► Performance option boosts power to 597bhp
► Available for both Audi RS6 and RS7 models
► Top speed a potential 189mph. In an estate!
Surely nobody has ever described the Audi RS6 Avant, to all intents and purposes a supercar disguised as an estate, as slow? Nor for that matter its fastback saloon-cum-coupe partner, the RS7?
Nevertheless, Audi has taken it upon itself to release a power-boosting Performance pack option for both cars, which share the same twin-turbocharged 4.0-litre V8 engine. Ordinarily, power and torque outputs for both models is a hardly weedy 552bhp and 502lb ft but tick the new Performance pack box and you’ll see the figures soar to a dyno-busting 597bhp and 553lb ft.
How fast does the new Performance pack make the Audi RS6 and RS7?
Zero to 62mph drops by two tenths to 3.7sec. Top speed, ordinarily electronically limited to 155mph, can be increased to a maximum of 189mph on request. Performance figures for both models are claimed to be identical despite the RS6’s blockier bodywork. Perhaps the most serious indicator of the cars’ pace is the quoted 0-124mph time: a mind-scrambling 12.1sec. All the more hilarious bearing in mind there’s a tow bar on the same RS6 options list…
Fuel economy is claimed to be unaffected by the Performance option, so that’s a still-optimistic 29.4mpg in the RS6 and 29.7mpg in the RS7.
How much is the Audi RS6 and RS7 Performance option?
The package adds around £6000 to the overall cost of the car, so you’d need £86k handy for a Performance pack-equipped Audi RS6, and £91,600 for the equivalent RS7.
CAR’s Ben Barry lived with an Audi RS6 (a regular one with just the 552bhp) for half a year: read our long-term review of the wicked wagon here.