Audi’s up to date RS6 Avant is probably the most highly effective V8 the corporate has ever supplied.
The just-updated iteration of the potent wagon now makes 463kW and 850Nm from its 4.0-litre V8, which is greater than the V10-powered Audi R8 supercar that was just lately discontinued.
However the circa-$265,000 drive-away RS6 shouldn’t be probably the most highly effective automobile Audi has ever bought.
That honour goes to the Audi RS e-tron GT, which is powered solely by electrons.
The RS e-tron GT is priced from about $267,000 and makes as much as 475kW when utilizing its quick lived increase mode.
And whereas the 830Nm falls simply shy of the RS6 Avant, the twin electrical motors are nonetheless claimed to take the glossy five-seater to 100km/h a tenth of a second quicker than its petrol-powered different, stopping the clock at simply 3.3 seconds.
So, on paper not less than, the RS6 and RS e-tron GT are a detailed match.
However we needed to check them on the racetrack to see which is one of the best efficiency automobile.
First up is the RS6 Avant.
Certain, it’s a wagon, nevertheless it doesn’t take an fanatic to work out it’s designed for greater than carrying the children and buying.
Sizeable 22-inch wheels give a tantalising glimpse at monumental brakes and assist fill out the bulging wheel arches which can be a design characteristic of the automobile.
Twin oval-shaped exhausts hang around the again to create the burble that’s attribute of a V8.
Whereas engineers typically gloat of quietening the cabin, Audi has really eliminated a number of the sound deadening in order that exhaust is extra audible.
With the RS6 idling within the pits at Phillip Island racetrack there’s definitely a pleasant soundtrack.
It will get higher accelerating on to the principle straight because the Audi wagon builds tempo.
Regardless of weighing a smidge over two tonnes, the RS6 has an alacrity to the best way it tackles corners. Newly-added Continental tyres present immense mid-corner grip.
It’s the type of automobile that evokes confidence and rewards once you push on.
Our automobile was working on the non-compulsory carbon ceramic brakes which can be designed for punishing monitor assaults.
Squeezing them into one of many monitor’s tight hairpins reinforces the boldness inherent within the massive wagon.
Audi’s Quattro all-wheel drive system ensures all of the thrust from the dual turbocharged V8 makes it to the bitumen with little fuss.
And whereas the throaty roar of the engine is a phenomenal accompaniment, it’s not the raucous riot some might count on from a high-powered V8.
Suppose extra wise and seductive reasonably than wild and uncooked.
However clearly it’s much more than you hear within the RS e-tron GT.
Accelerating is extra like an enormous invisible hand has thrust the automobile ahead. It’s an intoxicating and oddly serene sensation.
Audi’s electrical efficiency hero shares its underbody construction with the Porsche Taycan, one thing that provides it a low centre of gravity.
On the first quick, sweeping bend the e-tron factors assertively to the apex and sits remarkably flat because it claws the bitumen.
Attacking the primary tightening left-hander lets you higher hear what’s happening at floor degree, the tyres often yelping in protest.
Whereas it takes up much less house on the street than the RS6, the sizeable battery pack within the ground means the e-tron GT is 200kg heavier.
In the end it’s the entrance Pirellis that attain their limits first, nevertheless it’s executed in a progressive approach, the electronics chiming in if you happen to’re too keen.
And setting the RS e-tron GT up for a number of the quicker sweepers at Phillip Island reinforces how a lot expertise the automobile has.
However the electrical hero in Audi’s vary additionally requires extra finesse when asking it to cease.
Whereas the brakes are supremely efficient, they require extra restraint once you stand on the pedal, probably as a result of high-tech juggling act of balancing regenerative braking and extra severe stopping energy from the standard brakes.
Both approach, it takes a lap or two to persuade your foot it must be extra prudent within the preliminary pedal software.
No qualms with the way it leaps out of corners. The RS EV unleashes its tempo with brutal effectivity, storming to the following nook with seemingly limitless ferocity.
And it’s the near-instant availability of torque that defines its cornering prowess.
Slightly than having to attend for turbos to spice up and revs to construct, the e-tron unleashes all the pieces the second you step on the throttle pedal.
It’s medical and efficient, the e-tron shortly dashing in the direction of its electronically restricted 250km/h prime pace.
Certain, some will want the extra visceral expertise of the V8 and the lighter physique of the RS6, two issues that mix for an excellent driving expertise.
But when it’s outright tempo you’re chasing, then the RS e-tron GT edges forward.
