Audi RS6 (2013 – 2019) Review

Audi, more than any of its rivals, defines the fast estate car sector, its RS6 model being the de-facto choice in among its small group of rivals. A car of incredible breadth, the Audi RS6 mixes the practical family estate car usefulness of the A6 Avant it’s based on, but thanks to the fitment of a 600PS 4.0-litre twin turbo V8 engine, it has a level of performance that will keep a supercar honest. Now in its fourth generation, this current RS6 went on sale early in 2020 to take on rivals like the Mercedes-AMG E63S 4Matic+ and Porsche Panamera Sport Turismo.

The Audi RS6 is a performance car icon, fitting a big, powerful engine to the pragmatic estate (Avant in Audi speak) car body that’s borrowed from the regular Audi A6 range.

The result is a hugely compelling all-rounder, a car that can carry a family in comfort, but also achieve the sort of performance that was once the preserve of super and even hypercars. With a 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8 gives it 600PS, enough to allow the RS6 to be able to able to reach 62mph in 3.6 seconds, that being the same as something like a Porsche 911 Carrera 4S.

If you happen to be in Audi’s German homeland you’ll be able to keep accelerating hard all the way to 155mph, where the electronic speed limiter cuts in, though Audi offers a cost option to raise that limiter to 174mph, or even have it removed completely.

If it is completely unrestricted then the RS6 is capable of 189mph, which is remarkable for such a spacious, practical car. It’s this ability that’s made it such a hit with the owners of super and sports cars, allowing them to own a family car that has performance that’s equal to (and even better than) that of the other, significantly less practical, cars in their garage. 

With a maximum boot capacity of 1,680 litres with the rear seats folded, the RS6 is an able all-rounder, the boot huge even with the seats up.

Four adults can be carried in comfort, such is the space in the rear seats, and while there’s a third seatbelt in the rear, it’s best left unoccupied, as otherwise it gets a bit cramped and uncomfortable. To drive it’s got all the civility of its A6 Avant relations, only with agility and pace that’ll shock if you really exploit it.

That’s thanks to Audi’s honing of the chassis, too, which has been engineered to suit the mighty power from its V8 engine. 

It retains all the qualities that make the regular A6 Avant such an appealing car, too, with fine built interior, handsome exterior and, being the range-topping model, a huge standard equipment list. All that means despite its sizeable list price – it starting around £100,000 – that you could convince yourself it’s a bargain, because you’ll genuinely not need to buy something like a Ferrari or a Porsche to enjoy driving at the weekends.

For fast, cross continental runs to your ski chalet of summer house there’s little better, the combination of all that power and security of Audi’s quattro four-wheel drive system making it an all-season, any conditions car. 

There are only a handful of direct rivals for the RS6, with Mercedes-AMG offering the E63S 4Matic+ estate, Porsche the Panamera Turbo Sport Turismo and Alpina the B5 Bi-Turbo Touring AWD, though a number of high-performance SUVs will do a similar job, if not quite so discreetly.

Predictable and surefooted, hugely capable and secure, the RS6 has always had masses of grip and traction to go with its ample grunt. The new one’s got all that, and this time it’s mixed with some dynamism that makes this RS6 the most engaging, involving one ever. 

There’s a standard Sports Differential with the RS6, this making the big four-wheel drive estate feel more like it’s being driven by its rear-wheels, while the steering is nicely weighted, the turn-in and agility aided by the standard fitment of rear-wheel steering.

That system turns either with, or opposite to the front wheels, aiding the steering response at slower speeds, while being beneficial to stability at higher speeds. As standard the RS6 has air suspension, and with the Vorsprung, or optionally, that can be upgraded to RS Sport Suspension Plus, with Dynamic Ride Control, it losing the air springs for a conventional set-up, but allies it with roll-control for better cornering.

All ride surprisingly well, impressively so given the standard 21-inch alloy wheels (optionally 22-inches), adding to the RS6’s daily usefulness, as while there’s the odd knock through the suspension, it’s nowhere nearly as bad as you’d expect for something with the fast estate’s incredible performance.

A 4.0-litre twin-turbocharged V8 with 600PS at 6,000rpm, that peak output aided by a peak torque of 800Nm that’s available from 2,000rpm and staying until 4500rpm. It’s fast then, with 62mph arriving in 3.6 seconds, which is incredible given the RS6’s size, and not insubstantial bulk. 

It’s a keen, high revving engine that’s smooth, the low-rev torque bringing easy pace when you’re not in such a hurry, with the peak power being good incentive to rev it out if you are.

It makes a good sound when you do so, too, though it’s best heard via the optional sports exhaust. For all its performance there are some concessions to the environment, with the RS6 featuring a 48 volt mild hybrid system, which is essentially an advanced stop-start system that allows high-speed coasting an, while there’s cylinder deactivation, too, which helps improve fuel consumption.

As standard, all RS6 come with an eight-speed automatic, it quick enough, if not as fast as some rivals’ DSG automatics, the benefit being a smoother shift at slower speeds.  

The Audi A6 was tested by EuroNCAP and gained a full five-star rating, so the RS6 will protect you well. The RS6’s additional stopping power and even more agile chassis should help in avoiding an accident in the first place, too.

Standard safety equipment is comprehensive, with the RS6 Avant and Carbon Black models coming with pre-sense city, lane departure warning, 2 Isofix child seat mounts, tyre pressure monitoring and a sizeable collection of airbags.

The Vorsprung gains the latest active safety equipment, including adaptive cruise assist, 360 degree cameras, Audi Side Assist, pre-sense rear and cross traffic assist front. If you want these in the two other available trims then you’ll need to specify the Tour and City Assist packs.

We can’t imagine many RS6 buyers will tow with it, but there is the option of a towbar should you need to hook up your racecar, caravan, speedboat or horsebox on the back of it. It’s more likely it’ll be used as a bike carrier, though, for some expensive bicycles with more carbon fibre than the RS6’s interior trim. It’ll tow £750kg unbraked, or up to 2100kg with a braked trailer.

The RS6 is as spacious as the A6 Avant it’s based on, so there’s 1680 litres of boot space should you fold the rear seatbacks down.

That’s easily done, and they do so in a 40/20/40 split, too, just in case you don’t want to leave a family member in the IKEA car park when you’re picking up a BILLY bookcase. If you can’t get your head around that ultimate 1680 litres of carrying capacity then Audi says it equates to about 41 carry-on cases, which would probably cost you about the same to check in on a budget airlines as it would to buy an RS6. 

Drive then, because even with the seats in position there’s 565 litres of space, which is about 14 carry-on cases, or 3.5 cases for each of the four people travelling in comfort.

You could squeeze a fifth person in the RS6, but they wouldn’t be terribly comfortable, at least not for a longer trip. The tailgate accessing that boot is powered, there’s the options of a towbar for bike carriers (or towing your racing car) Isofix child seat mounts and a plethora of packing and carrying solutions all borrowed from the A6 Avant range. The RS6 is like a Swiss Army Knife, only with a rocket attached.

Quite simply Audi has been the brand to beat for quality and finish this side of the true luxury cars, with the fit, finish and execution of its cabins being exemplary. The RS6 is no different, only there’s a more sporting bent to its look and materials that’s in keeping with its greater performance. Lovely, then, to both look at and touch.

The range-topping model in the Audi A6 line-up, so the RS6 comes pretty much fully loaded with the latest infotainment. There are two touchscreens inside, one in the upper dash and another in the lower.

It all looks fantastic, but, in truth we miss the simplicity of the previous A6/RS6, with too much of a push to touchscreens – the ventilation controls being touchscreen being a major gripe. 

There’s Audi’s ‘Virtual Cockpit’ ahead of you in place of conventional instruments, this, like most of the screens being configurable, and offering RS-specific sub menus and looks. Apple CarPlay and Android Auto is standard, as sat nav and all sorts of connectivity and app systems you’ll likely never use, the standard audio system being good, with the optional Comfort and Sound pack adding Bang & Olufsen for even better hifi. 

The RS6 isn’t an inexpensive car in the traditional sense, with the standard RS6 Avant costing a few hundred pounds shy of £95,000 on the road before you’ve added a single option to it.

Go for the Carbon Black trim grade and you’ll be over £100,000, while the range-topping Vorsprung gets you into the £112,000 sphere, which is a lot of money for an estate car.

Factor in what it gives you though, and it doesn’t look quite so expensive, indeed, if you, justifiably, equate the fact it negates the need for a second, high performance weekend plaything in your garage, then the RS6 can, almost, be considered something of a bargain.

Much as we’re usually disinclined to suggest the range-topping model, doing so does negate the need to go through the tiresome task of adding a few options to make the RS6 the best it can be.

To the standard and Carbon Black cars we’d want to add the Comfort and Sound pack to gain the best hifi via Bang & Olufsen, as well as the useful 360 degree camera and advanced key, we’d also want the Sports Exhaust, again, it optional on all but the range-topping Vorsprung.

Doing so adds several thousand pounds to the price, but they’re key to enjoying the RS6 at its best. Vorsprung does have these as standard, though it also adds all the driving assist packages which you’ll likely end up switching off, anyway. You’ll know what you want at this level, and you’ll have the money to pay for it, too. 

Hourly rates for servicing won’t be as bad as something like a Ferrari or a Porsche, because they’ll have to be palatable to those running Audi A1s and A3s as opposed to those few who run RS6s. 

The twin-turbo V8 has a fairly prodigious thirst, with the WLTP official combined consumption figure quoted at 22.6mpg, though the reality is likely to be less than 20mpg and, if you’re in a hurry all the time, early teens and even less.

Insuring it won’t be inexpensive either, as it attracts supercar groupings due to its performance, and the first few years of VED will be charged at the higher rate because of both the emissions it produces and the fact it’s comfortably more than the £40,000 penalty VED threshold. Even so, all that isn’t likely to matter, as it’s unlikely you’ll be stretching to buy an RS6, indeed, it’s likely that alongside all your other sports and supercars the RS6 isn’t just the most useful, but also the cheapest to run. 

RS6 Avant models come fully loaded as standard with everything you could possibly want such as 21-inch alloy wheels, leather interior, zoned climate control, DAB, Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, though we’d suggest optioning the Comfort and Sound Package and the RS Sports Exhaust. 

Carbon Black models add carbon (black, unsurprisingly) trim inside and out, 22-inch alloy wheels, though again we’d add the Comfort and Sound Package and the RS Sports Exhaust. 

Vorspung comes with those desirable options above, as well as Dynamic Ride Control and every other conceivable option as standard.