The combustion-powered era of the überwagon is coming to an end. The Porsche Panamera Sport Turismo is reportedly dead, the V8-powered Mercedes-AMG E63 S is on its way out, and the Cadillac CTS-V Wagon is so far a memory, it appeared in an era before Apple CarPlay. Someone needed to send this ultra-niche enthusiast segment out with a bang, and the Audi RS6 Avant GT is here to do just that. It’s a pumped-up retro throwback that looks awesome, but it has a serious price tag to match its serious performance.
Under the hood of the RS6 Avant GT is a four-liter twin-turbocharged V8 engine making exactly the same 621 horsepower as the RS6 Avant Performance. Still, that doesn’t stop it from doing the zero-to-62 mph dash in 3.3 seconds, precisely one tenth of a second quicker than the RS6 Avant Performance. Could the standard Continental Sport Contact 7 tires play a role here? Perhaps.
Speaking of similarities and slight differences, this ultra-wagon gets the same eight-speed automatic transmission and the same locking center differential as the RS6 Avant Performance, but the Quattro Sport electronically-controlled rear differential gets special tuning, which Audi says promotes “neutral” handling. If you’re used to most Audis, this claim might raise your eyebrow.
The big news under the skin is the presence of a set of old-school adjustable coilovers with three-way adjustable dampers, threaded bodies, and stiffer spring rates than on the regular car. Add in stiffer anti-roll bars, and when specced right, the RS6 Avant GT might stand a chance of taming the big wagon’s weight. For some reason, Audi’s also made the ultra-wagon available with air suspension or interconnected dampers, but if a special suspension system is on offer, take it. This thing has carbon-backed seats for a reason.
While the list of additional performance goodies on the RS6 Avant GT is short, there’s a chance that a handful of highly optimized tweaks can transform a car. Just ask anyone who’s driven a BMW M5 CS. Besides, the big bonus of the RS6 Avant GT is how it looks, because Audi’s dipped deep into its heritage cauldron to dole out some motorsports-inspired sauce.
If you were into late-’80s road racing or have iRacing on your computer, you might be familiar with the Audi 90 Quattro IMSA GTO. This tube-framed racecar was a box-flared turbocharged sledgehammer which proved astonishingly fast on a racetrack yet troubled by development delays. The car won seven races in the 1989 season, but it didn’t run at Daytona or Sebring, and Audi ultimately wasn’t able to close the gap with Ford to win the season.
This little slice of madness is exactly what Audi is looking to emulate, from a subtle double-spoiler on the back to some 800-decibel graphics in black, red, and grey. Even the front fenders feature massive extractors that hint at the racecar’s rear fender vents, and a new front bumper with massive grilles features a deep chin spoiler that suits the car nicely. Mind you, the wheels aren’t inspired by the 90 Quattro IMSA GTO, as those are 22-inch reinterpretations of Avus wheels seen on the B5 S4, D2 S8, and B6 S4. So far, so good, until we get to the price.
The Audi RS6 Avant GT stickers for €219,355, and that’s an awful lot of money. More than a Porsche Tacyan Turbo S Cross Turismo, or if we want to go fully mental, a second-hand Ferrari GTC4 Lusso with the full-whack V12. On a more sensible note, that’s €82,355 more than what an RS6 Performance Avant starts at, and that’s money you can buy and run a dedicated sports car with. With the departure of the Porsche Panamera Sport Turismo and the demise of the V8-powered Mercedes-AMG E63 S wagon, you get the sense that Audi is charging so much for the RS6 Avant GT simply because it can. If you can justify the stiff price of admission, you’ll be in an exclusive club of 660 owners. If you can’t, plenty of brilliant options exist.
(Photo credits: Audi)
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*quick glance*
Huh, is Hyundai making white Nismos now?
The rear hatch’s rake is terrible, its just about a 4-door hatch.
I wish the RS6 drove better man, I LOVE the way it looks. But when I drove them both I was stunned and in awe of the E63S performance even if the wagon is a little sedate looking.
Not disappointed, just alas.
219k euros comes out to 235k burgerbux or 361k dollery-doos.
Fck the haters, I love how this looks.
Fake vents, fake diffuser, fake grill, automatic, blehhhhh
As the resident 20v Audi guy, this car sucks
Ok, so the adjustable coilovers are $7,534.00 by themselves. I also think this looks cool and would drive it no problem if I could afford it.
Pretty sure they are KW V2s, as they are the two-ways editions. Which are typically less overpriced around 2.4k. As V4 is typically a 3 way/ external bypass level coilover. Which 7.5k for is absurd. That’s like thousands more than Fortune/BC/Yellow/Bilstein etc. And more then even the God-kings at Ohlins.
The Buick TourX is like, “Dude, have you looked in a mirror lately?”
Can’t imagine driving this on public roads with a straight face.
I can imagine driving it with a big, maniacal grin! Probably best to sell it before the warranty runs out though. It is an Audi, after all.
My brother in Christ, your prized possession is a V10 powered phallus on wheels. Not that that’s a bad thing, I also dig Vipers (mainly because of you actually), but in terms of sheer ridiculousness I’m not sure if there’s much that outranks them.
And I daily an over-caffeinated bug eyed CUV that makes fart noises! I have no room to talk either. But I think we can all agree it’s okay to embrace the absurd 🙂
The thing about a Viper is it’s completely honest about what it is and isn’t. You can say it’s cartoonish, but never tacky.
A $200K luxury branded station wagon with graphics that look like they were purchased at Pep Boys and white wheels like a tuner car circa 2005 is something I’d be embarrassed to drive.
But I’m sure they’ll sell every one at a large markup.
It’s hardly anything new, and a damn sight better looking than anything from Mansory or the like. I wouldn’t drive it, but considering Lorinser and Brabus are still in business I’d say this Audi is the least of my concerns.
Can I get it it brown? Not that I will ever buy one at that price but it’s nice to dream. I’d think they could still sell enough to be worth it if they sold a model in the 40k-70k range to compete with Volvo.
Audi has the most consistently good styling.
I think the word you’re looking for is “inoffensive”. They have the most consistently inoffensive styling. None of their cars look bad outside of the Q5 sportback abomination. But there isn’t a single design in that portfolio that pushes the envelope, especially now that the dreamy R8 is out of the equation.
In my area good fucking luck if you have a white, black, or silver Audi crossover. Pretty much a quarter of every single parking lot is comprised of them. Don’t get me wrong…I’m not an Audi hater and have come close to buying an S3 and an S4 at different times. I just don’t know that “good” is the word I’d use to describe their design language.
Maybe I could be convinced to change my adjective from “inoffensive” to “fine”?
This. Audi at this point has ‘non-styling’, i.e. “how far can we take our cars looking like a facelift of what we did in the 2000s before anyone notices?”. They’re not ugly like BMWs or tacky and sad like Mercedes’, but it’s not commendable styling either.
At least BMW is taking chances/pushing the envelope. They also still have a handful of attractive cars. The 3 Series, X3, X5, etc. still look good and I personally like the current 2 Series coupes although I understand that they’re controversial, and the 8 series sedan is conventionally attractive but likely on its deathbed.
However, that doesn’t change the fact that the iX, new 7 series, XM, and 4 series are some of the most appalling designs on the road today. When BMW design is bad it’s really, really goddamn bad. But at the end of the day I have more respect for BMW for at least trying to push the envelope rather than being Audi who’s doing everything in their power not to.
Honestly that’s essentially how I see their whole lineup at this point. Their cars are perfectly cromulent and honestly I wouldn’t fault anyone for choosing one. They’re all pretty much dead average to slightly above average in all the classes they’re in…and I still think the A7 is swoon worthy if you opt for the black optic package.
But if you want something unique and soul stirring I just don’t really know what they have on offer anymore, and that’s a shame. I grew up around Audis and spent a lot of my life being a huge fan of the brand and its history, but right now I’m struggling to recommend them to people who ask me for car advice.
ESPECIALLY if it’s powered by the goddamn EA888. Damn that engine to hell. You’ll be lucky to get 60,000 miles out of that time bomb….
The BMWs you mention were alright until they got the facelifts that added weird geometric features to their bumpers and lighting fixtures. I’m not sure why BMW abandoned the iconic ‘L’ shape taillights as they were evolving gracefully up until this point. I’m hopeful the Vision Neue Klasse concept pushes them to their next design language in a hurry as it’s certainly better than any of their latest models, and I can’t bear to have an ugly 3er now that the 5 and 7 have been ruined.
Audi was last good in the late ’90s to early ’00s. When their stunningly gorgeous classical Bauhaus forms gave way to the gaping ‘horseshoe’ grille that encompassed the bumper it was the beginning of the end, and they have only made it worse since. I perversely like the current TT and the bonkers 5-cylinder in the RS version, but it also has nothing on the Schreyer original.
The TT RS is the greatest Golf of all time and it’s not particularly close. Of course Audi axed it because we can’t have nice things. But the point stands. The market agrees too, even average quality used ones are pretty pricey.
This is what you get when you take chances and push the envelope. I don’t understand why we’re thanking BMW for making ugly cars.
Any manufacturer that makes a good looking car that doesn’t have some stupid styling “thing” gets raked over the coals for not making an ugly/overwrought car. It gets called “boring”. It’s not “boring”, it’s just good looking. I don’t understand it. It’s OK to make handsome cars that don’t scream for attention by throwing every current styling gimmick at it in spades. Kia and Toyota are the worst for this. Their whole styling department is “random bullshit go!”.
The only new car I can think of that is both handsome and pushes the envelope is the new Santa Fe.
I predict most of these will wind up in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Qatar.
Dang, only 82,355 extra Euros for the Audi “Artificial Scarcity” edition! Some carbon fiber on a 4.9k pound vehicle, plus a couple hundred bucks and four hours of labor in suspension upgrades, plus stickers is definitely worth 3xs the average EU citizens salary.
I forgot how portly these are. There is absolutely no reason for the damn things to weigh 2.5 tons.
To be fair, it is carrying around 1 ton in various jewels and artifacts from the Habsburg dynasty. Or it better be to justify the price tag.
I think the person who designed the sticker job for this car was a Habsburg…
https://blog.23andme.com/articles/inbreeding-doomed-habsburg
Doomed! How about saved! I’ll be cold and dead before I recognize the House of Bourbon’s Spanish claim!
I look forward to seeing these on the Sotheby’s block for 400k euro with 132 km on the odometer in a couple years.
The RS6 Avant is basically my dream car but I’m pretty sure I’ll die never having spent 6 figures on a car, or maybe even cumulatively across all cars.
Non GT versions of this are starting to depreciate, you never know!
I really can’t imagine who Audi thinks these ridiculously expensive special editions are for. They have a racing inspired E Tron SUV that’s ludicrously expensive as well. Audi has a rich racing history but they’re very, very far removed from it at this point…not to mention they barely make any enthusiast cars anymore with the TT and R8 dead.
And while this isn’t necessarily something that I personally lose sleep over I know that it’s essentially the single most important aspect of driving for some folks…Audi has no manuals and hasn’t for many years. A lot of the M cars and both Blackwings do.
I mean….for someone who really loves driving, what does Audi have at this point? The RS3 is cool but it’s apparently only fun when driven at 10/10ths. Reviews I’ve read/watched have all essentially said that it’s basically the same experience as an S3 when driving normally. They had to release a ridiculously expensive competition package for the RS5s because they got so much flak for being soulless rockets…and that 2.9 liter turbo/sometimes hybridized V6 is going to be untouchable off warranty.
Really the only product of theirs that I lust after is this, the RS6 Avant. But even at base price it’s a damn hard sell considering what else you can get for $125,000 US. I can’t imagine paying almost double that for some springs and a unique paint job that pays homage to a 30+ year old race car. Who is this for? Anyone who can afford to drop supercar money isn’t going to do it on an Audi wagon.
Audi just seems so out of touch these days and I think they’re going to have real issues moving some of these ludicrously expensive special editions.
I agree -who is this for? The reason I like wagons is because it can be one car that drives great and has capacity to carry things. For the amount of money the regular RS6 costs I would buy a proper sports car and an SUV/truck.
Couldn’t agree more. For 125k I’m getting a certified manual 718 and the new Lexus GX. For the ridiculous cost of this special edition I’m getting a flat 6 powered 718 and an X5M or something like that. A one car solution isn’t all that appealing if it doesn’t save you any money over just buying a sports car and a daily.
For the price of this, I would get an Ioniq 5N, a Z3 M, a Lotus Exige, and a Nissan Xterra Pro-4x and I think still have a bit of cash to spare depending on the particular BMW and Lotus mileage and condition.
Or a Porsche Taycan SportTurismo GTS and a Lotus Exige and a ZJ.
I could keep coming up with different combos. An F-150 Lightning or Ramcharger, a toy hauler and an Ariel Atom? Maybe even a UTV if the Atom is CPO.
What you want is the E63S, it does EVERYTHING good and blends into the crowds when you need it to.
Pour one out for the true king of the uberwagon: the twin turbocharged V10 RS6. If that had been released with a stick, we could have stopped making cars at that point and have missed very little