The RS6 is a ludicrously, astonishingly fast machine by any automotive standards, let alone those with load bays that can hold up to 1660 litres. The RS6 can reach 100mph in 9.9sec. Audi’s R8 supercar wants 10.5. Even off the line the combination of power and four-wheel drive snorts at the RS6’s bulk; we timed 0-60mph runs at a consistent 4.4sec.
None of this should be surprising given that, although the RS6 weighs what it does, it has one horsepower for just every 3.5kg it carries. Its bi-turbo, 5.0-litre V10 is one of the mightiest engines in production, producing its 572bhp solidly from 6250rpm. More significantly when it comes to real-world surge in any given gear, its torque figure flat-lines at 480lb ft from 1500rpm all the way to the start of peak power.
Meanwhile, the RS6’s six-speed auto gearbox shifts cleanly, smoothly and for the most part intelligently.
Like the RS4 before it, the RS6 is fitted with Dynamic Ride Control, which controls oil transfer between diagonally opposed dampers to reduce pitch and roll. It’s pretty effective, too. The RS6’s body stays reasonably flat and composed over humps and dips, although it can take a moment to settle over crests in the system’s Comfort setting. That, however, is the only setting you’d want to use. Dynamic and Sport modes offer greater tightness in the chassis but make the car virtually undriveable.
The RS6 is not an agile car, but it does steer with precision and finds good grip in corners, up to a point. That point is when the front tyres let go, following which, on the road at least, you’ll need to lift off the throttle to bring it back into line.
Where the RS6 really excels is in the wet. Even with its 35-profile tyres it found untold grip and, more crucially, traction at our MIRA test track, to become comfortably the fastest car we’ve tested on the wet handling circuit, eclipsing Audi’s own RS4, previously the fastest car around this circuit by a margin.