Return of an RS icon

The regular rules for station wagons don’t apply to the Audi RS 4 Avant. Yes, it can haul the essential stuff for weekday family work or load up comfortably for a weekend escape to the surf or the snow.

But it’s really intended to haul.

The punchy potential of the RS 4 is reflected in a 0-100km/h sprint time of just 4.1 seconds, but it’s more than a one-trick pony. It also hustles around curves and corners, stops like a demon, can zap-pass any slow-moving truck in the country, and plays a delicious exhaust tune.

Best of all, it does all the go-faster stuff without turning nasty or compromising the carrying capacity or the adult-sized comfort in the back.

“It’s the favourite one of our kids,” laugh’s Audi Australia’s Communications and Marketing Director, Anna Burgdorf, as she introduces the car to the motoring media in Port Macquarie.

“This year we’re very excited to say we have the largest Audi Sport range we’ve ever had. It’s taking the knowledge from motorsport and putting it into our production cars. These are the halo models.”

In fact, the latest and fourth-generation RS 4 Avant is the sort of car which will take you easily, confidently and without stress, on any drive. It’s comfortable and compliant, beautifully built and well equipped, and more refined than a bunch of other brawlers in similar size and price classes.

The RS 4 Avant arrives in Australia with a starting price of $152,900, but there is more than $22,000 worth of extra equipment and value to offset against the modest increase of $1890 against the outgoing model.

It makes a solid case that’s reflected in the 100-plus buyers on the waiting list, which opened before anyone knew full details or the price.

The RS 4 Avant takes over the top spot in the A4 range from the S4 Avant. It picks up the basic package from the latest A4 family – which made a massive step-change with the MLB platform – with everything from an 80-kilogram weight loss on a stiffer platform to predictable RS spicing.

The twin-turbo petrol V6 engine is slightly smaller at 2.9 litres but comes with an unchanged 331kW of power and a thumping 600Nm of torque from just 1900rpm. The gearbox is an eight-speed tiptronic torque-convertor automatic and drive is fed through Audi’s signature quattro all-wheel drive, with a basic 40:60 drive split but the ability to send 85 per cent of drive to the rear wheels.

Apart from the go-fast numbers, including a limited 250km/h top speed, the fuel economy is down by 17 percent to 8.8 litres/100km.

The RS 4 package ticks all the boxes. On the safety front it has AEB auto safety braking, an ‘exit warning’ that watches for cyclists as occupants open their doors, and a ‘turn assist’ to stop the car turning across oncoming traffic; the luxury items includes Audi’s excellent ‘virtual cockpit’ instrument display and runs to adaptive LED headlamps, 30-colour interior lighting, 19-speaker Bang&Olufsen sound and Nappa-wrapped sports seats with inflatable side bolsters in addition to the usual electric adjustments. There is acoustic glass and a standard sunroof, although this can be deleted.

The RS fruit includes slightly-larger 20-inch alloys, an Audi Sport differential, adaptive dampers, and signature oval exhaust tips. The hunkered-down RS 4 Avant has an aggressive stance that’s helped by a pumped-out body sitting on firmer five-link suspension at both ends.

Press the start button, after getting comfortable in the cosseting cabin, and the RS 4 rouses with a predictable hard edge to the exhaust note.

The first kilometres of city and suburban traffic pass are light and easy. As we head into the hills on the long run towards Armidale, with Bathurst 1000 winner and Audi driving experience instructor, Luke Youlden, setting the pace, the RS 4 Avant is well into its element. I quickly forget it is a wagon. Then I forget all links to the previous models, good though they were for their time.

This car is a hoot and easily the best Audi I’ve driven, short of the R8 supercar. It is light on its feet, and really light in the nose, which means it responds without delay to any commands. It turns with great positivity, can hold a line or tighten at the front with a light lift on the throttle, and even late braking or a mid-corner stab does nothing to unsettle it.

The multi-mode RS controls give firmer suspension and sharper response, often doing a better job of transmission control than a dullard driver on the flappy paddles, and it’s easy to find the right setting for the road and the traffic and the – not always friendly, sometimes chopped up for work – surfaces.

Back on the flat on the final run to Armidale, I flick a few switches and the RS 4 settles back to a calm loping pace that’s the right combination for the conditions and a long day at the wheel.

“If you could have one car, and only one car, this would be at the top of a lot of may people’s list. You can take it to the snow, you can take it to the track, you can take it to Ikea,” says Peter Strudwicke, Senior Product Planning Executive at Audi Australia.

“It really is an icon,” says Burgdorf.

And they are right. It’s been a long day and a long drive, but the RS 4 has kept me entertained, excited, rewarded and challenged. Best of all, it’s also relaxing, and that’s something I have never said about any of the previous RS 4 models.