Audi RS4 Avant Review: Not an ordinary stationwagon! - Full Review

Audi RS4 Avant Review: Not an ordinary stationwagon!

Overview

Can combining a high performance car, with every day practicality really work? For close on 20 years now Audi have been making cars that cover both categories, the latest iteration of that, the RS4 Avant sets out to prove that Audi South Africa have what it takes.

See more used Audi here.

Performance

The Audi RS4 Avant comes with quite a lot of history. Nearly two decades ago Audi and Porsche entered a joint venture to produce the RS2 Avant, which was the first of the Avants. Subsequently we’ve had a few Avants in the process, and the pinnacle at the moment, would be the 4.2-litre V8 RS4 Avant.

With such a long lineage of excellent cars, the RS4 has a lot to live up to. Audi has tweaked the engine to deliver 331kW, which will get to from 0-100km/h in 4.7 seconds.

Economy

Fuel economy in the RS4 Avant is at premium, the 4.2-litre engine is a very thirsty engine, and you’re not likely to want to take it easy with this car. On a quiet day you can expect around the 14 litres per 100km mark, but if you feel like having some fun, 20 litres per 100km is more likely to appear on the dial in front of you.

Tech

Audi have delivered all manner of technology in the RS4. The rear boot opens and closes using an electronic button, making rear access easy. In the front you’ll find a dash mounted LCD screen standard, using Audi’s MMI interface. You get access to a multi disk CD player, Blue Tooth, USB, Aux, Sat Nav, and to crown it all off, there are SD card slots too.

Audi have also given the car the ability to take a SIM card, and use the data connection to connect you to Google Maps. It’s also got WiFi built in allowing you to connect upto 5 devices to the built in WiFi hot spot and share the Internet connection provided by the SIM card.

Comfort

The RS4 Avant has various drive settings, ranging from Economy to Dynamic. This allows you to set things like drive stiffness, throttle control and even make the steering more weighty.

In comfort mode, the drive is smooth and quiet, even the V8 is quieted down somewhat.

In Dynamic mode the ride firms up, the engine gets louder and the steering heavier.

The bucket seats are comfortable yet firm, and hold you in place nicely.

Practicality

Being a station wagon the car lends itself to practicality. Boot space is huge at 490 litres, and if you fold the rear seats down you can get up to 1430 litres of packing space.

In the rear you’ll find enough headspace and legroom for 2 adults to ft comfortably. For children there is enough space for 2 children in car seats.

The front is spacious too, with cup holders an storage compartments, making the RS 4 a very practical car to own and drive as an every day family car.

Conclusion

Audi have set out to build a practical performance car, and have done an excellent job. The RS4 Avant performs exceptionally, yet it’s practical to use as an everyday car.

It’s a good looking car too, and this practicality and performance can be had for R875,000, which really isn’t bad considering the package.