TAKE 5

“IF YOU COULD DRIVE JUST ONE OF THEM back home,” I ask Aditya, “What would it be?” He hums and haws but eventually fesses up. “The RS 5.”

Can’t argue with him, though my choice is a little different and we will get to that in a bit. This is the newest in Audi’s fast-car range and boy does it look mega. Audi, it seems, is finally listening to us and while the RS 5 couldn’t be anything but an Audi it is now sufficiently distinguished from its brothers and sisters. It rocks its own unique vibe; a vibe that is all about muscle. There’s that heavily creased bonnet with the mandatory power bulge, massively muscled haunches, flared nostrils, sweet 19-inch rims with worryingly low-pro, yet achingly beautiful, rubber. It advertises its intent like fast Audis rarely did, with the obvious exception of the R8. And as we’ve come to expect of Audi, the interior is a beauty. Resist its charms? No way! Except for one thing – it doesn’t need a power bulge.

In a way I’m sad. The RS 5 was the last resting place for one of Audi’s most memorable engines, the 4.2-litre V8. I first experienced it on the B5 RS4 Avant, arguably the best RS car to date, a car in which I first experienced the joys of an unrestricted German Autobahn, a car that never made it to India. The engine was then dry-sumped for the very first R8 and