An iron fist in a leather glove
Audi's entry-level sedan, the A4, has two available engines and front or all-wheel drive. A 2.0-litre turbo engine or a 3.2-litre V6 motivate with between 200 and 255 horsepower--and both are more than adequate performers. With the 3.2-litre engine underhood, I can't imagine how a car of its size could possibly need any more power.
Perplexing then is the S4. In effect, it's the same smallish car powered by a 4.2-litre V8 engine with 340 horsepower. It's a sedan with a jet engine--but it only leaves us three quarters of the way through the A4's lineage.
The RS 4 takes the stunning S4 package and sends it to the gym. The styling, inside and out, is upgraded. The suspension is tighter, the brakes are bigger, and the attitude is far more forceful. The body sits lower, the fenders bulge out to accommodate huge wheels, and the front fascia scares small children. It looks bigger than it is--like that skinny kid at the gym who never exhales and puffs out his chest.
It looks angry too--and it is, because apparently one of Audi's rivals claims to build the Ultimate Driving Machine. You can see the resentment in every inch of the RS 4.
Audi locked their engineering team up with the 4.2-litre powerplant and a few weeks worth of coffee and Xenadrine until they managed to tune the original engine to a lung-squishing 420 horsepower. The velvety engine revs eagerly to over 8,000 rpm, and there's even a button you can press to sharpen the throttle response and increase the exhaust volume.
It's a shock-and-awe display of German firepower that can fit neatly into your garage.
Driving around the city, 1,500 rpm gearshifts are adequate to keep your speed below demerit-point range while still creating enough V8 sound effects to turn heads every time you set out from a light.
But, one doesn't drive an RS 4 to shift gears at 1,500 revs.
Find yourself a track or a long, empty stretch of road and you can explore the RS 4's mean side. Plant the throttle, and even your most well-mannered occupants will start spouting expletives until you lift off. That's not easy to do either, as the V8 generates such fantastic sound effects that you'll want to listen to it all day long. The power is absolutely violent excessive, but never intimidating.
Careful though. Too much fun may find you on the wrong side of a radar gun, your license rendered confetti faster than you can say "sorry officer." Giant cross-drilled brakes at all four corners hastily brush off bursts of speed should you get carried away.
Audi's entry-level sedan, the A4, has two available engines and front or all-wheel drive. A 2.0-litre turbo engine or a 3.2-litre V6 motivate with between 200 and 255 horsepower--and both are more than adequate performers. With the 3.2-litre engine underhood, I can't imagine how a car of its size could possibly need any more power.
 |
| (Photo: Justin Pritchard) |
The RS 4 takes the stunning S4 package and sends it to the gym. The styling, inside and out, is upgraded. The suspension is tighter, the brakes are bigger, and the attitude is far more forceful. The body sits lower, the fenders bulge out to accommodate huge wheels, and the front fascia scares small children. It looks bigger than it is--like that skinny kid at the gym who never exhales and puffs out his chest.
It looks angry too--and it is, because apparently one of Audi's rivals claims to build the Ultimate Driving Machine. You can see the resentment in every inch of the RS 4.
 |
| (Photo: Justin Pritchard) |
It's a shock-and-awe display of German firepower that can fit neatly into your garage.
Driving around the city, 1,500 rpm gearshifts are adequate to keep your speed below demerit-point range while still creating enough V8 sound effects to turn heads every time you set out from a light.
But, one doesn't drive an RS 4 to shift gears at 1,500 revs.
 |
| (Photo: Justin Pritchard) |
Careful though. Too much fun may find you on the wrong side of a radar gun, your license rendered confetti faster than you can say "sorry officer." Giant cross-drilled brakes at all four corners hastily brush off bursts of speed should you get carried away.