2021 Audi RS4 Avant review

In our cluttered and sometimes confusing Aussie car market, there must be something quite liberating for the buyer shopping for a hi-po mid-size wagon. With a lucky coin in hand to toss, the internal monologue simply asks: “Mercedes-AMG C63 S Estate? Or the Audi RS4 Avant?”

Okay, that may be a binary over-simplification, and it’s probable that the fast-wagon buyer may be kicking around a few other alternatives; perhaps under pressure from the other half to go for a speedy SUV like a Mercedes-AMG GLC 63 S or BMW X3M, both of which fall into a broadly similar price bracket as the wagons.

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But we all know hi-po wagons are the thinking person’s choice, and there’s something deeply appealing about the history and longevity attached to the four-ringed fast hauler. The spiritual forebear to this current B9 update is of course the S2 Avant from the mid-’90s, co-developed with Porsche, and these days a genuine cult classic.

And let’s not overlook the fact that this latest, lightly tweaked iteration also prunes $5000 from the list price, with the new base of $147,900 giving it a hefty $20,635 advantage over its opposite number at Mercedes-AMG.

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There's something deeply appealing about the history and longevity attached to the four-ring fast hauler

So, apart from two fewer cylinders and a bunch less aggro in terms of demeanour compared to the C63 S Estate, what does the RS4 Avant deliver? Visually, you’ll need your spotter goggles on to pick out the wider, flatter single-frame grille, larger front air intakes, and matrix LED headlights on this updated version.

At the rear, it remains brilliantly tough and well resolved, with the wide wheelarches swelling seductively over the standard-fit 20s. Only the narrow chrome strips bisecting the tail lights identify it as the 2021 update.

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Inside, the main changes are to the control of the latest MMI multimedia system, now via a 10.1-inch touchscreen. Wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto feature, as does wireless phone charging.

More broadly, though, the interior remains one that can’t help but take any car lover deep into their happy place.

Just try sitting in there for a moment and not cooing over the way it effortlessly combines craftsmanship with a cool aesthetic, beautiful use of materials and benchmark tactility. Personal opinion, of course, but I reckon it towels up the rival C63 S, which insists on multiple duplication of controls for the multimedia, and a vaguely art-deco interior design inspiration that doesn’t really harmonise with the expanse of landscape screens.

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The Audi’s flat-bottom wheel, bound in perforated leather, still feels deluxe in hand, but now includes the useful addition of an RS-mode button, allowing the storing of two sets of preferences for the six variable parameters provided in the Drive Select menu.

Logic says most owners will assign one to a hardcore set-up for engine mapping, transmission shift speed, steering weight, suspension firmness, aggressiveness of the Quattro sport differential, and loudness of the exhaust … and the ‘RS2’ setting for a milder combination of all that.

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The only slight flaw to this rationale is that the firmest damper setting mostly doesn’t gel with typical Aussie roads, and on a steady-state throttle, the sportier exhaust setting is a bit drone-prone.

And if we circle back to its AMG rival, the Audi’s engine, while polished and rev-happy, doesn’t have the manic, nut-job edge of the Affalterbach twin-turbo V8, while the RS4’s on-limit behaviour (as per the mechanically identical RS5) is all a bit aloof and uninterested in making you feel like an oppo-lock hero.

But maybe that point of difference should be applauded, not lamented. For 90 per cent of drivers, 90 per cent of the time, the RS4 is all the hi-po wagon they could ever hope for, probably making the choice not really a coin-toss at all.

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