► Motorsport-inspired limited-edition RS6
► As next A6 and RS6 are going electric
► CAR Magazine gets first UK drive
What happens when you combine one of the best estate cars with a widebody ‘80s racing car? You end up with the delightful, ridiculous Audi RS6 GT.
Audi, known for often playing it safe, is now doing the absolute opposite. The Germans have well and truly let their hair down for the final swansong for the RS6 as we know it.
As a quick reminder, Audi is making the A6 into an electric car as part of its push to make all its evenly numbered cars into EVs, while those with odd numbers will continue with engines and hybrids. The current A6 and A7 will morph into a single model with the latter name in 2025, and though there will be a new RS7, it will adopt a PHEV setup. It’s the same story for the new BMW M5 Touring and Mercedes-AMG E63.
The RS6 GT is therefore the final outing for the C8-generation RS6, and Audi has made sure it’s not leaving unnoticed with a ludicrous, liveried limited-edition version.
At a glance
Pros: Outrageous styling (for good or bad), mega performance, more fun than any other RS6
Cons: It costs £176,000, that twin-screen Audi interior needs to be retired
What’s new?
The new GT is heavily influenced by the 2020 Audi RS6 GTO concept, revealed to mark 40 years of quattro. Everyone (me included) presumed it was a concept only but Audi has proved us wrong. The show car was created by 12 apprentices who took inspiration from the 1989 Audi 90 Quattro GTO IMSA racing car, when the German focused its motorsport efforts on America once its Group B rallying days were over.
It gets a truly ridiculous livery that you can’t miss, you’ll either love it or utterly despise it. There’s the choice of white paint with black, grey and red stickers, as well as white 22-inch Rotiform alloys (pictured) or Nardo Grey or black paint with a grey and black livery with matte black wheels. The white looks best.
Much of the car has also been restyled. The bonnet and front wings are both new and made of carbon fibre, while the massive front splitter is enough to make you wince entering a multi-storey car park. There’s a huge diffuser around the rear and a huge double spoiler copied from the 2020 concept car. It’s the first RS6 with no roof rails, either. That sadly means no Instagram-worthy bike rack shot, though where there’s a will, there’s a way…
But don’t worry, this isn’t just a tarted-up RS6, as there are plenty of mechanical changes. Most noteworthy is Audi swapping out the adaptive air suspension from the RS6 Performance for manually adjustable coilovers that can sit at three levels. Owners will be supplied with the necessary tools to change them, though we can’t see most getting out their spanner set on a car of this value.
What are the specs?
One thing Audi hasn’t changed is what’s under the bonnet, with the GT retaining the regular RS6’s 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8 engine. That’s not a bad thing in this instance, with 621bhp and 627lb ft of torque on offer. Performance, especially for a car of this size and weight (almost 2.1 tonnes) is startling. The 62mph sprint takes just 3.3 seconds, a tenth down on the regular RS6, and it would keep climbing to 190mph. A true king of the autobahn.
The eight-speed automatic gearbox has been revised for the GT too, and, of course, quattro is present. Audi has tweaked the RS6’s differentials too, with the centre one now capable of sending 85 per cent of torque to the rear for greater traction.
Ceramic brakes are standard, as are new Continental Sport Contact 7 tyres that are said to reduce the stopping distance from 62mph by two metres.
How does it drive?
The RS6 GT is unquestionably one of the best performance Audis ever made and is so much more than just being brutally quick but anything but fun – a trait that has long tarnished RS models.
You’ll want to have a good play about in the RS6’s settings, but the short story is if you’re looking for the most fun, get it straight in ‘dynamic’ via the dedicated RS1 and RS2 modes, the equivalent of the usual ‘individual’ setting. Dial the stability control back and the GT unlocks a level of adjustability that’s never been seen before with an RS6. Aside from the R8 GT, I’ve never driven an Audi where you can feel the rear moving about in this sort of way, but never in a ‘I’m a drift hero’ sort of way.
The way the GT can attack a corner is sublime. Again, have it in dynamic, as the steering sharpens up. It’s a super quick rack, almost surprising at first, but after a few sharp turns, you’ve got that confidence to keep pushing it. You can thank those coilovers for the RS6 staying so flat through a corner and the grip from its new sticky tyres is tremendous. Understeer is not something this RS6 GT is familiar with.
You never get bored of how fast the RS6 can dart towards the horizon, either. For a family estate car, it is savagely quick. The RS6’s V8 is easily tunable to 700bhp and upwards, but unless you regularly find yourself at Santa Pod, pace is just never an issue. The engine needs to be in the brilliantly named ‘pronounced’ setting for full chav to be released. Paired with a crackling exhaust, it’s delightfully antisocial if you’re in the right RS6 frame of mind.
But it’s the versatility of the RS6 GT that establishes it as one of the best performance estate cars ever made. Despite its stiffer suspension, the ride (even on those giant 22s) is still compliant. Not as supple as the air on the standard RS6, no surprises there of course, but more than compliant to use it every day.
Even looking as wild as it does, you can happily spend several hours behind the wheel, with the engine in ‘subdued’, adaptive cruise control on and there’s even an ‘Efficiency’ mode. Yes, I tried it on a schlep up the A1 to confirm that almost 30mpg is possible. Not bad at all. That said, you’ll be lucky to get half that if you drive the RS6 how it was intended.
What’s the interior like?
Before you even jump in the RS6’s interior, the first thing you’ll notice is its carbon-backed bucket seats. You can’t help but giggle that an estate comes with these as standard, and they’re so, so good. They’re not electrically adjustable, surprisingly (back in your place, entitled motoring journalist) but the support they offer is exceptional and they’re comfortable for hours behind the wheel.
There’s Alcantara (or microsuede in Audi speak) used absolutely everywhere. Door cards, roof lining, steering wheel, dashboard and more. But aside from the seats and liberal use of suede, you’ve essentially got the same interior as any RS6. That means tremendous build quality but the twin-screen infotainment and climate displays that haven’t aged all that well. The displays look small these days, as mad as that seems, and aren’t especially intuitive.
Despite the garish bodykit and fancy differentials that make it drive like a supercar, though, this is still a practical family car through and through with most of the usability of a diesel A6 Avant. The boot is still massive and rear-seat space is generous, even with the slightly protruding carbon bucket seats.
Before you buy
There’s one quite major setback with the RS6 GT – well, two. The first is you can’t actually buy one from Audi as all 60 allocated to the UK (out of 660 globally) were sold almost instantly after it was revealed in February 2024. Audi’s press car is numbered 659 and you can imagine the last is being kept by Audi in Germany.
The second is that each of those buyers paid an eye-watering £176,975 for the privilege. It’s an obscene figure by any measure, not least for an Audi estate car, but it is worth diving into the skunkworks element of the GT.
While the initial body and painting of the RS6 take place at the normal Neckarsulm plant, the cars are then shipped nearby to Bollinger Hofe, Audi’s ‘small-scale’ factory where the R8 and e-tron GT are produced. A team of seven then make the ‘GT differences’ by hand, with each car taking a day.
This individual element in many ways helps to justify the GT’s steep price increase over a standard RS6 Performance, which starts from £116,000 and rises to £134,000, and that’s before options.
The RS6 GT is Audi’s take on the BMW M5 CS, albeit not quite to the same extremes. Ludicrously expensive but yet justifies its figure by how special it is.
Verdict
If you like your performance car to be subdued and fly under the radar, it’s safe to say the RS6 GT is not for you. You may call the livery and wheels garish, you may call it chavvy, you may call it delightful. I’m in the latter camp, just because it’s so ridiculous that usually conservative Audi has produced it.
The GT’s twin-turbo V8 without any PHEV assistance is truly the last of its breed in a performance estate car, and this is a perfect send-off for the RS6 as we know it. The changes to the differential and suspension have unlocked a new character and playfulness to the RS6, yet not compromising its daily usability. It’s obscenely expensive but Audi has pulled out all the stops to make the RS6 GT feel as special as its price, and in the process made one of the best fast Audis ever made.