Divide
The RS2 and RS4 were starts: After Audi heated up with a little sports series, the Ingolstadt business turned a full-fledged station wagon into a cars for the very first time 20 years ago with the RS6 Avant.
Ingolstadt– When Stephan Reil reflects to his time as Head of Development at Quattro GmbH, the previous subsidiary of the Audi devices factory, the RS6 plays a really unique function. “It was the best cars and truck at the correct time.”
Because apart from the R8 as the very first therefore far the only independent high-performance cars from the previous Audi factory subsidiary, no other automobile was as uncommon and unexpected to him as the very first big effective station wagon. lots of, which concerned the marketplace. in the summer season of 2002.
Audi had actually currently developed 2 sports station wagons for the RS2, which was integrated in minimal series at Porsche, and its follower, the RS4, Heil remembers. They were all based on the Audi 80 or A4 in the lower middle class.
He stands there, broad and snarling
The outcome of their work is an experience that has actually not lost its attract this day: Even as a teen, the very first RS6 from the A6 generation recognized in your area as the C5 is still large and intriguing with its 4.2 liter V8 engine roaring and positive with 331 kW/450 hp. That is 81 kW/110 hp more than in the series and as in the TT-R, with which Laurent Aïello won the DTM in the very same year.
The basic red instrument cluster illuminate, the analog needles move throughout the scale and the RS6 excitedly kicks its hooves. Automatic in D, foot on the gas– and prior to the navigation has actually developed its pixel map on the screen hardly the size of a palm, the Old Sportsman is shooting towards the horizon. Audi owes its sprint worth of 4.7 seconds to 560 Nm to its compulsory four-wheel drive.
Unlike everybody prior to him
Although various from all previous Avants, the RS6’s accomplishments are not doing not have. This is simple to determine quantitatively. Rather of the 999 copies initially prepared, the Bavarians constructed 8000 of the stunning RS6 Avant in the brief duration up until 2004, states Reil. For a rate that was less than 90,000 euros to start with, it’s most likely not a bad offer.
It’s not surprising that the meaningful transporter was not a flash in the pan which Quattro GmbH went one action even more in the next generation. Since the base design was currently a V10 at the time, the S6 was fitted with a twin turbo, which Reil still does not understand how was positioned in the engine compartment. The effort was worth it: 5.0 liters of displacement make the ten-cylinder V10 the most significant RS engine of all time and its 426 kW/580 hp even exceeded the efficiency of the R8 at the time.
Less weight likewise implies more speed
Because things might not constantly go on like this, Reil and his associates altered the follower technique to “less is more” 2 years and 4000 cars later on. Now the V8 needs to suffice once again, which at 412 kW/ 560 hp is likewise weaker than its predecessor.
” But it was likewise lighter by a couple of hundred,” argues Reil and produced a paper with driving efficiency: Whether it’s velocity or leading speed– the brand-new one was much better in every discipline– and 30 percent more affordable. At first slammed, the number 3 RS6 was the very popular in a generation contrast and was constructed for a complete 5 years.
Prices increase to unmatched heights
When the brand-new A6 showed up in 2018, Quattro GmbH didn’t wait long and included the 4th and last RS6 to date in2019 It even gets rid of all barriers when it concerns develop, uses more width and existence than in the past and features a brand-new evolutionary action. of the V8 engine. From the displacement of 4 liters, the fundamental design currently gets 441 kW/ 600 hp, and the RS6 plus has actually not yet been provided. The cost has actually now reached formerly unthinkable heights and begins around 1650.00 euros.
With 4 generations now and an overall of more than 20,000 sales, even in nations with little station vehicle affinity such as the USA, the RS6 Avant is not just an essential pillar in the portfolio of Quattro GmbH, which has actually been relabelled Audi Sport.
But it has actually likewise left its mark on the whole sector, states veteran cars and truck professional Frank Wilke from Classic Analytics: “Although the BMW M5 was thought about the flagship of business, regular chauffeurs and agents unexpectedly had an option in between sedans. and a kidney and a ringed station wagon.”
Is the RS6 Avant headed for an electrical future?
The indications now likewise indicate an electrification of the Audi Sport, so that the present RS6 Avant will be the last of its kind. You certainly desire to stick to the concept, assures sports director Sebastian Grams– and in the future it can be tracked two times.
Because while Audi is developing a brand-new A6 for the vintage, which might be a green RS6 with a really effective hybrid drive, the Bavarians are likewise producing an electrical A6 for the brand-new world on their platform called PPE and they likewise have. currently assured a station wagon. It would not be amusing if the RS design could not likewise be stemmed from it. dp
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