beautifully appointed with nicely crafted double-stitched leather, with a few subtle hints that you’re in a performance car. Sport seats, carbon fibre trim and aluminium finishes along with a sport steering wheel, alloy pedals and RS5 sill scuff plates start to give the game away.
So, it’s comfortable, sumptuous and refined with some sporty elements, but what’s it like on the road?
Well, here’s the strange thing. Fire it up and it growls into life with a high-revving bark, sounding for all the world as if you’ll need to rein it in from being a fierce, aggressive, unruly wild thing.
But drop it into Drive, release the park brake and it pulls away from the kerb as sedately as you like. Around town, it’s a refined, well-behaved luxury car. It’s quiet, well suspended, easy to drive and understated.
Get it out on the highway and the Jekyll and Hyde characteristics become obvious
Floor the loud pedal and it turns into a beast. Not in an unruly, raucous way, but more in the vein of a sharply honed, well-mannered thoroughbred.
The 7 speed S-Tronic (same system as Volkswagen’s DSG) transmission is sure and sharp, the exhaust note crisp and the power delivery is awesome.
The quattro AWD system ensures tenacious grip with unfaltering power delivery to the road. It’s very fast, throwing you back in your sport seat, which also hugs and provides a high degree of lateral support through the corners.
So is it a sports car or a luxury saloon? After all, it has many of the requisite attributes of both.
With such a high level of comfort and refinement it could very easily slot into the luxury sector, but being this fast and gripping the road as it does, many would tend towards calling it a performance or sports car.
But a sports car needs to connect the driver to the road with steering feel and feedback being vital if a car is to be truly considered worthy of carrying the performance car designation.
While the RS5’s electronically assisted steering is well suited to the luxury aspects of the car, it struggles to cross the boundary into the performance arena. And the styling may be considered just that little bit too understated for some to consider it a true sports car.
Being a 2 door coupe, it’s not really a practical luxury car either, and then there’s the price tag. At $188,900 plus the $2,500 for the sound system our test car was fitted with, $191,400 plus ORC would need to change hands to drive this Audi out of the showroom
So the RS5 offers a bit of everything, but is it enough of anything?
If you apply the logic that descriptions don’t matter as long as it’s a good car then there’s no question that the RS5 is an awesome car. And if you’ve got the best part of $200k to spend on a really fast, luxury 2 door coupe you’d be hard pressed to find one better.
But for buyers wanting one or the other; ie: a dedicated sports car or luxury saloon, perhaps the RS5 could be considered something of a compromise.