Background
For many years, Audi had dined out on the reputation they’d earned themselves with the original Quattro, a car that spawned an entirely new category and became iconic almost overnight. But, as the years passed by and Audi conspicuously failed to replace the Quattro with anything even half as good, the ghostly presence of the firm’s legendary fire-breathing rally-spawned monster became more of a curse than a blessing.
Then, in 1999/2000, the 380bhp twin-turbocharged 2.7-litre V6 RS4 arrived, and suddenly Audi were back in the game. But the car was not without its critics – gaining both a cult following and a reputation for being a bit of a crude bruiser with rather unrefined manners.
The 2005 vintage (B7) RS4 changed everything. Out went the shouty turbos, in came a naturally aspirated 4.2-litre V8 that revved to 8500rpm (limited to a measly 7000rpm until the car reached the right operating temperature) and had a mid-range punch that could take your breath away.
This was a car that didn’t just make BMW's E46 M3 seem somewhat underpowered, it was at least its equal in the handling and ride stakes, and beat it hands down for grip.
TV’s Jeremy Clarkson raced a rock-climber to the top of a mountain in a Top Gear review that was silly even by their standards. He ‘lost’, but nevertheless found himself telling viewers that the RS4 was a better car than the BMW M3.
Bold words. In those days, it was against the law to suggest that anything might be better than an M3.
Power is fed to all four wheels via a Getrag six-speed manual ‘box and Audi’s proprietary quattro drivetrain.
Audi’s Electronic Differential Lock can brake a spinning wheel, restoring grip across an individual axle. Dynamic Ride Control adds variable hydraulic damping to correct pitch and roll, the track is 1.5 inches wider at the front and almost two at the rear, and the ride height is just over an inch lower all round than that of the cooking models.
The 14.4-inch Brembo front brakes come from the Lamborghini Gallardo.
The Audi RS4, especially in its sleeper Avant estate guise, comes as close to the template of the ultimate all round performance car as anything you might think of. Everywhere you look, there’s something clever or remarkable going on, and all of it is packaged in a luxurious high-spec five-door estate car.
One that does 0-60mph in 4.9 seconds and produces a simply glorious cacophony of V8 rasps, burbles, pops and roars while doing so.
In a 2005 review, Autocar wrote:
“As the revs rise, the V8 adopts a pure howl that continues to rise in pitch if not in tone. And it just keeps going and going and going with utter smoothness as if it would like to do this all day long, braying constantly until the fuel tank was dry. Shift into third with the quick and surprisingly satisfying gear change and the RS4 suddenly feels very, very rapid. It’s the sort of power delivery that just keeps flowing as you snick up through the gears, so you can’t help growing horns and wanting to drive it flat out as much as possible…”
Yep. Sounds about right for the car that finally banished the ghost of the original Quattro and gave the marque a deserving modern icon for a new generation.
