Even more performance!
The new Audi RS6 Performance is perhaps the best RS6 ever. And that’s a good thing, because an RS6 used to be the car for transporting a lot quickly, but nowadays the average electric car can also fulfill that role. The new RS6 Performance has to go even further.
Performance? Didn’t the Audi RS6 already have that?
Certainly, with 600 hp and 800 Nm, the Audi RS6 Avant was not a slow car, but the Performance has even more performance than the regular one. Thanks to larger turbos, the 4.0-liter biturbo V8 now produces 640 hp and 850 Nm. Together with an eight-speed automatic transmission and quattro all-wheel drive, that is enough to catapult the five-meter-long, two-ton station wagon to 100 km/h in 3.4 seconds.
Larger turbos give the 4.0 30 hp and 50 Nm extra.
What else is different about the RS6 Performance?
Audi says it has refined the quattro system even further, so the RS6 Performance can now send up to 85 percent of the power to the rear if necessary. Furthermore, eight kilos of sound insulation have been removed, four-wheel steering and a top speed of 280 km/h are now standard and you can order very nice, lightweight 22-inch wheels that weigh five kilos less than the regular ones. Per Unit.
With these wheels and brakes, the RS6 Performance is 54 kilos lighter and about 13,000 euros more expensive.
Any other interesting things on the options list of the RS6 Performance?
Yes. The Audi RS6 Performance is fitted with air as standard, but at an additional cost on steel springs with hydraulically connected shock absorbers. Ceramic brakes are on the options list, as is an even higher top speed of 305 km/h. The ceramic brakes cost a five-figure sum, but are worth it. With 630 hp you often enter a braking zone quite hard.
Does the Audi RS6 Performance also drive a bit?
Certainly! We visit the mountains around Barcelona in a fully equipped copy and the Performance pleasantly surprises us there. With less insulation you can hear that great V8 a lot better and what you can get the RS6 to do in corners is like a video game with all the cheat codes on. You ram him in and he obeys. Of course: it all comes with the typical Audi aloofness in the steering and over-powered brakes (it remains a fast Audi), but it does it all. You can even let the back fan out a little bit every now and then, although you really need the space for that.
The finish is passable, but not as nice as Mercedes or BMW.
And when you’re done blasting, is the Audi RS6 Performance still up for grabs?
Very much so, in Comfort mode it is really a great mile-eater. That is also allowed, because in the Netherlands the Audi RS6 Performance must yield more than 214,000 euros. You can easily add 20 grand on top of that. The RS6 is spacious, but on the inside it is clearly of an older generation than a 5-series or E-class. In many ways it is a dinosaur. But admit it: T-Rexes are always cool.