FAMILY VERSATILITY
Great everyday appeal and usability but also compellingly rapid and with secure handling – in all conditions
There are few mid-life changes to the Audi RS4 Avant — and that’s a good thing. Few, if any, cars manage to combine such urgent response, secure handling, outstanding interior quality and overall versatility with quite the same degree of success as the latest incarnation of Ingolstadt’s performance estate.
Like its RS5 Coupe and Sportback siblings, the facelifted fourth-generation model receives some small exterior styling changes to help distinguish it from the pre-facelift model. They include new light and bumper designs on both the front and rear ends. It remains a purposeful-looking car with a fittingly muscular stance that’s arguably at its aesthetic best on the new optional 20in wheels.
Inside, the new Audi has the same excellent interior as before. It’s a great driving environment that is not only big on quality but also offers a level of everyday practicality matched by few rivals.
Prime among these is a new highdefinition touchscreen display for the infotainment functions. As with other recent new Audi models, it features the firm’s MMI touch response system in place of the rotary controller of the prefacelifted model, as well as new gesture and speech control functions.
The clear draw card, though, remains the 495-litre boot, which can be extended to 1,495 litres with the split rear seats folded away. Along with the car’s five-door layout, it provides the RS4 Avant with a level of practicality missing in the mechanically identical RS5 Coupe and RS5 Sportback.
The facelifted RS4 Avant continues with the same-specification 450hp 2.9-litre V6 engine as before. The twinturbocharged powerplant uses its 600Nm of torque between 1,900rpm and 5,000rpm as the basis for its performance, which is never anything less than compelling, with great low-end potency and rabid mid-range urge in Dynamic driving mode. Detailed modifications to the exhaust system also give it a more alluring exhaust note than ever pre-facelift version.
There’s an eight-speed torque-converter automatic gearbox with steeringwheel-mounted paddles and the latest incarnation of Audi’s quattro four-wheel drive system, with a sport differential to alter the amount of drive sent to each individual rear wheel. Both play a big part in moulding the RS4 Avant’s onroad character and providing it with stunning point-to-point qualities.
Indeed, there’s a tremendous ease of operation to the new Audi. You can tap into towering performance with great confidence and an immediate feeling of security.
The speed-sensitive electromechanical steering is well weighted and very responsive, if not quite the last word in feel and communication, providing the RS4 Avant with a decisive change of direction and arguably more engaging agility than at any time since it was introduced to the Audi line-up as a spiritual successor to the Porsche-produced RS2 in 1999.
Optioned with Dynamic Ride Control, which includes adaptive dampers, it also possesses impressive resistance to lean and outstanding body control. It’s the grip and traction, though, that really define the handling qualities and overall dynamics. Those 275/30-profile tyres provide huge purchase, while the torque-vectoring qualities of the RS4 Avant’s four-wheel drive system and rear differential endow it with wonderfully sure-footed ability even at high cornering speeds.
As you’d expect, it’s quite firmly sprung. But there’s sufficient compliance and shock absorption in Comfort mode to make sure it is never harsh on anything but the worst of pockmarked back roads.
The new RS4 Avant is a wonderfully competent car that boasts all the accelerative potency of a proper supercar as well as truly effortless long-distance qualities — all in a package that will accommodate up to five adults and a good deal of luggage behind the second seat row if need be.
In this respect, it’s a rather rare machine. One that can be scintillating to drive in Dynamic mode one minute and extraordinarily tame in Comfort mode the next.
This exceptional breadth of operation is very much at the root of its appeal, making it a car for just about every occasion for well-heeled enthusiasts. If you like the idea of the two-door RS5 Coupe and five-door RS5 Sportback but require even more versatility or simply seek something a little more out of the ordinary, it’s the perfect alternative.