CNET First Drive Review 2023 Audi RS5 Competition
10-09-2022, 10:18 AM
#21
AudiWorld Senior Member
A buddy of mine traded his 2021 RS5 in for a brand new G80 M3 Xdrive Comp. Enough with the BS, the M3 is about 3 years ahead of the RS5.
The RS5 needs major change, not a silly $16k Competition package with no performance or tech changes.
They're both gorgeous cars but
The tech in the new BMW's is awesome, you can control your entire car from your phone, key cards, AUTOSTART!!!!!!, apps, all the above. Also i felt the operating system is better. (sound system is better as well)
Performance wise, its pretty bad. Off the line, its ferocious. We had about an additional 500lbs in the car, punch it from a 60mph cruise and it will still open your eyes.
Suspension is awesome, very tight, the car feels glued to the ground.
Comp seats are beautiful but not forgiving. very hard to get in and out of. AUDI wins this one... i guess?
Idk but personally to choose an RS5 standard or Comp over an M3 Xdrive Comp, there would have to be about a $20K discount, and maybe a lifetime warranty and maintanance plan. its THAT good. Otherwise it would be foolish to pay around the same amount of money for an RS5 as u would for an M3.
Ordering the M3 Xdrive Comp and driving around an bucket for an extra year IS worth the wait over the RS5.
The RS5 needs major change, not a silly $16k Competition package with no performance or tech changes.
They're both gorgeous cars but
The tech in the new BMW's is awesome, you can control your entire car from your phone, key cards, AUTOSTART!!!!!!, apps, all the above. Also i felt the operating system is better. (sound system is better as well)
Performance wise, its pretty bad. Off the line, its ferocious. We had about an additional 500lbs in the car, punch it from a 60mph cruise and it will still open your eyes.
Suspension is awesome, very tight, the car feels glued to the ground.
Comp seats are beautiful but not forgiving. very hard to get in and out of. AUDI wins this one... i guess?
Idk but personally to choose an RS5 standard or Comp over an M3 Xdrive Comp, there would have to be about a $20K discount, and maybe a lifetime warranty and maintanance plan. its THAT good. Otherwise it would be foolish to pay around the same amount of money for an RS5 as u would for an M3.
Ordering the M3 Xdrive Comp and driving around an bucket for an extra year IS worth the wait over the RS5.
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Nikon1 (10-09-2022)
10-09-2022, 11:16 AM
#22
AudiWorld Member
Yeah, Audi tried to get the boring out of the RS5 and make it more interesting, but they went into the wrong direction. It's still not a track car, so giving it a manually adjustable coilover suspension and semi slick Corsa tires makes no sense. It needed a new suspension, I've said that for a while, but it should have been a proper adaptive suspension that retained comfort, auto and dynamic settings, but be much better tuned than the DRC with its three fixed settings that are either overdamped or underdamped. AMG tried the manually adjustable coilover in the GT R Pro, which arguably is much more of track car, but even they went back to an adaptive suspension for the even more bonkers GT Black Series and having driven it, it makes all the difference. The lack of emotion is fundamentally designed into the RS5 as Jalop said. The engine is just too meh, and lacks drama. The dynamics are better now, but basically suck on the road, because you have to get out and manually adjust the suspension every time you wanna switch between comfort and dynamic. This package missed the target, IMO, and still doesn't make the RS5 a car I would want over my C63 or a BMW M3/4.
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Nikon1 (10-09-2022)
10-09-2022, 11:53 AM
#23
AudiWorld Super User
I was surprised that they gave the car manually adjustable suspension. I didn't read the details but it appears to have quite a bit of adjustability. Which is the problem. I haven't owned or driven an RS 5 so this is just my two cents from the cheap seats. I have a Ducati SuperBike and I'll tell you that having fully adjustable suspension sounds like a good idea until you realize that it has more variables than you have time. Suspension engineering is a very difficult profession. We amateurs are like wandering a cave with a box of matches. There aren't many Ducati owners willing to take the time and buy professional advice to thoroughly sort out their suspension for track days. I would think there are far fewer Audi owners willing to do so for street use.
10-09-2022, 12:01 PM
#24
AudiWorld Member
Compression damping, high speed circuit
Rebound damping, high speed circuit
Compression damping, low speed circuit
Rebound damping, low speed circuit
Spring rate
Preload
Ride height (on a car, lowering the ride height effectively increases the sway bar size)
Downforce - lowering the ride height increases downforce for cars designed for downforce (e.g. 911 GT3RS). Downforce will not likely be perfectly balanced front-rear over the ride height range, thus affecting overall spring rates as well as the spring rate variation through the range of stroke.
Then multiply the number of variables above by 2 because we have a back end and a front end of the vehicle.
If the shocks are computer controlled for variable real-time damping, there are more variables: response speed, attack rate, hold, decay rate, etc.
Toe-in
Tire pressure
I've likely missed a couple.
Rebound damping, high speed circuit
Compression damping, low speed circuit
Rebound damping, low speed circuit
Spring rate
Preload
Ride height (on a car, lowering the ride height effectively increases the sway bar size)
Downforce - lowering the ride height increases downforce for cars designed for downforce (e.g. 911 GT3RS). Downforce will not likely be perfectly balanced front-rear over the ride height range, thus affecting overall spring rates as well as the spring rate variation through the range of stroke.
Then multiply the number of variables above by 2 because we have a back end and a front end of the vehicle.
If the shocks are computer controlled for variable real-time damping, there are more variables: response speed, attack rate, hold, decay rate, etc.
Toe-in
Tire pressure
I've likely missed a couple.
Last edited by AscariBlue; 10-09-2022 at 12:05 PM.
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Nikon1 (10-09-2022)
10-09-2022, 12:15 PM
#25
AudiWorld Super User
Yep, it isn't for no reason that Formula One banned adaptive suspensions. They are simply superior to all the manual effort required to achieve the perfect suspension setup for every situation. To think the average Joe RS5 owner has the resources and skills to perfectly set up this suspension is laughable.
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Nikon1 (10-09-2022)
10-09-2022, 12:20 PM
#26
The RS5 is a generation behind the M3 so it’s not surprising. Personally, I use my car as a daily driver and maybe take the odd on-ramp faster than the posted limit so having the absolute fastest car is not important to me. I’d still purchase the RS5 again because it’s a better daily driver and looks better. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
10-09-2022, 02:15 PM
#27
AudiWorld Super User
The RS5 is a generation behind the M3 so it’s not surprising. Personally, I use my car as a daily driver and maybe take the odd on-ramp faster than the posted limit so having the absolute fastest car is not important to me. I’d still purchase the RS5 again because it’s a better daily driver and looks better. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
10-09-2022, 04:35 PM
#28
It reminds me of when I owned a M3. Sure it was an extremely capable car but it wasn’t a great daily driver. The regular 3 series was much better for every day and just as capable for city and highway driving.
It’ll be interesting to see what Audi does with the B10 RS4/5 and what BMW will do with the next gen M3/4. I imagine they’ll see how the market responds to the new C63. Mercedes seems to be throwing all sorts of features and options at it (rear wheel steering, front and rear air suspension, etc.). I’m guessing they’re doing that as a way to “make up” for the V8 being replaced by the 4 cylinder. If the market really likes it, I wonder if we’ll see Audi and BMW start putting more features on their cars. Of course this has the downside of making the cars more expensive.
Last edited by JohnEnglish; 10-09-2022 at 04:43 PM.
10-09-2022, 11:20 PM
#29
This is the reason I took an S5 over an RS5. I drove both. The S5 just worked better for me as a daily, especially with the 19" wheels. Comfort mode on the suspension on the S5 on 19s is better then my old A5 with fixed sport suspension on 18s. I can't even imagine how much I would hate the comp. suspension for daily driving where I live.
10-10-2022, 04:35 AM
#30
AudiWorld Super User
This is the reason I took an S5 over an RS5. I drove both. The S5 just worked better for me as a daily, especially with the 19" wheels. Comfort mode on the suspension on the S5 on 19s is better then my old A5 with fixed sport suspension on 18s. I can't even imagine how much I would hate the comp. suspension for daily driving where I live.