These squared-off wheelarches were originally destined for the RS4? They still suck on the RS6......
10-19-2007, 05:45 PM
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These squared-off wheelarches were originally destined for the RS4? They still suck on the RS6......
First stop of the day is Audi, where the head of development at Quattro GmbH, Stephan Reil, is on hand to take me round the mighty new RS6. Reil is such a car nut you never know what nugget he's going to come out with next - and he doesn't disappoint.
`These squared-off wheelarches on this RS6 look great, don't they?' he asks, before adding: `They were originally destined for the RS4 but we couldn't get them to look right. I'm so glad we got them to work on the RS6.'
Reil goes on to explain the thinking behind the new model's turbocharged engine and auto gearbox: `I want the RS6 to be more relaxing than the RS4, so it needs to have a lot of torque. Turbos give you that. The only trouble is keeping everything cool, so the RS6 ended up with a total of eight radiators!'
When I ask if Audi will ever make an RS version of the A8, the idea is instantly dismissed as being wrong for the car, but when I ask the same question of the TT, Reil hints that he is working on it already and that we should expect to see something (with an all-new transmission, apparently) soon. This would seem to indicate that an RS3 is in the pipeline too.
But isn't he worried that he will soon have environmentalists on his case, trying to put a stop to all this performance nonsense? Apparently not. According to Reil the number of RS cars built by Audi is so small in the great scheme of things that they simply don't play a role in the global CO2 debate.<ul><li><a href="http://www.evo.co.uk/news/evonews/210871/frankfurt_2007_and_beyond.html">http://www.evo.co.uk/news/evonews/210871/frankfurt_2007_and_beyond.html</a</li></ul>
`These squared-off wheelarches on this RS6 look great, don't they?' he asks, before adding: `They were originally destined for the RS4 but we couldn't get them to look right. I'm so glad we got them to work on the RS6.'
Reil goes on to explain the thinking behind the new model's turbocharged engine and auto gearbox: `I want the RS6 to be more relaxing than the RS4, so it needs to have a lot of torque. Turbos give you that. The only trouble is keeping everything cool, so the RS6 ended up with a total of eight radiators!'
When I ask if Audi will ever make an RS version of the A8, the idea is instantly dismissed as being wrong for the car, but when I ask the same question of the TT, Reil hints that he is working on it already and that we should expect to see something (with an all-new transmission, apparently) soon. This would seem to indicate that an RS3 is in the pipeline too.
But isn't he worried that he will soon have environmentalists on his case, trying to put a stop to all this performance nonsense? Apparently not. According to Reil the number of RS cars built by Audi is so small in the great scheme of things that they simply don't play a role in the global CO2 debate.<ul><li><a href="http://www.evo.co.uk/news/evonews/210871/frankfurt_2007_and_beyond.html">http://www.evo.co.uk/news/evonews/210871/frankfurt_2007_and_beyond.html</a</li></ul>
