20 years ago, Audi launched the first RS6. The fourth generation is now roaring through the streets. With the end of the combustion engine era approaching, a reason to drive them all: a journey through time with 2188 hp.
Many machines are suitable for a journey through time. An Audi RS6 is not the worst choice. The Ingolstadt company launched its first generation of high-performance models 20 years ago, and there are now four. For the final stretch of the combustion engine era, we treat ourselves to a journey through the eventful history of the RS6, a rapid road trip with all four Avant generations.
The RS business model has never changed significantly over the years. Sebastian Grams, Managing Director of Audi Sport (formerly quattro GmbH), puts it in one sentence with a wink: “We have always built engines that are far too big in cars that are too small.” It all started in the summer of 2002 with the Audi RS6 of the C5 series. Presented at the Nürburgring 24-hour race. The C5 was the third model produced by the Audi subsidiary quattro GmbH at the time, the first turbocharged V8. First of all, the mechanics finalized the first two RS6 generations by hand in the quattro GmbH halls. That took an extra 15 hours. Per car. Originally, the C5 RS6 was limited to 999 copies, in the end it was over 8000.
It is the supreme elemental force that makes this power pack with a V8 biturbo and 331 kW/450 hp so fascinating and sets it apart from the foot soldiers in the usual company cars. The fathers of the RS6 pack the almost two tons in simple understatement. Silver exterior mirrors like shiny cufflinks, oval tailpipes, slightly wider jaws. Inside upscale luxury, not applied too thick.
Even today, the C5 exudes timeless elegance. A twen with genes from the fountain of youth. We climb into a daytona-grey station wagon from the last year of manufacture, 2004. Sports chairs with black leather, RS6 embossing – and completely overhauled ergonomics. You’re squatting too high and upright behind the wheel. Crazy, we thought that was totally okay at the time. The cockpit is cleanly drawn and just a little bit tired. In the middle sits a mini monitor, hardly larger than the display of today’s mobile phones. All multimedia start.
Turned the key, Audi hasn’t invented the start button yet. The advantage of power is still tangible today. In less than five seconds, the motor vehicle accelerates to 100 km/h, only the comfortable five-speed automatic takes its time here. It is regulated at 250.
Just like the successor C6 RS6, built from 2008 and again almost as inconspicuous as a good representative station wagon. We switch to the Inuit white Avant and immediately take Stefan Reil to the passenger seat. Up until 2017, Audi’s Godfather of RS played a key role in the creation of all RS6s as head of development and immediately gets enthusiastic. “A marvel. I don’t know of any engine compartment that is better filled.” What is meant, of course, is the five-liter V10 of the C6, which is also used in the Lamborghini Gallardo in a very similar way and fills every centimeter under the Audi hood. Reil jokes: “We hired pianists for the candle change.”
The King of Bavaria, the most powerful Audi of its time, receives additional air from two Japanese turbochargers, and Audi shortens the stroke from 92 to 89 millimeters. The performance jumps to 426 kW/579 hp and confuses the senses of every honest driver, the silky smooth running culture of the ten-cylinder still wraps you around your finger. 650 Newton meters of torque push the most powerful C7 – practically from a standing start – like an iron fist to 100 km/h in 4.6 seconds. And you think: yes, that’s exactly how a combustion engine should be. You really don’t need more.
The press raves: “The ultimate highway shark”. Straight a poem. But every sport setting is waste if the test person is obese. “Back then, we explored the limits of what was technically possible and even integrated a dry sump lubrication system used in racing,” says Reil today, almost apologetically. “Unfortunately, 1260 kilos of the more than two tons sat far ahead on the front axle.” This makes his highness extremely top-heavy and correspondingly immobile. Especially in fast corners. To stop the load, ceramic brakes were offered, the size of a family pizza.
The chubby superstar is only allowed to spread his V10 magic for two years. Then it will take almost three years until the C7, the first six on the new modular longitudinal platform (MLB), comes along. This moves the engine about 15 centimeters further back, and Audi is also returning to the V8 in the RS6. “We wanted to make the C7 more agile and urgently needed to lose weight,” says Reil. Despite 20 hp less power (412 kW/ 560 hp) and clear skepticism among the spoiled customers, the new one circles around its predecessor.
Lightened by around 120 kilos to the C6, it feels like it has been relieved of a burden. More dynamic, sportier and, thanks to cylinder deactivation, also significantly more economical. The torque increases again to 700 Newton meters, the eight-speed Tiptronic is a dream, with launch control the new star in the Audi sky flies in 3.7 seconds, first to 100 km/h and then towards the horizon. If you tick the dynamic package plus, you break the 300 km/h wall.
The C7 still feels like it was wrapped in cling film today. The design has almost no creases, the technology fits like a sneaker. In 2019, the jump to the current C8 seems rather small. And yet he is huge. Only the roof, front doors and tailgate are still from the normal A6. Otherwise almost everything is different. Audi gives up its optical restraint for the first time.
The new one is a muscle macho. The body is eight centimeters wider, for the first time the RS6 has its own bonnet, as well as the matrix LED headlights of the RS7. The power increases to 600 hp, the torque to 800 Newton meters. A driving machine of the modern age in the full fat stage. With everything possible. The most talented assistants and a multimedia squad for the tablet generation, Instagram
A small piece of transformation is already moving in. The new 48 volt mild hybrid system also pushes the four-liter V8 biturbo and gives a first glimpse of where the journey should go. Because in times when combustion engines are increasingly being squeezed, manufacturers tend not to build their future on types like the RS6. Audi Sport boss Sebastian Grams picks up the through ball and counters: “2021 was by far the best sales year. But it is true that we will redefine the sport culture. The RS customer must also be sporty with maximum visual differentiation Finding an electric vehicle again. Just like with the RS e-tron GT. My vision is a perfect symbiosis of hardware and software.”
The timetable for tomorrow is set. The next RS6 will be a high-performance plug-in hybrid. By 2026, 60 percent of all models from Neckarsulm should be fully electric, and from 2030 the brand will be 100 percent electrified. She has the energy to do it.