If you’d taken a stroll across the spotlessly clean floor of Audi’s Böllinger Höfe production facility half a decade ago, you’d have found the place littered with R8 supercars in various states of undress. Fast forward a couple of years, and that same floor was a mixed bag, churning out both those mid-engined brutes and Audi’s then-fresh electric super-saloon, the E-tron GT. Today, the factory has fundamentally changed its tune. It no longer rings to the mechanical wail of V10s firing up for the first time. With the R8 officially put out to pasture, Audi’s most labour-intensive assembly line is entirely dedicated to the E-tron GT, a car that rolls into life with little more than a synthetic hum.
But recently, this revered facility – historically ringfenced for Audi’s absolute finest – played host to a fleeting, gloriously noisy interloper. A car carrying a hulking petrol engine that traded the exotic shriek of a supercar for a deeply menacing, woofly V8 baritone.
Enter the Audi RS6 Avant GT. Capped at a paltry 660 units globally, its presence at Böllinger Höfe was purely a matter of necessity. Its bespoke bodywork, heavily reliant on carbon fibre reinforced plastic panels, demanded a level of hand-finishing that the standard RS6 production line simply couldn’t stomach. What they built was a swansong. This is the most potent combustion-engined production Audi ever made, comfortably eclipsing even the final-hurrah R8 GT. It stands as a gloriously unhinged love letter to the ridiculously fast, all-conquering, all-wheel-drive Audi estates of old.
A Heritage-Soaked Brawler
You need to understand straight out of the gate that the GT isn’t just a regular RS6 wearing a fancy sticker pack. Mind you, it is a truly spectacular set of decals, shamelessly dripping with nostalgia for the 1989 Audi 90 Quattro GTO – easily one of the most visually arresting machines ever to tear up the American IMSA championship. You can spec the GT in stealthier blacks or greys at no extra cost, but honestly, you’d be missing the point entirely. If you’re after a mega-estate that blends in, go and hunt down an Alpina B5 GT Touring. The RS6 GT is loud, unabashed, and utterly devoid of plug-in hybrid complexity.
Dynamically, it brings an unprecedented sharpness to Audi’s big-hearted estate formula. The shift to a passive coilover suspension setup works wonders, dialing in proper agility without completely ruining the ride quality. It isn’t entirely flawless, mind you. Despite the carbon fibre diet, it’s still carrying quite a bit of timber, and that boosty V8 has a weird habit of feeling a tad breathless when you try to muscle it out of tighter bends. Still, for a completely sold-out, hugely expensive tribute act, it’s a staggering bit of kit.
Down to Earth with the Everyday Hero
If the RS6 GT is the unattainable, deafening pinnacle of Audi Sport, where does that leave the buyer who just wants a swift, premium daily? You look to the other end of the spectrum, where the venerable Audi S3 Sportback still sits. For over a quarter of a century, this thing has been a bedrock of the premium hot hatch market, and the latest iteration doesn’t mess with a winning recipe.
It remains compact and deeply pragmatic. At 4.34 metres long, it doesn’t induce cold sweats when you’re trying to thread it into a cramped multi-storey car park. Under the bonnet lies a thoroughly sorted two-litre turbocharged four-cylinder, serving up a highly respectable 333 PS and 420 Nm of torque. Channeled through a seven-speed dual-clutch gearbox and the obligatory quattro all-wheel-drive system, it’ll sprint from a standstill to 62 mph in a brisk 4.7 seconds, before eventually bouncing off the 155 mph electronic limiter.
Unlike the uncompromising RS6 GT, the S3 actually remembers it has to function as a normal car. The boot swallows between 280 and 380 litres depending on what you’re doing with the rear bench – more than enough for the weekly shop or lobbing in a few bags for a weekend away.
Audi hasn’t skimped on the standard equipment, either. It rolls off the line sitting on 18-inch alloys and a lowered sports suspension, complete with aggressively bolstered sports seats, a chunky steering wheel, LED headlights, and the drive select system. The digital cockpit alongside seamless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto integration means it feels properly sorted inside.
It’s an entirely rational proposition, backed up by some rather tempting real-world maths. While the official list price sits at €56,400, nobody is actually paying that. Online brokers like Carwow are currently slashing an average of €9,024 off the sticker price, or offering the keys for around €589 a month. It’s a sharp, capable, all-weather machine that quietly gets on with the job, serving as a brilliantly accessible foil to the unrepeatable madness of the RS6 GT.
