Road Test of the Year 2017: Audi RS5

One of the most exciting rivalries in the automotive world is between the big German three and their super coupes. There’s the lairy Mercedes-AMG C63 S, BMW’s scalpel-sharp M4 and the sophisticated Audi RS5.

So when one gets updated, it’s cause for celebration, which is why we’re in Wales with the latest swooping-styled missile out of Ingolstadt.

The new Audi A5 is wide and low with angular styling as standard, but all this gets amplified in RS spec. Up front, there are flared nostrils to help ram air into the engine and a blade-like spoiler giving off an angry race-car vibe.

However, jump in the cabin and after a few miles of low-speed driving, you’d be forgiven for forgetting you’re in something hotter than a chicken jalfrezi. The interior is very Audi – expensive-feeling leathers, hard seats and beautifully executed screens as far as the eye can see. But also, just a little bit bland.

Because the standard car is so focused on being a quiet and comfortable cruiser, that does translate to a somewhat stifled RS as the engine tries to overcome all that sound deadening and exquisite refinement. The noise is there, but it’s not all consuming, though the farts and barks on gear changes add a touch of theatre.

Ah, the engine. We really can’t go any further without talking about the elephant in the room: there’s no more V8. In its place sits a 2.9-litre V6 making 444bhp and 600Nm of torque, with the displacement deficit made up for with a couple of turbochargers.

Audi says this engine is 17 per cent more efficient than the one it replaces, which keeps the European Commission and Greenpeace happy. Well, happier – the latter are difficult to please…

You can tell this car was developed with the autobahn in mind, though – the way it accrues speed is simply mind-boggling. It wants to be driven in triple digits. Click the drive mode selector into Dynamic so the car’s pumped up and ready for action, stamp your right foot on the accelerator and make a bolt for the horizon with eyebrow-raising efficiency.

And that’s why Audi’s RS cars aren’t for everyone. Efficiency isn’t the sort of word you’d traditionally use to describe acceleration – violent, gut-wrenching or like excrement from a gardening tool are far more common.

With the RS5, the numbers on the speedo scroll higher and higher but the sensation of speed just doesn’t really hit you. From the moment you put your foot down, Audi’s famed quattro all-wheel-drive system bites all four tyres into the tarmac and the result is a 0-60mph sprint of 3.7 seconds, all in a drama-free fashion.

Do the same in the Mercedes-AMG C63 and the V8 will bark and growl as it pummels performance into the road, the rear tyres squealing for grip; in the BMW M4 the torque is dumped onto the rear wheels with all the finesse of a bull in a china shop making every mile per hour gained feel hard-earned.

So you can understand why almost video game-like acceleration could be underwhelming. But that’s the RS5’s USP. Where its rivals are obnoxious hooligans, the Audi sits back and rolls its eyes at the boisterousness of it all before taking a deep breath, tying its shoelaces and leaving its rivals standing.

Once you come to terms with this side of its character, the pieces all start falling into place. The Audi’s pace is relentless. It doesn’t require you to think. Just put your foot down and it’ll fly. Again, and again, and again.

There can be a touch of hesitation between your foot’s inputs and the engine’s outputs, potentially caused by a little turbo lag or Audi’s occasionally hesitant eight-speed automatic gearbox getting in the way, but once it’s in full flight, the surge of performance is never-ending.

And thankfully it doesn’t fall apart in corners, either. It’s 60kg lighter than the old model, and you can spec a carbon-fibre roof to shave a bit more weight and drop the centre of gravity.

It’s no featherweight, though, and if you get too aggressive with the front end it’ll wash wide.

However, out on the open moorland of our test route, with the road well-sighted and tight turns few and far between, not many cars could keep pace with the RS5. And very few could do so with such a cosseting, premium cabin. If you’re looking for edge-of-your-seat thrills, the Audi probably isn’t for you, but if you like the idea of stonking performance that’s predictable and repeatable from a car that’s just as happy commuting as it is tearing up mountain passes, you really can’t go wrong with this Audi.

FACTS AT A GLANCE

Price (as tested): £80,740
Engine: 2.9-litre twin-turbo V6
Power: 444bhp, 600Nm
Top speed: 155mph (limited)
0-60mph: 3.7 seconds
Fuel economy: 32.5mpg
Emissions: 197g/km