Road test review: Audi RS 5
Monday, 18 January 2021
AUDI RS 5
Base price: $157,900
Powertrain and economy: 2.9-litre turbocharged V6, 331kW/600Nm, 8-speed automatic, AWD, combined economy 8.7L/100km, CO2 200g/km (source: RightCar).
Vital statistics: 4723mm long, 1866mm wide, 1372mm high, 2766mm wheelbase, luggage capacity 465 litres, 20-inch alloy wheels.
We like: Looks great, older interior means controls are less fussy, incredibly fast
- We don't like: Clinical to drive, not that great on fuel
The current Audi RS 5 is my favourite of the RS range on paper but does it hold up in the real world? Unfortunately, as is often the case, meeting your heroes isn’t necessarily the best thing to do.
Why do you like it so much?
I love a coupe (ignoring the fact that technically a coupe should have two doors, not four) and I love Audi’s styling at the moment. Losing the burly 4.2-litre atmospheric V8 to the high-tech 2.9-litre turbocharged V6 did suck on a few levels but the pros outweigh the cons if you can move beyond the soundtrack.
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Not that the six sounds bad, either. It actually sounds a bit like a small-capacity V8, with the addition of turbo whoosh noises.
It’s also freakishly fast. How the Audi (and Porsche) engineers managed to extract 600Nm from a sub-three-litre engine is beyond me but that's fine. I don’t need to talk too much about it because it hasn't changed since it came out a few years ago. All you need to know is that it works.
The RS 5 also looks the part with angry eyes up front flanking an enlarged grille for 2020 onward, strong creases along the sides and two drainpipe exhaust tips poking out of the rear bumper. Inside is largely the same interior as in the RS 4, that being the one with just one touchscreen. I prefer it too, it's less fussy than the touch-dominated RS 6/RS 7 and it’s a cleaner look, especially with the carbon trim here.
So why doesn’t it work?
That’s probably putting it harshly – the RS 5 is definitely not a bad car. It’s incredibly fast thanks to that engine, a blisteringly fast eight-speed automatic, a sports rear differential and RS-spec steering, suspension and quattro all-wheel drive systems. From point to point, it’s a hard one to beat. It’s also easy to live with in the city thanks to pretty much everything from the suspension to the exhaust note being adjustable.
My main issue is that the RS 5 doesn’t seem to really know how to have fun in a stupid, teenage sort of way. Other similar cars will let you smoke up the rears and get a bit silly without putting you into a ditch thanks to advanced traction control systems.
The RS 5 has that sort of thing too but I’m not really sure what it does. Certainly not that. With enough bravery you could force the RS 5 into some hooliganism but it really isn’t interested in it. The thing just wants to go fast in a clinical, Audi way. Unfortunately, clinical and fun rarely go together.
As an aside, it’s also not the greatest on fuel. I had average litres per 100km figures in the high twelves, which doesn’t sound bad on the face of it but compare it to something like BMW’s M550i and its 4.4-litre twin-turbo V8 which returns around the same amount…
Any other cars I should consider?
For the wrong side of $150k, there are a few. The M550i I just mentioned costs $152,900 in Pure form (which drops a few nice-to-have features) or $174,900 for the fully kitted version.
Sitting between those will be the new M3, launching here in the next month or two in Competition guise for $168,900. If you can get past the massive nostrils. Another option is the $170,700 Mercedes-AMG C 63.