Audi ups performance of RS twins

AUDI has announced its brutal RS6 Avant and RS7 Sportback 'performance' variants will touch down in Australia in the second quarter of next year, offering up extra power and straight-line performance compared with the models they are based on.

Pricing for the hi-po pair is yet to be confirmed, but when it arrives next year it will likely carry a premium over the $229,110 RS6 Avant and $241,610 RS7. Rather than being limited edition variants, Audi Australia has confirmed that they will be full production models.

Audi has upped the power on the 4.0-litre twin-turbo TFSI V8 petrol engine powering the feisty twins by 33kW/50Nm from 412kW/700Nm to a potent 445kW and up to 750Nm thanks to a temporary overboost function.

The German car-maker says this brings both models' 0-100km/h sprint time to 3.7 seconds, representing a 0.2s improvement over the versions they are based on.

It takes just 12.1s to race from 0-200km/h which is an improvement of 1.4s over the base RS models. Despite the power increase and performance boost, Audi says fuel consumption stays as is, which is 9.6 litres per 100 kilometres for the RS6 Avant and 9.5L/100km for the RS7.

Audi engineers worked hard to keep fuel use in check by tweaking things such as the engine management system, and introducing cylinder on demand technology that cuts four of the cylinders when they are not required.

As with the regular versions, the performance models use the eight-speed tiptronic dual-clutch automatic transmission that can be switched to manual mode, and they drive all four wheels via Audi's quattro system.

The turbo-powered twins get RS adaptive air suspension as standard that lowers the cars by 20mm and Audi's drive select system, while RS 'sport suspension plus' with Dynamic Ride Control and dynamic steering with a continuously variable steering ratio are options.

A set of unique 21-inch cast aluminium wheels with 285/30 tyres on the RS6 Avant and 275/30 tyres on the RS7 Sportback are standard, while carbon-fibre ceramic discs are optional.

In terms of styling, the performance pair gets matte-titanium-look flourishes, a quattro logo on the air inlet duct and an exclusive Ascari blue metallic paint option to help differentiate it from the regular RS models.

Inside there is new Alcantara/leather upholstery with a honeycomb pattern and contrasting stitching that is also found on the armrests and floor mats, while the knee pads feature Alcantara and carbon twill blue inlays.

Audi launched the facelifted RS6 Avant and RS7 Sportback in Australia in March.