Audi unveils red-hot duo
REVAMP OF OUTER STYLING, ADDED GADGETRY INSIDE PLUS BRANDED FEATURES
Audi announces stickers of the flagship and its sibling set to arrive in April.
Having both debuted two years ago, Audi has backed up pricing of the facelift R8 last week by announcing the stickers of the revised RS4 Avant and the RS5.
Continuing as the sole estate version of the A4, and the flagship until the arrival of the RS6, the RS4’s exterior revisions consists of redesigned headlights with standard LEDs or optional Matrix LEDs, a gloss black honeycomb pattern for the wider and also borderless Singleframe grille, wider wheel arches, the now trademark three slits below the bonnet, revised front and rear bumpers, matte aluminium roof rails and chrome dual oval tipped exhaust outlets.
Riding as standard on the otherwise optional, in Europe, 20inch alloy wheels, the RS4 also offers the option of three exterior packages, the matte aluminium, carbon or gloss black limited to the mirror caps, diffuser, front, rear and side sills, the RS badge and the added option of the Audi four rings logo at the base of the rear doors.
Inside, the 10.1-inch MMI Navigation Plus infotainment system is standard along with the 12.3-inch Virtual Cockpit Display instrument cluster that has RS specific graphics and readouts, plus the RS sport steering wheel and larger aluminium gear shift paddles.
For the local market, the RS sport seats trimmed in black nappa leather or moon silver with embedded honeycomb stitch work is standard with the added option of the RS Design Package of fine black nappa leather armrests with Crescendo Red stitching, black seatbelts with red detailing, an Alcantara gear lever and centre console with Crescendo Red stitch work, black RS badged floor mats with red piping, and Crescendo Red detail on the steering wheel, knee pads and gear lever.
Up front, Audi has kept the twin-turbocharged 2.9 TFSI V6 engine unchanged with its 331kW/600Nm going to all four wheels via an eight-speed Tiptronic gearbox. Able to accelerate from 0 to 100 km/h in 3.9sec and top out at 250km/h or 280km/h with the optional RS Dynamic Package, the RS4 comes as standard with the RS sport suspension. The torque splitting RS sport differential is optional.
The RS5 largely mirrors the changes applied to its sibling, but with the option of a carbon fibre reinforced plastic roof on the coupe. Like the RS4, the RS5 comes as standard with 20-inch alloy wheels, plus the optional matte aluminium, carbon and black styling packages. Also carried over is the interior which gets the mentioned 10.1-inch infotainment system and Virtual Cockpit Display instrument cluster, along with the unique albeit now RS5 branded applique and features.
As before, the RS5 is available as either a coupe or Sportback with motivation coming from the same 331kW/600Nm 2.9 TFSI V6 as the RS4. Hooked to the eightspeed Tiptronic box, the RS5 will get from 0 to 100km/h in the same 3.9sec as the estate, with the top speed limited to 250km/h or 280km/h. Both will go on sale locally in April.