Recently our friends over at Car & Driver published a story suggesting a new RS 4 wasn’t to be. Contacts of ours years ago confirmed an RS 4 sedan would have never been in the cards anyway as the 4-door buyer was predominantly also the RS 5 buyer. Still, our information about a RS 4 Avant was from a reliable source and, since I have no doubt C&D’s Jens Meiners is also well (and likely more recently) informed, this has gotten me thinking why the RS 4 may have been axed… at least for now.
Why? It can’t be for lack of sales. Audi is having a banner year, though it is true that the RS 5 hasn’t been all that well received by the press… at least in the all-important compare articles. I remember the first time a highly placed source at Audi AG told me about the RS 5 project with its high-rev V8 from the RS 4 bumped 30 hp with an extra intake. The move seemed lackluster and I, along with seemingly the rest of the motoring press, dreamed of something more radical.
Rumor stories around the press during this time prior to the RS 5’s launch still suggested it might get the V10 biturbo from the RS 6. “It can’t be done,” said my source. “It simply wouldn’t fit.”
Normally well-connected and very in-the-know CAR Magazine held to the belief that the car would be some turbocharged V8.
Lees verder op Fourtitude.
