First Drive: 2018 Audi RS 5
As pleasantly aggressive as it is at the eyes, the meaner stance and flared bodywork of the 2018 Audi RS 5 don’t inform the complete tale behind this transformed coupe. The maximum giant transformation lurks beneath its creased and widened skin, particularly the swapping of its extensive, certainly aspirated V-eight for a smaller, torque-per twin-rapid V-6. Welcome to the inevitable destiny of Audi Sport, in all its predictably downsized and turbocharged glory.
The faster trend is a bit of a new car cliché, bringing left-brain justifications and predictable chatter from fans about the loss of certain intangibles. The RS 5 enjoys the everyday benefits — for starters, the smaller engine weighs sixty-eight pounds less, alleviating some of the nose-heavy weight distribution and moving the auto’s stability rearward via a 1/2 percent factor to fifty-seven/forty-three. The discernment is still not ideal. However, it’s a step in the proper route.
The RS five’s 2.9-liter V-6 — also determined within the Porsche Panamera — produces the same 450 horsepower as its predecessor; however, it profits a substantial hundred twenty-five lb-feet of torque for a complete 442 lb-feet. That figure plateaus from 1,900 rpm to 5,000 rpm and bests the R8’s base V-10 through a splendid forty-four lb-feet. Audi’s standard DSG transmission has been swapped for a ZF-sourced 8-pace with a traditional torque converter because a dual-snatch unit couldn’t manage the motor’s prodigious twist, keeping with Audi Sports development boss Stephan Reil. Fuel performance improves 17 percent over the outgoing V-8, with the U.S. Equal of the New European Cycle equating to someplace within the 19/27 mpg town/toll road neighborhood.
Power is shipped via a Torsen differential, which employs a 40/60 front-to-rear split and might route as much as 85 percent to the rear or 65 percent to the front. A mechanical torque vectoring device uses two clutches at the rear axle to overdrive the outside wheel, with additional brake vectoring at all four wheels.
Though it grows in length using 2. Nine inches, the RS 5 loses 132 pounds thanks to aluminum components like a tool panel substructure shaped from extruded move individuals, diminishing weight to 3,648 pounds. Front strut domes now use forged aluminum production instead of welded sheet metal, aiding structural stiffness and guidance response. An optionally available carbon-fiber roof shaves an extra 6.6 pounds; however, it is unavailable on U.S.-bound automobiles.
The cabin additionally feels incrementally roomier, thanks to a zero.6-inch growth in wheelbase provides almost an inch of rear legroom, supporting the back seats since they are nearly liveable for average-sized adults. Luggage area increases by using zero. Four cubic feet, offering a high-quality-in-elegance general of 16. Four cubic feet.
Cockpit Action
Climb into the RS 5, and a few competitive pieces of information quietly clamor for interest, especially the flat-bottomed guidance wheel, paddle shifters, and to-be-had comparison-stitched leather or Alcantara trim on critical controls just like the shifter and wheel. Unlike in advance Audi models, the 8. Sadly, the three-inch navigation display screen is fixed in the area. At least the MMI wheel, touchpad, and tricky buttons play well collectively. Also available is Audi’s slick Virtual Cockpit, which transforms the distance previously referred to as the analog dashboard into a customizable, 12.3-inch TFT display screen. Unique to the RS software are displays that make the tachometer trade yellow or crimson while approaching the line, engine output gauges, tire stress and temperature, and g-forces.
Our test power took us from the flatlands of Toulouse, France, to the sci-fi-ish principality of Andorra, a tiny nook nestled within the switchback-encumbered peaks among France and Spain. Unlike the outgoing RS 5, which howled its manner to an eight,500 rpm redline, the new version’s punchier personality is exceptionally tapped at low- and mid-variety rpm, wherein the center of its sonic soul additionally happens to be living. A low-frequency hum fills the cabin at mellower engine speeds (and in the short space between shifts). It’s diffused and almost soothing but now not actual, thanks to a tiny shaker on a metal flap that permits a number of the engine sounds to resonate off the windshield.
Regardless of its authenticity (or lack thereof), the deep frequency sounds are discreet enough to add plenty-wished character to the V-6’s repertoire, assisting an otherwise highly quiet powerplant by lending it an air of persona. It’s no unfastened-respiration, excessive-screaming V-8 — indeed, it gives a wholly more tender-spoken fine — but at the least, the V-6 produces subtle audio and, in sportier modes, a huskier track and a fulfilling off-throttle crackle uncorked via an exhaust valve.
While the V-6 isn’t as long-winded as the high-revving V-8, it does % have an intense punch. Drop the hammer at low RPMs, watch the thin-line digital boost gauge increase, and feel the whoosh of electricity because the engine winds up, urging you firmly into your stitched leather-based seat. Shifts all through mellow driving can be a tad jerky (even in milder using modes); however, they turn out to be mockingly more comfortable when the going receives faster. There’s a certain understated first-class to driving the RS five quickly, partly due to its relatively subdued engine sounds. Squeeze the throttle, and the automobile’s raison d’être instantly alters; when driven, the RS five can launch to 60 mph in 3.7 seconds, removing any suspicions of its moderate-mannered pretenses. Keep the shifter in its standard mode, and ensure sufficient torque is accessible to deliver robust acceleration. Tap it down for S mode, and energy turns greater with ease available. Use the Drive mode pick-out toggle for a more excellent aggressive setting, and the revs stay high with quicker upshifts and less complicated downshifts.
The RS 5 felt accurately agile at the frantic switchbacks of the jagged Andorran countryside, thanks partly to a new hydraulically linked shock device inherited from the S8 version that’s part of the Dynamic bundle (together with sport exhaust and purple brake calipers). The machine uses valve-adjustable shocks interconnected with hydraulic traces for greater body control, and the gadget can pay off by feeling poised and responsive. Though the steering is typically inoffensive, the dynamic steerage alternative does deliver some synthetic feeling remarks at some stage in certain mid-nook maneuvers. Our tester is prepared with the Dynamic Plus package deal, which provides ceramic front brakes with massive 15.7-inch rotors, a tire temperature and stress show, a carbon engine cover, and a top pace limiter that lifts from one hundred fifty-five mph to 174 mph. The brakes, more significant than the R8’s, deliver convenient stops at breathtaking speeds.
In the case of the 2018 Audi RS 5, does development equate to pleasure? We can’t assist, however, in admiring the concept of a lighter, nimbler, and considerably quicker vehicle that propels its gadget and instrumentation firmly into the twenty-first century. Does it sacrifice the (semi) analog joy of an aspirated V-8 in this manner? Most truly, sure. But the tradeoffs, at least when accomplished with an eager eye towards electricity and managing as they have been with the RS five, cross a protracted manner closer to giving drivers something to stay up for within the brave new turbocharged world.
