Audi RS5 Sportback Can Rack Up Miles Quickly in Any Weather
RS5 Sportback may not have a V8 or Avant roofline, but it offers 444 reasons to put your right foot down and smile.
Like other automakers, Audi has its own language. Its German rivals use the letters AMG and M to identify their high-performance models, but the automaker’s Audi Sport division uses the RS prefix to let other drivers know they’re getting passed by an uber-Audi. The four-ring brand doesn’t call the car in this new video from The Drive a “swoopy four-door with a rear hatch.” They call it the 2019 RS5 Sportback.
But Audi is fluent in the common language of horsepower and torque ratings. According to host Mike Spinelli, “In 2018, Audi redid the RS5. One of the biggest things they did was change the powertrain methodology completely. COMPLETELY. They got rid of the … 4.2-liter V8.” Now the RS5 uses a twin-turbo 2.9-liter V6 that generates a nearly square 444 horsepower and 443 lb-ft of torque. Horsepower remains the same, but torque has gone up significantly.
That’s routed through Audi’s signature quattro all-wheel drive. In the RS5, the system splits power 40/60 front/rear by default. Under heavy throttle, that changes to 15/85. That’s also when the RS5 shows that even though it doesn’t have eight cylinders or the same top-end wail of the old V8, it has enough grunt to make you forget about that.
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Spinelli’s roughly $98,000 Sonoma Green test car is outfitted with a carbon fiber front lip, carbon fiber rear spoiler, and an available Dynamic package that includes an RS sport suspension as well as Dynamic Ride Control. That consists of diagonally linked shocks that counteract the forces acting on their opposing counterparts and cut body roll. In full-out Dynamic mode, the RS5 has a track-stiff ride, but its Individual mode allows Spinelli to adjust a variety of settings to his liking. For the wet, forest-lined roads in the Catskill Mountains region of New York, Spinelli puts the engine/eight-speed Tiptronic auto, electric power steering, and sport differential in their Dynamic settings and chooses the more sedate Comfort mode for the suspension and exhaust.
Given the RS5’s space, flexibility, and ample power, it’s no wonder Spinelli says, “You can crush whole continents in this car.” He even goes so far as to call it “a 4,000-pound 911 Turbo with enough room for a couple of people and a couple of golf bags.” Audi doesn’t speak the exact same language as Porsche, so we’ll save them the translating and make it clear that Spinelli gave Audi one hell of a compliment.
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