Audi RS6 review

The RS6 is a speed merchant. It makes going really fast alarmingly, addictively easy. And the Performance is only too happy to push the envelope a little harder.

New, bigger turbos equals more boost pressure, and that means you now have 30 more horsepower and 37lb ft more torque. Your 0-62mph time falls by two tenths to a scarcely credible 3.4 seconds, and depending which of the limiters you’re prepared to pay for this family wagon will knock on the door of 190mph. 

Derestricted, you, your family and 1,600 litres of boot space would be good for 200 miles an hour. If you’re just driving it briskly, it’s so far, so Audi. Grippy. Safe. Mature. And phenomenally, ruthlessly fast.

Audi’s also binned 8kg of soundproofing from the engine bay bulkhead, in a quest to give the effective but polite V8 a bit more of a cackle inside. 

So does it sound like a volcano skanking to dubstep?

No. If you were hoping Audi would really end its V8 uberwagon era with a flourish before committing the RS6 to a plug-in hybrid or even fully electric future, then you’re going to be disappointed. There’s a rumble on part-throttle that’s pleasing enough, but it’s hardly a volcanic eruption you feel in your kidneys. 

Flatten the throttle and the dominant noise is tortured air rushing through the hungry turbochargers, not fire and brimstone from the cylinders themselves. 

If the noise is unremarkable and the speed is predictable, then what’s the RS6 Performance for?

If you go looking for it really hard, this is a fast Audi that’s learned how to have fun. Sort of. Don’t expect feelsome, rewarding steering or anything other than the usual over-sensitive Audi brake pedal. This is not a car that’s as tactile and fingertippy as a BMW M3 Touring. 

Thanks to something called the quattro sport differential, the RS6 Performance is emphatically not yet another Audi frowns with disapproval if you fire it down a twisty road.

But if you’re prepared to be a bit brutal with throttle inputs – and jump on the gas earlier than you’d ever imagine possible in a 2.1-tonne car – then hold on tight. The power pendulum swings firmly to the rear axle and the RS6 is actually steerable with the throttle. It’s a hooligan. A yob. The family dog won’t be very impressed, but you will be.