With production now finished, we take one last ride in our favorite station wagon.
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So long, farewell: Saying goodbye to Audi’s best car, the 2026 RS6 Avant
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Also, there is a fair amount of crossover with RS products and Porsche/Lamborghini as they are all in VAG. The RS6/RS7 engine is the same as the one in the Urus and Cayenne, for instance, just in a slightly different tune, so pretty expensive to manufacture.
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The 21-year-old Yukon XL (GMT830) that we keep around for occasional heavy hauling work gets better mileage than that..... with a one ton trailer hooked up.
I love the design, detailing, and fit & finish of these Audi RS cars. They stand out just enough in a crowd, projecting an air of refined elegance and good taste without being ostentatious. They are oh so comfortable. The sheer thrust they offer was impressive in the pre-electric era. But that fuel mileage is absolutely atrocious even after considering the amazing performance.
And then there's the reliability factor. Just about everyone I know who's owned a recent Audi has had the car in the shop remarkably often, and is all too familiar with what "Please put the Audi in the service position" means for your wallet when the warranty runs out. Electric gremlins, cams, fuel pumps, serpentine timing chains on plastic guides on the back of the engine, the weird-ass variable-ratio steering gearbox, having to dismantle half the front end to get to components that need regular maintenance..... many of Audi's cars are, quite simply, over-engineered to the point of absurdity and I doubt this one would be a significant exception.
As cool as it is, and as much as I'd love to drive it, I don't think I'd risk owning it.
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It's a $131k German super-wagen. Look at that engine, those wheels, that stance? It's not really meant for reliable DD status. It's a wagon because there are roughly hundreds of supercars in the world now, but very very few new uber-wagens.
You won't get anything like this from Lexus, either.
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Honestly I liked the look of the car...then had to laugh at those rims and rubber. Reminded my of a Toyota Camry hybrid I saw coming home on Monday--someone tricked it out with a wing and CF bits and what not...which okay fine, you can't argue with smiles, but it was still kind of funny given it was a Camry hybrid with a CVT.
NVM shop time for servicing gremlins, those rims wouldn't last a season before needing replacement. Like you said it isn't a DD whip--OTOH people not wanting a DD whip probably aren't going to buy a high-end Mazda Protege 5 that costs 3x+ more.
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Interesting...Here in spain, thats a stereotype mostly atributed to bmw drivers, with audi being perceived as more laid back..
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As the owner of a 2021 rs6 Avant I can say without question that it's a phenomenal car. Mine is a DD and it has seen lumber runs to home Depot via a roof rack along with lots of dog duty for our pup. Maintenance costs on some items such as breaks are insane, but there is nothing else on the market like it (the bloated M5 doesn't compare).
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How expensive are the tires?
Actually curious. I had a Mazda Protege 5...and that sh!tbox, Mazda for god knows what reason thought it would be nice to make the stock rubber be some Dunlops that were $400/tire rubber....for a Mazda.
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Considering the Hormuz situation, this may well be the end of such ridiculously overpowered internal combustion cars.
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Rumor has it that the new RS6 C9 will be a V8 Hybrid, like the current BMW M5 G90.
So this RS6 C8 here really is the last of its kind. Somehow this makes me a bit sad.
So this RS6 C8 here really is the last of its kind. Somehow this makes me a bit sad.
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A mate of mine ran a string of them over the years. Always black on black on black, I’m fairly sure he’s allergic to colour. Mind you, he didn’t mess about with them either. Track days, rapid runs across Europe, dogs in the back, boot full of wine, the lot. Proper use, not posing. Every time I drove his, it made me grin. The noise, that “woof” on the upshift, it’s got character. Feels alive. Feels like something we might not get again.
Then he went and defected. He picked up a Porsche Taycan Cross Turismo, and not a sensible one either. Full send, properly unhinged version. Now, the Taycan does all the same jobs. Track days, long hauls across France, Germany, Spain, Italy, dogs, luggage, more dogs, daily nonsense. No drama. Just gets on with it.
But the big thing is how it delivers speed. The RS6 is properly fast, no question. But it builds it. Every time I drove it, it made me smile, stupid fast, lovely steering, amazing presence, great fun to drive quickly. Throttle response was amazing. lag was minimal, but stabbing the throttle at low speed still induced a little but of a delay and then the monumental build up would kick in and off you go. Serious speed needed to be planned a tad.
The Taycan though just has it. You think about pressing the pedal and it’s gone, It’s less “this is impressive” and more “this is entirely ridiculous”, and you end up laughing like an idiot. First time I drove it, I had to recalibrate my brain. It’s that instant. I nearly stacked it overtaking a tractor, it went from 22mph to lifetime ban speeds in moments and my brain could not quite comprehend what had happened and I needed to breathe, except we were heading towards a corner at silly speed....
The Avant though, is still one of the best all rounders ever made, no question. Dogs, furniture, speed, all in one go. Hard to fault. Well, it's very, very thirsty and fuel is incredibly expensive here and getting more so by the day. But in my view, it also feels like one of the last of its kind. Big engine, big noise, an absolutely unhinged estate car that does everything and then some.
The end of production feel like a proper “last of the V8s” moment, the absolute last one, ought to come with a little Kowalski-style plaque on the dash. Last of the RS6s. One final, defiant nod before everything goes quiet.
Then he went and defected. He picked up a Porsche Taycan Cross Turismo, and not a sensible one either. Full send, properly unhinged version. Now, the Taycan does all the same jobs. Track days, long hauls across France, Germany, Spain, Italy, dogs, luggage, more dogs, daily nonsense. No drama. Just gets on with it.
But the big thing is how it delivers speed. The RS6 is properly fast, no question. But it builds it. Every time I drove it, it made me smile, stupid fast, lovely steering, amazing presence, great fun to drive quickly. Throttle response was amazing. lag was minimal, but stabbing the throttle at low speed still induced a little but of a delay and then the monumental build up would kick in and off you go. Serious speed needed to be planned a tad.
The Taycan though just has it. You think about pressing the pedal and it’s gone, It’s less “this is impressive” and more “this is entirely ridiculous”, and you end up laughing like an idiot. First time I drove it, I had to recalibrate my brain. It’s that instant. I nearly stacked it overtaking a tractor, it went from 22mph to lifetime ban speeds in moments and my brain could not quite comprehend what had happened and I needed to breathe, except we were heading towards a corner at silly speed....
The Avant though, is still one of the best all rounders ever made, no question. Dogs, furniture, speed, all in one go. Hard to fault. Well, it's very, very thirsty and fuel is incredibly expensive here and getting more so by the day. But in my view, it also feels like one of the last of its kind. Big engine, big noise, an absolutely unhinged estate car that does everything and then some.
The end of production feel like a proper “last of the V8s” moment, the absolute last one, ought to come with a little Kowalski-style plaque on the dash. Last of the RS6s. One final, defiant nod before everything goes quiet.
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I disagree. The RS6 is supposed to be the ultimate daily driver, and however you or I feel or don't feel about that, VAG is notorious for letting its people go absolutely nuts under-engineering and over-complicating things.
Paying more for tires, for oil, for an uncommon air filter, etc is one thing. Having a ridiculous "disassemble the front subframe and move things around" procedure for a front end alignment is absurd. Having to remove an air box that covers almost the entire engine bay to get down to a hidden engine oil canister is absurd. Etc and so on.
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This Caledonian agrees, but only a little more laid back. (It amuses me to say that Audis are just tarted up variants of my Škoda with even worse effects on the future of humanity. )
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$600 a corner for Michelin PS4s when I checked yesterday.How expensive are the tires?
Actually curious. I had a Mazda Protege 5...and that sh!tbox, Mazda for god knows what reason thought it would be nice to make the stock rubber be some Dunlops that were $400/tire rubber....for a Mazda.
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Oh man - I'm looking at that MMI/control console with a sad shake of my head. Physically the same one that I have in my e-Tron, and I weep for the poor souls that need to deal with it.
CARAID are guilty of some entertainment and control console war crimes that often take a while to manifest. Start the car? Maybe it's a black screen. Maybe not. Maybe it will just log you out and tell you your profile hasn't been used in a while. Maybe the climate control system doesn't boot for another minute or more. It's a wheel of malfunction, and you get to spin it each drive.
Tough running for a $160k vehicle if that part mirrors anything close to mine. Even worse, a terminated lineup will -assure- no updates to fix that nonsense while you watch it slowly devolve into electronic drivel.
CARAID are guilty of some entertainment and control console war crimes that often take a while to manifest. Start the car? Maybe it's a black screen. Maybe not. Maybe it will just log you out and tell you your profile hasn't been used in a while. Maybe the climate control system doesn't boot for another minute or more. It's a wheel of malfunction, and you get to spin it each drive.
Tough running for a $160k vehicle if that part mirrors anything close to mine. Even worse, a terminated lineup will -assure- no updates to fix that nonsense while you watch it slowly devolve into electronic drivel.
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Yes, in the A3 with relatively small engines. Meanwhile, in Europe stick shifts are reserved for cheaper cars and a few enthusiast models. It's not like 10 or 15 years ago anymore.
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This is the most British thing I've read for some reason. I have the Audi e-Tron GT (Boring Taycan) and can testify to how absurd it is but I never had the privilege of driving the RS6.
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If I had stupid money, I'd be buying one to put in a car bubble in a garage somewhere to keep at "barely driven" miles for a dozen or so years. Even though there were a lot of these built, I'm guessing it's going to be one of those cars that won't lose much value in the short term and becomes stupid money in the long term as more and more of them end up a few feet shorter or folded around a tree. Unfortunately I don't have stupid money.
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However sad this may be, I am comforted knowing I can take myself and $40k to the Mazda dealer and drive home a 3 pedal Miata. Theoretically I could also try to convince the Porsche dealer that I am worthy of a 911 from their allocation. Not much good for going to the lumber yard in big hurry but not soul sucking smart phones on wheels.
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I really feel like hanging on to manual transmissions is a bit sad nowadays, if I’m honest.
Back in the 70s, 80s, and even into the 90s, torque converter slush-matic autos were dreadful, slow, confused, and permanently in the wrong gear. You avoided them because you liked driving, simple as that. But things have moved on, massively. Modern 7, 8, and 9 speed autos, and especially dual clutch systems, shift faster than any human ever will, keep the engine exactly where it needs to be, and just get on with it. If you are talking performance, they are better. Not a bit better, just better.
And I’m not saying that as someone who has only driven to Tesco and back. I used to race. Properly. Tight H patterns, right hand shifter. My gloves were worn through on the palm after just a few race-hours.
The last proper race car I drove was a semi automatic. Paddle shift, hand clutch to get off the line, then foot-flat flat shifts up the box, automated rev matching on the way down, anti stall built in. And it was way better. Not just quicker, although it was, but crucially, it freed up headspace. I had more time to think about my lines, my braking points, and when I could actually get the power down, instead of faffing about with the mechanics of changing gear.
That’s the bit people miss matey.
In a lot of performance cars, the “manual” and “auto” are the same gearbox anyway, it is just hydraulics and software doing the clutch and shift work instead of you, and they do it quicker, and they do it right every single time.
On the road it is even clearer. Traffic, long drives, daily nonsense, manuals just add effort. You are not faster, you are just busier. The H pattern manual is a relic. It is nostalgia, muscle memory, and the idea of involvement more than the reality of it.
I still own a LHD dog-leg H-pattern manual, and when I take it out it is great fun. But could I live with it day to day, in stop start traffic and general nonsense? Not a chance. And really, ~23hp is not exactly setting the world on fire on a track day either. As far as I know, they never even made a factory automatic for the Citroën 2CV, and probably for the best. The transmission losses alone would have pushed the 0 to 60 from ~40 seconds to “nope”.
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Same here - I had a used 2004 6mt allroad that I loved, got to about 235k before it gave up the ghost.
I currently drive a VW GTI and wish the GTI-R Estate was available in the US. I could never afford the RS6 Avant and and too frugal nowadays for a newer Allroad but it sure is tempting for a hatch/wagon guy. From the 80s until about 2013 or so I drove classic Saab 900s. Can't stand SUVs, love me a good hatch or wagon
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Hmm. Being less interested in outright performance than engagement isn't sad to me. That's the 'reality of it' for me. I haven't, in any way, missed any bits.
So, I'll make you a deal. I'll not call what you enjoy sad if you'll do the same.
---
Oh, it guess it's been 20+ years ago I helped a friend push his 2CV home. He loved that car.
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Shame, there goes another bit of character from the auto industry. The soul-sucking, vision-blocking SUVs claim another legend.
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That's just the point, isn't it. It may not have been for me but it sure stood out from the pack.
vive la différence!
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I’ve been lucky enough to have one for a while and it has done a lot of seats-down fill-the-car jobs (garden furniture yesterday), go to work and back plus the odd Autobahn blast. I’ve put 70k miles on it, a Stage 2 and a towbar. Does >30mpg on a long run and is much more comfortable than most cars in this performance bracket.
Underneath it is a bit complex with, I think, no less than six radiators to cool various bits of it. It’s probably going to be my last ICE car so might as well go out with a V8. Short-shifting up under load at 5,000rpm sounds almost NASCAR. Will be sad to see it go
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I had a P5 as well and went down a tire size for winter for this reason.How expensive are the tires?
Actually curious. I had a Mazda Protege 5...and that sh!tbox, Mazda for god knows what reason thought it would be nice to make the stock rubber be some Dunlops that were $400/tire rubber....for a Mazda.
But to be honest, the P5 drove amazingly well, even for its time, and certainly better than any modern car with dead-fish steering feedback.
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While I don't disagree about the soul-sucking traffic, there's something about operating a stick shift this is more engaging and rewarding, just differently.
I can floor an auto and wait for the thingimabobs to do their thing as the revs go up and down by themselves, and time my braking point perfectly, and have both hands on the wheel to perfectly hit the apex at extra-legal speeds in the tight turn, achieving the fastest possible time. It's fun.
Or I can take my underpowered manual econobox and use all my limbs in a coordinated dance to just get down the twisty road, probably breaking fewer laws or fewer Benjamins for the same satisfied grin on my face. It's also fun.
Then I can do it again on two wheels and get a different kind of fun, where shifting in milliseconds also doesn't matter.
The problem with the DCT performance car and its unquestionably vastly superior shifting, is how limited you are in experiencing that extra bit you pay for every day, unless you live in no-cop rural areas or near a track.
Slow car fast always beats fast car slow.
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I DD mine in a northern winter climate. Through snowstorms and everything. I always promised teenage me that if I ever "made it" enough to buy my dream car, I wouldn't keep it as a garage queen or baby it. Happy to say I kept that promise!
I actually somewhat agree w/ you re: the 22" rims, but the smallest rim size you can get that still will fit over the brakes is 21" which severely limits your options for rubber. I had some less-obnoxious (imo) looking wheels made for winter driving and put the thickest tires I could find that fit over them, and the difference in ride quality is notable. But the 22" OEM sport rims hold up just fine for dailying, Chicago potholes and all. The ride on the OEM summer tires with 22" rims is definitely harsher, but w/ the air suspension it's honestly still in "luxury car" levels vs. what you'd expect for a weekend sports car. The rims being quite lightweight help quite a lot, and if you have ceramic brakes the unsprung weight makes it all work out quite nice somehow. Absolutely overengineered German style in a way that makes you both amazed and anxious about the expensive complexity at the same time.
Overall as a daily though? It's great. One of those purchases I was worried about regretting immediately after, but every time I'm loading up a bunch of bags of rock at Menards into the back, making a Costco run, etc. it brings a smile to my face at the ridiculousness of it all.
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Mazda has always custom-specced their rubber for some absurd reason. I had a 2004 Mazda 3 GT (manual, natch!) and it had some absurd $350/corner rubber as stock. I put Dunlop Star Spec rubber on summer rims and had a BLAST with that car at autocross and open lapping days! No idea if it's still a thing for them since they tried to go up-market and I've cycled through Subaru, Honda, Kia, and Audi in the meantime.How expensive are the tires?
Actually curious. I had a Mazda Protege 5...and that sh!tbox, Mazda for god knows what reason thought it would be nice to make the stock rubber be some Dunlops that were $400/tire rubber....for a Mazda.
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I remember the P5, because in summer I couldn't climb the I-80 rises in Nebraska in summer and not have the air conditioner throttle off because it needed all the power to the wheels.
Which...Nebraska is many things, hilly (well the I-80 corridor specifically) it is not
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Couldn’t agree more. And it means you can left-foot brake more easily on track.
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I've driven plenty o'manuals and yeah.
I liken it to folks that would rather paddle the boat than use the outboard.
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No, we'd rather use the sails and show some skill instead of stinking everything up with that outboard.
Ah, never mind.
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