You’d think it would be, but actually it’s not that great in tight twisties. Sounds like this thing’s made for canyon carving! In an age where a number of the newest performance cars are electric and sound like hair dryers or dishwashers - all sweeping electronic whooshes and dinging chimes - the throaty mechanical snarl of Audi’s V-8 is a nostalgic joy.
Punch the little exhaust-note button on the console and you get to enjoy the V-8 at even louder volumes, sending auditory warnings reverberating off the canyon walls or highway underpasses. The car is capable of explosive acceleration, trading its normally chill, around-town demeanor for raging beast with a quick stab of the go-pedal. And while I wasn’t able to do any measured testing in my week with the RS 6 Avant on the highways and canyons of Southern California, I have little reason to doubt its numbers. It results in an Audi-measured 3.5-second 0-60-mph sprint. All that power is routed through an eight-speed Tiptronic automatic transmission to all four wheels via permanent Quattro all-wheel drive, employing a sport differential for better power and torque management.
It’s all powered by a twin-turbocharged 4.0-liter V-8 engine making a whopping 591 horsepower and 590 pounds-feet of torque. If you told your kids this was the latest Batmobile, I bet they’d believe you. Combine it with a more aggressive front end, a wheel design that looks like it could slice fingers off if washed the wrong way and Sebring Black crystal paint, and this RS 6 looks like it could scare off gangs of ruffians in dark alleys. They’re integrated into the wider bodywork and make the already long, low profile of the RS 6 Avant even more intimidating to behold. The most obvious change are the flared fenders that needed to be widened to fit the massive 22-inch five-spoke wheels and summer tires. What started out as an already nice Audi A6 with a wagon back was heavily breathed upon by the performance folks at Audi, and the result is an absolute fighter jet of a family car - I guess that makes this thing more pegasus than unicorn. That makes the RS 6 Avant seen here something of a rare unicorn, doesn’t it? Does it drive as good as it looks?īetter.
the others being the Volvo V60 Recharge plug-in hybrid and Porsche’s Panamera and Taycan Sport Turismo. That’s always been the ultimate case for station wagons - unfortunately, you’re now too late because for 2022, the RS 6 Avant is one of just four pure station wagons (that aren’t pretending to be off-road crossovers) left on sale in the U.S. You may as well get something that still has the useful room of a crossover but drives a thousand times better. But let’s be honest, since everyone now drives freakin’ crossover-style SUVs, nobody can “see over” anything anymore. Are you going to be able to see over the tops of the cars surrounding you? No. The RS 6 Avant features a low seating position and low center of gravity, so it’s actually amazingly good to drive compared to “performance” crossovers. 2021 Audi RS 6 Avant | photo by Christian Lantry
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