| Road Test Audi RS 4 Saloon |
||
 |
||
|
Near Genius
Having lived with the RS 4 saloon for a week (there are Avant and Cabriolet versions too) there are several aspects that continue to inspire wonder. Which of these is the most impressive? The 414bhp 4.2-litre direct-injection V8 engine is an early candidate, for sure. Until recently, coaxing that amount of power from that capacity while still retaining some semblance of road manners would quite certainly have demanded the use of at least one turbocharger. But the RS 4 has none. Can you not share my amazement that this unit produces so much power, and with such refinement, while being left to breathe in air without external assistance? To produce a lot of power, an engine needs either a lot of torque or the ability to reach very high revs. By abandoning turbocharging, Audi has had to focus on engine speed, with the result that the RS 4 tops out at what is, for a 4.2-litre road car, an astonishing 8250rpm. Once again, it's not that long since a statistic of this kind would have implied feeble low-rev performance. The RS 4 obliterates that justifiable prejudice too. Maximum torque of 315lb/ft may not seem like much compared with the power figure, but it's still a lot - and, more importantly, 90% of it (or about 280lb/ft) can be accessed all the way from 2250 to 7600rpm. Even without the standard close-ratio six-speed gearbox, it's difficult to imagine this car ever failing to pull strongly when asked to perform.
So much for the figures. In real life, what happens is this: you floor the throttle at almost any speed, and the RS 4 leaps forward with a slightly muted but none the less evocative eight-cylinder roar. If you're in second gear at the time, you're soon doing 70mph; if in third, 100mph is not far away. In more subtle motoring, slight pressure on the accelerator pedal is enough to keep you travelling at speeds which would require outstandingly more effort in nearly every other saloon car you can buy.
|
