Unfamiliar with the RS4 name? Would you wander past one of these German wagons without taking even a sideward glance? Well, you're one of the many people that Bob (surname withheld) has set out to fool. "I wanted a car that was quick but didn't look it - something you could park anywhere without have to worry too much."
Lets get the introductions out of the way first.
Bob is the Managing Director of a sizable company and, as such, he's been able to afford some truly exquisite automotive machinery. Of the 150-odd cars he's owned, there have been BMWs, Porsches, Audis and some thirteen Ferraris - everything from old 246s to 512 boxer twelves. With an obvious taste for Euro performance you can imagine Bob's enthusiasm when, in mid-2000, Audi Australia began importing the awesome RS4 Avant (at $165,000 a pop).
To this day, the RS4 stands as the fastest production station wagon on Earth. Audi went truly bananas taking a 280kW version of the bi-turbo, quad-cam, 30-valve, 2.7-litre V6 engine found in the S4, a 6-speed manual 'box and Quattro all-wheel-drive and concealing it in the normally humble A4 Avant platform. The RS4 is something of a 'wide-body' A4, though, as the front and rear guards are flared 34mm at the front and 32mm at the rear in order to fit some serious rubber. Standard kit also includes a large front air dam with a revised grille, deep sills beneath the doors, roof spoiler, brushed aluminium exterior mirrors and roof racks, 'bee sting' aerial, lowered suspension and a set of 18 x 8.5-inch alloys wearing grippy 245/30 Pirelli P-Zeros - 30 profile rubber on a production
wagon!?
Bob says the standard RS4 was a lovely car to drive - which hardly comes as a surprise. "It went just as well as a late-model Porsche 911, but I was actually disappointed by the braking performance at high speed - from over 120 mph (around 200 km/h) I mean". Oh, and in case you were wondering, the standard RS4 is governed to a top speed of around 250 km/h.
Being fairly well up to speed on Audi performance upgrades, Bob got stuck into his RS4 by ordering a set of Porsche GT3 front brakes - 360mm ventilated and drilled discs with large capacity 4-pot calipers. These were bolted on with a minimum of fuss and - teaming with the 312mm rear discs - the car's 1620kg mass now stops with eyeball popping power.
Next came an upgrade to the suspension. As you might imagine, the RS4 rides considerably firmer than the everyday 121kW A4 Avant, but Bob says there was further room left to swing the ride/handling compromise in the direction of fun. Each corner is now poised on adjustable H&R suspension, which allows the body to slip through the air 40mm closer to the bitumen.
Next, Bob wanted to add some more brutality to the bi-turbo's smooth and deceptive power delivery (you tend to get blasé having 440Nm of torque all the way between 2500 and 6000 rpm). German tuning company, Wetterauer, provided a subtle but effective power-up kit comprising an exhaust, air filter, chip and blow-off valves.
The exhaust system is considerably larger in diameter than the standard system, but - thanks to several large mufflers - the throaty note is kept to a noise level befitting a $165,000 car. God knows, the last thing you want are lair-arse resonances and booms when Audi spent so much time making the cabin a comfortable, quiet place to be. The air filter is you're everyday K&N drop-in panel unit, while a pair of metal blow-off valves replace the factory plastic items - which, we can only assume, start to leak when you dial up a bit more boost pressure. Of course, boost pressure has been upped beyond the factory preset level. The Wetterauer programmed chip spins the turbos hard enough to deliver an extra 0.2 Bar (about 3 psi) of boost via the standard twin air-to-air intercoolers. It's not a huge boost increase, but it's extremely effective in providing more thrust throughout the rev range without sacrificing longevity. Power is now a claimed 331kW at the flywheel - up an entirely believable 18 percent over standard.
On the outside Bob's seen no reason to stray from standard. As mentioned, the Brilliant Black body now sits 40mm lower than the stock RS4 and the bright red Porsche calipers scream for attention from behind those 18s. Bob says if he were to change anything cosmetic it'd probably be the wheels - but the standard multi-spokers aren't exactly offensive. Even in standard form, exclusivity is assured given there were only 50 RS4s imported to Australia before they were discontinued in August 2001.
Indoors, it's another case of not much needing to be done beyond factory specs. The RS4 offers leather Recaro seats, carbon fibre trimming, a suede steering wheel, leather gear knob, full instrumentation and a magnificent 170W Bose CD-stacker sound system. Features like twin climate control and power windows go without saying. Bob tells us he's grown to love the flexibility of the wagon, because - being an antique and book collector - he can pick up a bulky load without problem. And, of course, those 331 kilowatts propel him home with plenty of time to read those books before dark...
Bob was gracious enough to give AutoSpeed a stint behind his rare machine and, to be honest, we wish he hadn't - stepping back into our Subaru WRX made us realise how much we'd been slumming it! The RS4's quality on-road feel and security is hard to quantify in words, but going fast in this vehicle is almost boring. The modified bi-turbo six is superbly flexible and torquey while being driven off boost and - stick your boot into it - the speedo needle ramps up very quickly. Boy, oh boy, this is a car you could lose your licence in! From about 2800 rpm up Wetterauer claim there's a monstrous 600Nm of torque and, with the right launch, it can scramble to 100 km/h in just 4.2-seconds - and our well calibrated buttock G-sensor confirms these aren't fairyland figures. Where conditions have permitted, Bob has pushed the car through its howling top-end to an indicated 280 km/h. Not bad, huh? And, with a bit more straight black top in front of him, there would have been no problems attaining Wetterauer's claimed 298 top speed - roof racks and all...
A 298 km/h wagon? We bet you'll never wander past another late-model Audi wagon without looking for RS4 badges - sorry about blowing your cover Bob!
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