Yahoo Autos What it's like to drive Audi's flashy, pumped-up super wagon
The Audi RS 6 Avant and its RS 7 Sportback sibling aren’t exactly cars you buy because you’re thinking with the logical side of your brain. Yet, customers have apparently been longing for a more emotional driving experience, or “emotionality” as the Germans prefer to Scrabble together, so that’s exactly what we’re getting with the new 2024 Audi RS 7 Performance and RS 6 Avant Performance.
Sound deadening has been ripped out to better hear the V8’s mechanical wail and the optional sport exhaust’s nasty snarl and crackles (it cuts 17.6 pounds, too). The eight-speed transmission snaps off quicker shifts thanks to updated software, especially in its “Dynamic” mode. Oh, and there’s 30 more horses, 37 more pound-feet of torque and two-tenths of a second chopped off the 0-60-mph time. The 4.0-liter V8’s twin turbochargers are bigger and operate at a higher boost pressure, resulting in 621 hp, 627 lb-ft of torque and the 3.3-second 0-60 time. Launching the car like that still proves a challenge for the also-new Continental Sport Contact 7 tires, which desperately claw at the pavement. You can feel the subtle twitching at all four corners before full grip is achieved and you disappear into the distance to a chorus of angry exhaust.
Is all of that emotional? Why not? It certainly ain’t boring. Some of the newfound emotionality is also achieved thanks to an enhanced sense of fashion and greater customization. The exterior color palette has been updated with the vibrant Gerenadier Red metallic and Ascari Blue metallic, plus matte versions of Ascari Blue pictured here on the RS 7 and Dew Silver pictured on the RS 6 Avant. A new matte gray exterior trim is applied as standard to the mirrors, front spoiler, side sill inserts, roof rails (Avant), rear diffuser and window trim. All of that was a brighter alloy finish before. You can still get the Black optic package, however, which makes it all gloss black along with the badges. That’s an extremely popular option throughout Audi’s lineup, even if it makes it look like someone stole the chrome rings off the front of your car.
The interior sees an additional customization option for the all-digital instruments: a white background can be swapped in place of the standard black, harkening back to the original RS car, the 1997 S6 plus. We don’t actually know what they look like since the cars on hand didn’t have them (long story, it has to do with model years and Europe), though by the sound of it, there still won’t be a traditional round-dial arrangement. It’s just a choice of digital speedos wrapped in bar graphs, including strange twin tachometers on either side of the speedo that illuminate downward as revs rise. You can also just make the whole 12.3-inch screen a map, display entertainment info or watch a G meter before you crash into a hedge because you were watching a G meter.
A new “RS Design Package in Blue” joins the existing “in Gray” and “in Red” versions already available. Its seatbelts are entirely Ocean Blue, while equally blue stitching is integrated into the nifty carbon twill dash trim (you can actually feel the weave when you run your fingers over it). The Gray and Red versions don’t get that, but are nevertheless upgraded for 2024 with seatbelts accented in the color in question (their middles are still black). All get their respective hues applied to the sides of the center console, floor mat piping and Alcantara steering wheel stitching. Frankly, all of this makes the otherwise very-black interior seem more vibrant.
