Express to nowhere. Exploring the capabilities of the super wagon Audi RS6 Avant

Often, when you quote the performance figures of a car like the RS6, you hear that such cars are not suitable for our cities, where traffic freezes as if the roads were treated with Viagra. I object: that's not true! If you don't count that you'll need to refuel more often than you brush your teeth, you can even exist comfortably in a fast car in a traffic jam. First of all, modern sports cars aren't that uncomfortable. Try to find a car today with a heavy clutch or without air conditioning! And the main thing — the pleasure comes before you even press the gas pedal, before the tachometer needle goes into the red zone, before the car goes into a slide. The pleasure is in anticipation. But with the Audi RS6, it's different. Because you can drive it around the city in complete comfort, without any reservations! The cabin is spacious, the trunk is huge, the equipment is luxurious, and visibility is excellent (even despite the fact that the aerodynamic RS mirrors are smaller than standard ones). And the six-speed automatic follows the gas pedal so precisely and smoothly that some Mercedes would envy it! After all, the torque of 650 N•m is available from 1500 rpm: the engine will pull from any gear. Is this really that "all-in-one" car? A business-class car, whose navigation system should have more options when plotting a route than usual: besides standard items like "include ferry crossings" or "toll roads," also "with a stop on the way to the Nürburgring, please." The five-liter V10, which Audi engineers borrowed from Lamborghini's stables and fed well, is a real monster. But the most surprising thing: although the speedometer needle flies toward the "320" mark with such furious speed, as if the devil himself were chasing it, acceleration from a standstill doesn't turn into an Event. What shocks is not the g-forces, not the infernal roar of the engine, but only how the needle gains speed. Very fast, but very smooth. Yes, 4.6 seconds is very, very fast. And easy. All the driver needs to do is release the brake and press the accelerator. But in a normal city situation, the RS6 doesn't feel like a fast car! You press the gas, the gear seems appropriate, but there's no acceleration. A moment, the turbos wake up — and only then does acceleration begin. But you've already changed your mind. But country roads! If you're going to pray to any of the official figures, let it be acceleration to 200 km/h. Or to 250. Here the RS6 impresses. It doesn't matter what the speedometer shows. You press the gas and overtake faster than thought: much sooner than you could have imagined. On such a road, you are the king, the star, the deity. Call yourself whatever you want, all definitions are correct. And here, smooth acceleration is a plus: you don't get tired of it. You get tired of something else. First, it's noisy. Pirelli P Zero tires sized 275/35 R20 chatter like Italians on a plane. The tires also make the car quite sensitive to ruts: the car doesn't dart from side to side, but the steering wheel constantly twitches in convulsions. That, however, is just the beginning. The main thing is that the RS6 makes you curse our roads. In Moscow, where the asphalt, no matter how various bores criticize it, is still good, there are zero problems. Yes, it's a bit stiff, but after all, it's not an A6, but an RS6. But as soon as you get on a highway of mediocre quality... There seem to be no potholes, but the RS6 repeats the road profile so thoroughly and fiercely that you feel uneasy as soon as you imagine having to drive another hundred or two hundred kilometers. What impresses is not the frequency, but the amplitude of vertical oscillations. Active dampers don't save you. At first, after switching from sport to comfort mode, you think: "Wow, it's like they swapped the car." If in the first mode the car recounts every flaw in the asphalt, in the other it becomes more tolerant. There's even a hint of rocking on waves! But, alas, comfort mode smooths out only small waves, and on larger ones, it shakes with the same force. But even on our asphalt, the car holds reliably in any conditions. In a turn on joints and potholes, it doesn't jump off the trajectory. And the suspension's energy capacity is sufficient. And what grip in corners! In the city, it seems the RS6 would stick to the asphalt even if driving upside down. You throw it into a sharp turn, and it... just goes through it. Easily and effortlessly, like it reaches its hundred from a standstill. And just as emotionlessly. It's a different story if you floor it. That mode for the RS6 is like a skeptic for an astrologer. There's no magic, but there are, it turns out, the laws of physics. Here you notice that the body roll isn't as small as it seems, that under braking the car dives noticeably, and in a极限 turn... nothing terrible happens! Only understeer. Understeer is the only thing the Audi RS6 can do beyond the limit, when it comes to dry asphalt. And that, on one hand, is uninteresting. Moreover, the RS6 doesn't yield to provocations any more than an experienced scout. Counter-steering simply doesn't work. And breaking traction with power? It won't work. If you try, the gearbox, even in manual mode, will shift up on its own. And — quite interestingly! — it will refuse to shift down if after the shift the tachometer would show more than four thousand rpm. Forget it! Everything here is tuned for safety! The handling of a two-ton car is tuned so safely that it's as if the potential owner would have a heart attack if the RS6 went into a slide. For five million rubles, Audi offers driving on a trajectory without fear of overdoing it. Plus the steering wheel, which, although heavy as a millstone, isn't particularly informative: when the wheels lose grip, you don't feel the car very well. However, nothing terrible happens. Understeer, we already know.

• Front airbags
• Side airbags and inflatable "curtains"
• Dynamic stability control system
• Anti-theft system with immobilizer
• On-board computer
• Multifunctional steering wheel with gear shift paddles
• Light and rain sensor
• Adaptive bi-xenon headlights
• Fog lights
• Seats with leather and Alcantara upholstery, power adjustment and memory function
• Heated front seats
• Carbon interior trim
• Dual-zone climate control
• BOSE audio system with CD changer and 12 speakers
• MMI multimedia system with color display
• Alloy 19-inch wheels

• Navigation system
• Alloy 20-inch wheels
• Dynamic Ride Control shock absorbers with adjustable characteristics