Audi RS4 - the ultimate family wagon
The high performance Audi RS4 Avant will be with us for six months and we reckon it could be the ultimate family estate.
Date: 24 September 2020 | Current mileage: 206 | Claimed economy: 29.1mpg | Actual economy: 24.9mpg
I absolutely love a fast estate so the chance to have an Audi RS4 Avant on the fleet for six months is not one to be sniffed at. I've already run a few performance estates, the Skoda Octavia vRS Estate and the Mercedes-AMG C43 4Matic Estate being two of my stand out favourites. But when it comes to performance wagons, the Audi RS4 Avant really is a bit special.
If there was one thing that kept me going through the long days of lockdown, it was the thought that somewhere in Germany, there was an RS4 Avant being built with my name on it. Well, for six months at least.
Given there's only one engine choice, you'd think that choosing the spec for an RS4 Avant would be easy. But once you start delving into the Audi configurator, something which I could happily spend all day on, you soon find that there's more choice than you might expect.
For starters, there's not just the RS4 Avant as one trim. Alongside the 'standard' model there's the RS4 Avant Black Edition, which as the name suggest, comes with lots of black carbon bits in place of the usual chrome trim (plus black alloys). And if you want to go all out, there's the RS4 Avant Vorsprung which costs more than £80,000. Astonished face emoji time.
But in a rare moment of restraint, I opted for the standard model. I thought the Black Edition was a bit too aggressive and even though this isn't my car, I can't justify an £80k price tag on, what is essentially, a fast Audi A4.
I say restraint as I still managed to add on £8000 worth of options. The Comfort & Sound Pack at £1400 is pretty much essential - it gives you the advanced key (and hands free boot opening), the Bang & Olufsen 3D Sound System, a 360 degree camera and the extended LED interior lighting pack. Given all that, I'd be as bold as to say it's good value.
The other options are all the opposite of sensible. There's £2000 on some bigger 20-inch wheels, £460 on red brake calipers and £1250 on the RS Sport exhaust system. Because if you're going to have an RS4 Avant, you want it to look and sound the part. In total it comes to a smidgen over £70k.
And the paintwork? Sonoma Green metallic - a colour I first saw on an RS5 Sportback and thought looked fantastic. It was always my preferred colour for the RS4 Avant, mainly because it's so unusual and despite a few reservations after ordering, the day it arrived I knew I'd made the right choice. Here's to the next six months.
Very thirsty but also great fun
With 450PS on tap from its V6 engine, the Audi RS4 is never going to be frugal, but it does at least give you something in return.
Date: 8 October 2020 | Current mileage: 456 | Claimed economy: 29.1mpg | Actual economy: 24.9mpg
With a 2.9-litre turbocharged V6 engine, I never expected the RS4 Avant to be exactly economical and with a claimed average figure of 29.1mpg, any thoughts of having a performance estate that won't cost the earth to run have quite quickly gone out of the window after the first few weeks.
While I didn't expect to see 29.1mpg, especially in the first few weeks with the engine so new - it arrived with just 56 miles on it - the RS4 Avant hasn't actually been too far off. Despite my rather heavy right foot. It's currently averaging around 24mpg but if you get it on the motorway and cruise along at 70mph (ish) you will see more than 30mpg.
What this does show is that the new official fuel economy test is working. Called WLTP, or the Worldwide Harmonised Light Vehicles Test Procedure to give it its full name, it was introduced in 2017 and replaced the outdated NEDC test which had been around since the 1980s and was hopelessly out of date giving wildly optimistic figures.
WLTP is designed to be more realistic - you can read more here if you need help sleeping at night - and we're certainly seeing that in the cars we are testing.
Indeed, if the RS4 Avant spent more time on my previous daily motorway commute - lockdown and an office move has put pay to that - I'd be confident it would get close to 29mpg. Which isn't at all bad for a car with 450PS that can manage 0-62mph in a smidgen over 4.0 seconds.
Instead the RS4 Avant spends most of its time on the school run or on local country roads, plus the nearby bypass which gives me a chance to stretch its legs from roundabout to roundabout. And it's as rapid as you'd expect.
The 2.9-litre may be a V6 rather than the V8 of the previous model, but unlike its predecessor, it is fitted with a turbocharger which means it's lightning quick from pretty much any speed, with no lag. Which as you can imagine, makes it great fun to drive on the rare occasions I don't my daughter in the back with me.
What impresses most is how effortless the thing is at gaining speed, the RS4 Avant impressively refined and cultured. It's smooth through the gears and the speed builds and builds. While its acceleration from a standstill may be the headline figure, it's the in gear performance of the RS4 Avant which truly impresses.
Silver leather seats - a recipe for disaster?
Rather than the usual dull black leather, our RS4 Avant comes with Silver fine Nappa leather as standard fit. They are not, however, friends with denim...
Date: 22 October 2020 | Current mileage: 1079 | Claimed economy: 29.1mpg | Actual economy: 24.9mpg
I was never a fan of leather seats growing up. We had them in an old Mercedes when I was young and I remember them being either too cold in winter while in the summer the backs of your legs would get stuck to them. Making a horrible sound as you lifted your leg off.
Back then (we're taking the early 80s) leather seats were a very posh extra. I think it was a pure accident that the very second hand Mercedes we had wad fitted with them. Fast forward to 2020 though and you can get leather seats in a Volkswagen Golf.
Leather upholstery comes as standard in the RS4 Avant of course. What else would you expect in a car costing north of £60k. As you'd expect, it's black as standard. Or as Audi calls it, 'black-rock grey'. Either way, a bit boring. But as a no cost option you can get the same fine Nappa leather super sport seats but in silver.
So in an attempt to make the inside of the RS4 a little more interesting I plumped for it. The seats are still the same design with the nice honeycomb quilted design and contrast stitching. It's not just the seats that are in silver, also the leather on the armrest and doors.
What I didn't foresee was what happens if to shiny new light coloured leather seats if you wear jeans a lot. As my dress sense is stuck in the 90s (jeans and a checked shirt is de rigueur) it means I am always in jeans. And the result is that those silver seats soon become very blue. As you can see at the top.
As with most things car cleaning related, I turned to good old Autoglym. I've always use their car paintwork polish and they seem to have a product for pretty much everything when it comes to cleaning cars inside and out. So £6.95 later I have myself a bottle of Autoglym leather cleaner.
As you'd expect, it's really good stuff. You only need one or two sprays and it will easily clean off that blue dye from the seats. I even did one of those half and half tests (see below) so you can see the results. The stitching is a little more tricky and requires a bit more elbow grease, but I was also able to do the armrest and doors, giving them a freshen up.
Whether these silver seats will look as good as black leather after several years remains to be seen. Black tends to hide wear a lot better, but having the silver really lifts the interior and a clean every few months is a small price to pay.
Does the RS4 Avant lack drama?
The RS4 Avant is a very high performance estate and it certainly looks the part but it does it lack that X factor?
Date: 5 November 2020 | Current mileage: 1333 | Claimed economy: 29.1mpg | Actual economy: 24.9mpg
This may seem an odd update, talking about whether the Audi RS4 Avant - a £60,000 supercar bothering estate that can get to 62mph quicker than a Porsche 911 Carrera 4 - lacks drama. But recent Audi RS and S models have often been criticised for lacking the X factor. Call it emotion, soul, involvement, or whatever you will, many modern fast Audi models have missed the mark.
So how does the RS4 Avant fare? Well on paper it has everything you want from a high performance estate. It's 2.9-litre V6 engine belts out 450PS thanks to twin turbochargers which means there's very little out there that's quicker (and can carry half of IKEA in it).
It's not just straight line speed of course. The RS4 comes with quattro all-wheel drive (obvs) and an electronically controlled sport rear differential, giving it superb traction away from a slow corner, even in the wet.
In fact, you have to be going silly fast to upset the RS4 and get it out of shape, plus if you do there's a host of safety system there as your safety net. Add in adaptive suspension along with hugely powerful brakes and the RS4 looks to have all you need on paper.
But paper never made for a good car. And the cricitisms of past RS models has often been quickly followed by comparisons with rivals - mainly BMW with its M3. And while there's no direct rival from BMW at the moment, an all-new M3 Touring is due next year which will make for a fascinating comparison. It's even available in green...
The good news is that this RS4 is anything by anodyne and has more engagement that many other recent RS models. Is it the last word in driver involvement? We'd have to say no - a BMW M3 is still more rewarding to drive and a C63 AMG sounds better. But the RS4 Avant is nonetheless incredibly enjoyable and entertaining.
However I have one gripe - and it's is an odd one. The eight-speed Tiptronic offers lightning fast changes in standard mode which makes for thunderously quick performance. You can put it into Sport and than manual mode for the most control, but even then the changes are a little too slick for me. A strange complaint I know.
The outgoing BMW M3 is a completely different kettle of fish. Stick the automatic in its most agressive settings and it thumps through gearchanges in a way I absolutely love accompanied but a beautifully raucous sound. It's something the RS4 Avant cannot match sadly. It's not the be all and end all, but everytime I change gear in the RS4, I'm reminded of how much more I like the gearbox in an M3...
Sonoma Green - the talk of the town
We chose our RS4 Avant in striking Sonoma Green and it's a colour that gets plenty of attention...
Date: 19 November 2020 | Current mileage: 1504 | Claimed economy: 29.1mpg | Actual economy: 24.4mpg
I was lucky enough to be able to choose the specification for the RS4 Avant we're running for six months. Given I have spent many an hour messing around with various manufacturers configurators (usually just for fun) it's a real treat to be able to actually choose a car we'll have for six months.
Despite the fact the RS4 Avant is the top of the range halo model on the A4 line-up you'd be surprised (or not) to discover you can easily spend a lot more on options. I plumped for the standard RS4 Avant grade but going for the uber high spec RS4 Avant Vorpsrung sees the price immediately jump by en eye watering £20,000. I mean, for that I'd want it to make the tea.
But back to our car. I tried not to go overboard with the options, stopping at about £8000 worth. That may seem a lot but as I discovered when I ran the superb Mercedes-AMG C 43 Estate, the average spend on options with that car was £5k and it's likely to be more on the RS4 Avant.
But of all the choices and optional extras, the ones I spent the most time trying to decide on were, first the wheels and secondly the paintwork colour. After all, opportunities like this don't come along very often...
I've always liked unusual colours on cars - my first motor after passing my test was a 1981 Ford Fiesta L finished in Primrose Yellow (and rust). Sadly, the colour palette for most modern cars is very 50 shades if the same grey so if there's ever a chance to have a bright colour, i'll go for it.
I'd seen a few Audi RS models, like the RS5, in Sonoma Green but not an RS4 Avant. I wasn't sure so for a long time was erring towards Turbo Blue, shown above. Red seemed a bit obvious and the rest of the colours are drab in comparison. But as anyone who knows me will tell you, I like a last minute change so at the 11th hour I went for Sonoma Green. And when the RS4 arrived on a sunny morning, I was so flad I did.
What I've noticed in the few months I've had the RS4 Avant is the number of people commenting on the colour. I've had strangers come up to me when I'm parking and comment on what an unusual colour it is. Great sometimes, but not when you've got arms full of shopping. Still, I did say I liked a car that stood out...
I've not seen another RS4 in the same colour yet so I'm pleased I went for something a little different but not too 'in your face' obvious either. Of course whether it looks as good when it's covered in dirt and grime remains to be seen. I'm already a regular at the local carwash.
RS4 or AMG: Which would you choose?
If you're in the market for a high performance mid size saloon, is the RS4 Avant the leader of the pack?
Date: 3 December 2020 | Current mileage: 1711 | Claimed economy: 29.1mpg | Actual economy: 24.2mpg
In the world of high performance estates your choice is really limited to a few cars, all of which are German. And if you want the standard mid-size estate, it really comes down to two cars - the Audi RS4 Avant and the Mercedes-AMG C63 Estate.
BMW doesn't do an M3 Touring (although one is rumoured to be coming next year) so the closest you get currently is the 340i Touring with 374PS. The M340i is not what you'd call slow, but the RS4 Avant, with 450PS, has considerably more power and pace.
Meanwhile there's nothing comparable from Jaguar or Alfa Romeo. The only other contender is the Volvo V60 T8 Polestar Engineered, a PHEV with a 2.0-litre engine that manages to produce 405PS and has a 0.62mph of 4.4 seconds. It's certainly quick although arguably not in the same league as the RS4 Avant.
So that leaves us with the Mercedes-AMG C-Class Estate. Just to confuse things even more, there are in fact three versions, the C43, the C63 and the C63 S but it's the last model - the Mercedes-AMG C63 S with 510PS that comes closest to rivalling the RS4 Avant.
The immediate appeal of the C63 over the RS4 Avant is that it has a V8 engine compared to the V6 in the RS4. That means more power with an extra 60PS but that doesn't actually translate to quicker performance. The RS4 Avant may only be a 2.9-litre V6 compared to the 4.0-litre V8 in the AMG, but the Audi can match it from 0-62mph - both taking 4.1 seconds if you're counting.
Where the AMG 63 really wins is when it comes to sound. The RS4 is like a church mouse compared to the thunderous rip-snorting sound produced by the C 63 under full acceleration. Even with the RS sport exhaust system fitted to our car, it's nowhere near as loud or dramatic.
Not only does the AMG sound a bit like a brute, it feels like one behind the wheel too. Both the RS4 Avant and the C63 have four-wheel drive as standard with a rear-wheel drive bias but the AMG is the more involving to drive. The RS4 Avant has the finesse, but the AMG has the fun here.
But all that AMG-ness comes at a price. The C63 S starts at more than £78k while the RS4 is £62k. True, neither are cheap, but that's a considerable jump even if you can afford that much on a very fast estate. While the Mercedes sounds great, I think the RS4 Avant edges it for me here, due mainly to that £16k saving in price. Not that I'd say no to either...
