Audi RS 5 Avant: test, power, performance, technical data sheet, what changes

The traffic light is red, the air is hot and around there is that buzz of clandestine departure that doesn’t really exist but that your head keeps inventing when you’re sitting on something that promises a storm. In front, a ribbon of asphalt that has no faults; behind, a world that would like normality. Then the door closes and everything changes: the cabin becomes a kind of shiny bunker, a place where everything seems designed to make people believe that reality is an opinion. The RS 5, here, is not yet the “639 horsepower car”. It’s an idea. It’s that kind of object that looks at you and tells you: you can be civilized and, at the same time, dangerously serious. We start off slowly, almost on tiptoe, as if the car wanted to pretend to be any other car. Silence, smoothness, the feeling of being able to cross a country without disturbing even a dog. And instead, under that velvet, there is a hand already tightened on the collar. Then comes the first real curve, the one that doesn’t forgive clichés. You lift your foot, the front end takes load, the world tilts. It is the moment in which many heavy grand tourers show their identity card: inertia, pushing nose, need to “wait”. Not here. Here the car enters with an almost insolent precision, as if it had already memorized the arc of the trajectory before the steering wheel had even finished turning. It seems like a detail, but it’s a message: this is not a hybrid that has become sporty. She’s a sportswoman who has learned a new trick. We move forward and, curve after curve, a strange sensation grows: not that of fear, but that of trust. The RS 5 does something very rare for a car of this category: it makes the limit “soft”. It doesn’t bump into you, it doesn’t surprise you. He lets you see it coming, accompanies you, lets you choose. And when you finally decide to sink, when the pedal goes down and the horizon narrows, there isn’t that half second of negotiation typical of big engines and important masses. Here there is a sudden shock, a hesitation that doesn’t exist: the electric torque enters like a gripping glove, the steering becomes a tightrope, and the car exits the curve like a missile. It is at that moment that we understand the true nature of the RS 5: it’s not the car that wants to impress the beholder. It is the car that wants to make the driver strong. With kindness. With precision. With that clean malice that doesn’t make a noise to be noticed, but to remind you that, yes, you can be a “hybrid”… and have the knife between your teeth.

1How it goes: Speed ​​made easy

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The first sensation is disarming: the RS 5 is “easy”. Not in the tame sense, but in the way it makes approaching the edge feel natural. You pick up the pace with a clean progression, without having to be brutal. The torque arrives very quickly, especially in the first part of the pedal: the electric contribution fills, anticipates, puts in order. One comes out very prompt throttle response, which removes that dead moment between idea and action. And it is precisely this readiness that changes the perception of weight. The mass is there, because it is a maxi plug-in and it would be naive to pretend otherwise. Except it doesn’t dominate the scene. It is “disguised” by two elements that work in pairs: direct steering and instant thrust. In real driving it means clean entry into support, grip on the rope with little understeer and exit from the corner that snaps away with an almost physical hunger. The sensation is that of a car that allows you to go fast “gently”, and it is a precise signature: not the sports car that sets traps for you, but the one that accompanies you as you approach the border.

2How it goes: what happens between your hands, pedal and asphalt

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The RS 5 convinces above all in the transition phases, which are the most difficult to make credible on a powerful and heavy car. When you go from gas to nothing, from nothing to brake, from brake to gas, the car doesn’t break down: it always seems half a step ahead, as if it had a control “comet tail” that anticipates load shifts. That’s where that feeling of predictability comes from after just a few corners. When engaging, especially when braking and then letting the car slide towards the apex, the RS 5 does not rest on the nose with that lazy inertia typical of certain grand tourers: it turns willingly and does so without asking for compromises. Here imagination helps to explain physics: it’s as if the car had one hand on the front shoulder and one on the rear pelvis and moved them together, in a coordinated way. There is no “first one, then the other” that often creates delay and understeer. When traveling, the sensation is of a composed car: body roll is kept short, the line remains clean and the steering wheel remains a clear channel of communication. Then comes the output, where a powerful plug-in can become nervous: here however the thrust is full but manageable. The great thing is that the RS 5 also allows you to play, because it is not a “silent” machine. If you force it, if you try to make her move more, she does it, but she does it without turning into a roulette wheel. It’s like having a door that opens gradually: the more you push it, the more it opens, but without sudden jerks. And finally there is the most honest truth: the ones paying the bill are the tyres. Because when a mass is made so “easy”, someone still has to absorb work, temperature, lateral. The difference is that here the driver does not feel the weight as an enemy: he feels it as a managed variable. And for a modern grand tourer, it is the greatest victory.

3How it goes: the weight doesn’t disappear, but it stops being scary

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When braking the system communicates substance and margin. The car slows down strongly and with stability and this changes everything: when the braking is credible, the cornering also becomes cleaner. During load transfers the car remains composed and when restarting there isn’t that half second of hesitation that you often feel on a heavy car. We go from “I’m waiting for it to settle down” to “I’m just doing it”. And here we return to the most important concept: sophistication. Not because technology is nice to talk about, but because it really changes behavior. The RS 5 seems built to give confidence to the driver: it allows you to go fast, to oversteer but without forcing you to be a hero. And even when you move towards a more playful attitude, it remains predictable, readable, controllable.

4Technical innovations: RS plug-in with performance logic

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The system combines a 510 HP 2.9 biturbo V6 and a 130 kW electric motor, for a total of 639 HP and 825 Nm. The electric is not a “bonus”: it is what makes the response immediate and the thrust full from the first millimeters of pedalling. The battery has a gross capacity of 25.9 kWh (22 net), AC charging reaches 11 kW and a full tank is declared to take approximately 2.5 hours. The declared electric range is up to 84 km (up to 87 km in the city), but the most “RS” detail is the management of the state of charge in sports modes: energy is not only saved, it is preserved to always guarantee support and dynamic functions.

5Technical innovations: central differential with preload

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The center differential is “preloaded”, so it always remains at least partially blocked. In behavior it means more coupled axes even when torque is not being applied: useful in the phases of insertion with the throttle closed, during load transfers and in rapid transitions. The declared effect is one more precise response and less tendency to internal understeer, with a feeling of the car being more ready and more “attached” to the trajectory. The longitudinal distribution can vary in a wide window: between 70/30 and 15/85.

6Technical innovations: Dynamic Torque Control at the rear

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The Quattro system with Dynamic Torque Control integrates electromechanical torque vectoring in the rear axle: the control unit recalculates the optimum every 5 milliseconds and the system can generate torque differences of up to 2,000 Nm in 15 millisecondsalso working in release and braking. It is one of the reasons why the car enters cleaner, remains stable and then rotates better on exit, with that sensation of “predictive” precision that is perceived from behind the wheel. The chassis completes the picture with a 10% stiffened body, RS suspension with double valve shock absorbers and RS steering with a 13:1 ratio. Braking is brake-by-wire with integrated regeneration; the steel discs are 420/400 mm; the carbon ceramics reach 440/410 mm and are around 30 kg lighter, with a declared stop from 100 km/h in 30.6 metres. Not bad, for cars weighing over 2,300 kg.

7Pros and cons

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What we liked and what we weren’t convinced by Audi RS5 and RS 5 Avant.

• Immediate and full throttle response
• Top level traction and fit
• Ease and predictability even at high pace

• The heavy weight keeps the tires under stress
• Boot size (360 litres)
• Maximum enjoyment requires space and context

8In a nutshell

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The RS 5 is a grand tourer that dresses like a bad girl and behaves like a professional: it’s for those who want it real performance but also a usable machinefor those looking for a car that can switch to electric when needed and then transform torque, steering and traction into confidence when you decide to pick up the pace.

9Technical data sheet

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The main technical data of Audi RS 5 and RS 5 Avant.