Audi RS6 : THE FOUR RINGS OF POWER...

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If power corrupts, the Audi RS6 is definitely the shadiest offering to emerge from the German marquee so far. Steve Walker checks out its mettleâ€¦

Executive saloons and estates don't come any quicker and very few cars of any kind do full stop. The Audi RS6 uses the VW Group's 5.0-litre V10 as seen in the Lamborghini Gallardo and bolts on a pair of turbochargers. The result is 572bhp, 0-60mph in 4.6 seconds, 0-124mph in 14.9s and, in the estate version, one queasy looking Labrador.

One-upmanship, the car industry is awash with it and car enthusiasts wouldn't have it any other way. If the leading manufacturers were any less hell-bent on outdoing their rivals at every opportunity, cars like the Audi RS6 would simply never have been dragged into being. There are those who will greet news of this 572bhp super saloon or estate with abject horror and most right-minded observers will at least briefly entertain the possibility that Audi may have gone a shade too far this time but you have to admire the firm's commitment. For car nuts the world over, the only thing more exciting than the prospect of climbing into an RS6, firing up the V10 biturbo engine then administering the full beans will be the thought of what BMW and Mercedes will do to top it. Rest assured, as soon as news of the RS6 broke, the machinations of the powers that be in Munich and Stuttgart will have been directed along similar lines. The previous generation RS6 was a bit of an animal. The car was a devastating cross-country tool with an engine note like a squadron of bombers overhead and stylistic aggression that made other road users feel like abandoning their cars and sprinting for the nearest Anderson shelter. That car had 429bhp but this RS6 has a different group of rivals to battle so Audi has furnished it with the capabilities on another level. BMW's 507bhp M5, the first in the illustrious line to be offered to UK buyers in Touring estate form, and the 503bhp Mercedes-Benz E63 AMG are the RS6's primary targets and taken in isolation, its 572bhp motor makes a convincing case for air-superiority.

"572bhp, 0-60mph in 4.6 seconds, 0-124mph in 14.9s and one queasy looking Labradorâ€¦"

The engine in question is the same V10 that was already found in star cars like the Lamborghini Gallardo and Audi's S8 flagship. It's also hotly tipped to make an appearance in the firm's R8 supercar. The S6, the 429bhp model demoted to the role of understudy by the RS6's arrival, uses a version of the unit too but like these others, its engine is normally-aspirated. In the RS6, the thunderous V10 uses turbocharging to achieve its phenomenal power output and, just for good measure, Audi have thrown in a pair of them. This is the most powerful car Audi has ever built. Oh and in Avant form, it has up to 1,660 litres of luggage space. The 572bhp courses through the quattro all-wheel-drive transmission at 6,250rpm and just as astonishingly, the 650Nm maximum torque is available from 1,500rpm all the way up to 6,250rpm. If you spot an RS6 on the road and fancy giving it a run for its money away from a set of traffic lights, be warned. The car will pass the 62mph barrier from a standing start in 4.6s. To live with that kind of punch, you'll need to be at the wheel of something like a Ferrari F430 or a Porsche 911 GT3 RS. Anything from an Aston Martin DB9 down need not apply. To underline the supercar-slaying performance of the RS6 - this is a full-size executive saloon or estate car remember - it can reach 124mph in 14.9s. If the 155mph electronic limiter wasn't installed, most drivers would run out of race track and nerve well before the RS6 ran out of steam. The twin turbochargers and a series of component modifications are responsible for the power boost enjoyed by the RS6. The gears are shifted through steering wheel paddle shifters connected to a six speed automatic gearbox and an upgraded guattro 4x4 system has the unenviable task of putting all that power down onto the road. The RS6 hints at its fearsome capabilities via a reworked exterior. The rear view that rivals may be forced to get used to is dominated by two huge oval exhausts set into each end of a diffuser that's cut into the bumper. At the front, the cooling ducts of the A6 base vehicle are super-sized and the wheelarches flare dramatically around the standard 19" wheels. Chromed mirrors and side skirts complete the effect. It's a rather low key look when you consider the fireworks that go on under the bonnet but Audi's RS models have always done a good line in understated aggression. It's menacing rather than in your face. There's more to the RS6 than its engine. The S6 chassis has been extensively re-worked with the introduction of revised all-hydraulic version of the Dynamic Ride Control (DRC) system found previously in the old RS6 and the RS4. DRC allows the driver do adjust the RS6's damping through a three-stage system with comfort, dynamic and sport settings. It progressively stiffens the suspension for a more focused driving experience when required or eases off to enhance ride comfort. The ESP system on the RS6 has been programmed to make late interventions, allowing the driver scope to enjoy the car's handling characteristics to the maximum. The system will brake individual wheels and modulate the engine's power output to rescue the situation if it detects that the driver has lost control but it's been specially designed to give the enthusiastic RS6 owner room for manoeuvre. Those who find even this set-up intrusive can turn the whole thing off entirely but on your head be it. Braking is by a high-spec set of ceramic discs designed to resist fade and stand up to the taxing job of bringing this substantial vehicle safely back from the extreme velocities it's capable of. Whichever way you look at it, buyers will be facing at a pricetag of just under £80,000 for an RS6 which is a lot for a large executive saloon or estate car but not so much when you consider its performance credentials. The BMW M5 and Mercedes E63 AMG are the cars it needs to beat, with both offering significantly less power but coming inside the £65K-£70K bracket. This select band of German offerings apart, it's only really the pure-bred supercars that can match the RS6 for pace and they come with supercar pricetags and supercar practicality, rendering them out of the question for many. Whatever your view on it, there's no doubt that you'll have an easier time justifying the purchase of an RS6 to your other half that of a Lamborghini Gallardo. The RS6 interior does a decent job of justifying the car's pricing. The standard A6 feels genuinely special inside with some beautiful design touches and real quality throughout. This gives the RS6 a solid platform which it builds on with leather and alcantara RS sports seats, a flat-bottomed RS steering wheel and expensive-looking aluminium detailing. There are read-outs for turbo boost pressure and oil temperature too. Fuel economy for the RS6 is actually almost reasonable with the 20mpg combined cycle economy only fractionally worse than the non-turbo S6. It's still never going to be a cheap car to run though, so make sure there's some money left in the bank after you've met the asking price. So exactly who is it that goes out and buys a vehicle capable of transporting a family of four and their holiday luggage on a sub 8-minute lap of the Nurburgring Nordschliefe, overtaking a gaggle of supercars in the process? The Audi RS6 is definitely not your average executive saloon or estate and that's a given. It's a car with an awesome array of talents, from its 572bhp performance to the Avanbt version's 1,660-litre payload capacity and one that takes the executive supercar arms race to a whole new level. Some will find the idea of an executive saloon or estate car with 572bhp from a 5.0-litre biturbo V10 difficult to reconcile with the modern motoring age of proliferating speed cameras, spiralling fuel prices and emissions-based vehicle taxation. In the end, though, if the RS6 buyers aren't forthcoming, the bottom could potentially fall out of this highly specialised and proudly contested market sector. That would deny car enthusiasts the world over the opportunity of seeing where those crazy Germans will go from here.

Facts At A Glance
CAR: Audi RS6
PRICES: £76,160-£77,730 - on the road
INSURANCE GROUP: 20
CO2 EMISSIONS: 331-333g/km
PERFORMANCE: Max Speed 155mph / 0-60mph 4.6s
FUEL CONSUMPTION: [Avant] (urban) 13.8mpg / (extra urban) 27.4mpg / (combined) 20.2mpg
STANDARD SAFETY FEATURES: Twin front and side airbags / ABS / ESP
WILL IT FIT IN YOUR GARAGE?: [Avant] Length/Width/Heightmm 4730/1860/1460