FirstDrive: Audi RS4: The new Audi RS4 can outrun a BMW M3 and a Maserati Quattroporte. Michael McAleer, Motoring Editor, went to Italy to put it to the test
A sunny day on the outskirts of Rome, with the whining sound of a BAR Formula One car looping around the Vallelunga race track, piercing the silence of the Italian countryside. In front of us stand a row of Audi A4s, some Avant estates, some convertibles.
But these are A4s with so much more. To be precise, they're RS4s, complete with 420bhp stomping the tarmac through all four wheels and capable of reaching 100km/h from a standing start in 4.9 seconds.
Figures often flatter to deceive in the motoring world, so it's useful to put that performance in perspective. Take the Avant, for instance. Here you have a good-looking family estate with between 442 litres and 1,354 litres of luggage space in the back. That's pretty much industry standard for an estate in this class and plenty of room for a child's buggy, shopping and golf clubs.
Yet such cars are normally powered by the likes of a 1.9-litre TDI diesel or its equivalent. Here the RS4 carries a 4.2-litre V8 that puts out four times as much horsepower as Audi's regular 1.9-litre TDI unit. The 0-100km/h time means it can outrun not only its arch-rival - BMW's M3 - but also a Maserati Quattroporte and the new Porsche 911 Carrera 4. In fact its official time is only 0.1 seconds slower than the V12 6-litre Aston Martin Vanquish.
Again, you don't really get a sense of the awesome power on offer until you actually nestle into the Recaro seats, turn the key, press the start button and proceed to point and pedal. There's a deep hairy roar from the front and then a seemingly endless flow of power. Mated to a six-speed automatic gearbox with paddle shift, it just never seems to run out of puff, the engine capable of running up to 8,250rpm.
Our first run in the RS4 took us out of Rome and up the autostrada, where average speeds would send the average Traffic Corps garda into apoplexy. Yet even amongst the amateur F1 drivers of the Italian highway the RS4 sparkled.
On the open roads surrounding the track the RS4 just lights up. At one stage, crawling behind a bus that was overtaking a lethargic truck, an eager young Italian in a Hyundai Coupé cruised up to our rear bumper. In his "sports car", elbow strategically hanging out the side window for effect, he flashed his headlights to let us know he was impatiently waiting for us to follow the bus into the inside lane once we'd both passed the truck.
With the bus gone and the road clear, we ever-so-slightly tickled the throttle of the RS4 and to the raspy sound of 4.2-litres in full song, hurtled towards the horizon.
Within seconds the blue Hyundai was but a speck of dust in the rearview mirror. The only downside to sitting in the driving seat with so much power on tap is that you don't get a chance to watch the changing facial expressions of Hyundai Coupé drivers; that second of confusion before the biting realisation that he was being whipped by an Audi A4 estate.
Our day proceeded along these lines, bruising Italian motoring egos until we reached the test track. There we put the car on a slalom course aimed to prove that the sanctity of marrying all the power to a four-wheel-drive system really made sense.
The RS range has been around since 1994, but never with such a large engine hanging out the front. Power and weight is one thing, but if you hang all the engine weight over the front axle, there are doubts about whether it will go around corners or prefer to make a beeline for the ditch.
Of course the Audi engineers were never going to let that happen. With the Quattro system in full flow, the grip and traction is incredible. Unlike tail-happy rear wheel drive rivals in the sports car world, the RS4 tucked into the slalom twists as if it was on rails.
For all the power and performance, perhaps the greatest attribute of the RS4 - as with the BMW M3 and its goliath sibling the M5 - is that these cars do all their talking on the track.
They don't need to be the head-turning ego machines that cruise the streets of Dublin on a Saturday. Their owners don't want or need to wave their wealth in the face of others. They can simply potter around town, only attracting attention from the few in the know and then, when needed, light up the road and put a six-mile-wide smile on their owners' face.
As is always the case in Ireland, there's a bitter pill to be swallowed with such performance cars, regardless of how softly spoken their motoring appearance. While prices in Britain for the RS4 Avant start at £51,825 (€75,620), thanks to VRT payments over here buyers will face a bill for €106,600. That's before they opt for the leather Recaro seats or a plethora of other options. A cabriolet version sets you back even more: €116,400 while the saloon is priced at €104,100.
For now the RS4 has the edge over its primary rival, the 3.2-litre BMW M3. However, the Bavarians are set to close the gap in the next year or so with the launch of the new M3, set to join the Audi in breaking the 400bhp barrier. For now Audi has the edge, but those with €120,000 to spend and an ego that doesn't need to be publicly massaged can look forward to two delicious drives to choose from.
FACTFILE Audi RS4
ENGINE: 4,163cc V8 DOHC with direct injection FSI
POWER OUTPUT: 420bhp @ 7,800rpm and 430Nm of torque @ 5,500rpm
PERFORMANCE: Top speed - Limited to 250km/h (155mph) 0-100km/h - 4.9 sec
FUEL CONSUMPTION: (L/100km) Urban - 20.3/ Extra urban - 9.3/ Combined - 13.4
HISTORY: RS4 derivatives were first introduced in 2000 as a replacement for the legendary RS2. Power came from a modified version of the S4's 2.7-litre 260bhp turbocharged V6 engine. Unlike other marques, the RS4 range was only available in Avant estate format.
It is only with this generation that a saloon version became available.
PRICES: Saloon - €104,100; Avant - €106,600; Cabriolet - €116,400