Power-crazy Audi RS6

Audi’s new RS6, as shown at last year’s Johannesburg Motor Show, is now officially on sale in South Africa.
The four-wheel-drive V10 sizzler has a prize tag of R 1 069 000, and with whopping performance Audi claims that this super sedan is in a league of its own.

Featuring the latest styling changes to the A6 range, the RS6 gets some sporty touches too to set it apart.

At the front is Audi’s trademark gaping grille, but the chrome surround now has a satin silver finish. A deeper bumper and R8-style LED headlamps ad to the car’s racy appeal. Of course there are bulging wheelarches too, while at the back there’s a diffuser below the bumper and twin oval exhausts.

On the inside there are sporty touches with high-quality materials such as carbon, aluminium, leather and Alcantara. The driver also gets a thick-rimmed, flat-bottomed steering wheel.

Added to the driver information system is a boost pressure display, in addition to an oil thermometer and a lap timer which measures lap times. Although the car comes with all the bells and whistles you can imagine, an array of optional extras are available too.

The V10 is based on the engine from the S6 and S8, but was redesigned practically from the ground up. With direct injection and twin turbochargers it has an output of 426 kW and 650 Nm of torque.

It goes from standstill to 100 km/h in 4.5 seconds and takes 14.5 seconds to reach 200 km/h. The electronic limiter ends the acceleration once a speed of 250 km/h has been reached.

The six-speed tiptronic belongs to the new sporty generation of Audi automatic transmissions. Improved characteristics in the oil ducts make its shifting even faster. According to Audi the transmission ratios have been systematically shortened too.

The tiptronic feeds the enormous power into a quattro drive system, which reacts extremely dynamically and is configured to transmit slightly more power to the rear axle, on a 40:60 basic distribution split.

This is enhanced by Dynamic Ride Control, which features “Comfort”, “Dynamic” and “Sport” settings for the dampers.

The RS6 model comes standard with lightweight 19-inch aluminium wheels, while you can opt for 20-inch wheels, which allow space for a high-performance braking system with ceramic disks.

[source: wheels 24]