[Auto] The wild new Audi RS6 GT is a £177k tribute to the 90 IMSA GTO

[El Máster Edwin]

Limited-run Avant enjoys trick suspension and choice of wraps, but no more power. The ultimate super-wagon?

 

If you don’t like the garish livery wrap on the new Audi RS6 Avant GT, then we’ve got bad news: you have to have it. There’s a choice – white with orange and black, grey with black or black with grey – but if you’re stumping up £176,975 for one of the 660 GTs Audi will build, then it’s got to have the wrap.

What it also has is manually adjustable suspension from the excellent RS4 Competition, a 10mm ride height drop, new 22in six-spoke ‘Avus’ alloys, standard ceramic brakes, a centre and rear differential combo that’s been recoded to misbehave more of the time, and a roof spoiler inspired by 2020’s RS6 GTO concept.

And because Audi doesn’t want you putting any bicycles, boxes or tents on the roof that might upset the airflow, this is the first RS6 that doesn’t have any roof rails up top.

You have to be an RS6 geek to spot that. Those people will already have noticed the RS3-style vents in the front wheelarches, and the carbon fibre bonnet. This is a very mean-looking RS6. But weirdly, it isn’t any faster than the standard car.

 

Under the bonnet, the twin-turbo 4.0-litre V8 delivers exactly the same 621bhp and 590lb ft of torque you get in the regular £130,000 RS6 Performance.

Now, we’re not sure anyone really needs a five-seat family hauler that can lug 500 litres of boot from 0-62mph faster than 3.3 seconds and top out at 190mph, but maybe Audi might’ve bumped the power up a bit for this special edition? Called Abt? Given MTM a tinkle? Got Litchfield on the blower? They’ll pull 750bhp out of an RS6 before breakfast.

Especially when you remember that the racer which inspired the GT’s livery – the cartoonish 90 IMSA GTO from the early 1990s – churned out 710bhp from just 2.2 litres and five cylinders. And the sort of turbo you’d use to restart a dead power station.

Ah well. The RS6 Performance is a mighty fine base car and the GT’s revised diffs and suspension should make it more precise in the corners. That might be why Audi has finally bolted in a supportive-looking pair of bucket seats in the cabin, though besides some ‘GT’ floormats and the number of your car written on the centre console, it’s nowhere near as extrovert as the outside. Hmm. Worth £177k?

Audi’s insiders blushed and stammered when we asked them if the RS7 will get the ‘GT’ treatment before too long. Expect the special edition dressing-up box to be raided at least a couple of times before the current A6 family makes way for a new all-electric replacement later this year, previewed by a handsome concept car in 2022.

2024 is shaping up to be a strong year for Very Fast Wagons. There’ll be a revised Porsche Taycan Sport Turismo along soon, Audi’s waving off the RS6 like this, and there’s the small matter of a 700bhp+ BMW M5 Touring before the year is out.

 

 

Link