Audi RS 5 Avant Review: The Art Of Being Addictive

There are (a) fast cars, (b) ridiculously fast cars, and (c) cars that make you question why you should take the shortest route home when there's a perfectly good, unnecessarily longer alternative.

The new Audi RS 5 Avant belongs firmly in that last category.

Yes this is 2026, when even family-friendly electric SUVs can deliver supercar acceleration; a 3.6-second 0–100 km/h sprint hardly raises eyebrows anymore. But acceleration is merely a number; how a car delivers it is an entirely different matter.

And goodness me, the RS 5 Avant delivers - it growls, it shifts gears with conviction and, despite carrying enough hybrid hardware to make an engineer lose sleep, somehow manages to feel like a proper performance car.

There's something wonderfully rebellious about that - particularly when it comes wrapped in an estate body. At 4,896 mm long and 1,952 mm wide, the RS 5 is considerably larger than the previous RS 4 Avant. Those swollen wheel arches, enormous air intakes and signature oval exhaust outlets aren't exactly subtle; compared with the previous RS 4 Avant, the changes go considerably deeper than appearances.

Compared with the outgoing RS 4 Avant, the new RS 5 has undergone quite the growth spurt. It's 114 mm longer, 86 mm wider and has an additional 77 mm between its axles. The old 2.9-litre twin-turbo V6's 444 bhp and 600 Nm were hardly lacking, true, but the hybrid newcomer now boasts a whopping 630 bhp and 825 Nm, dispatching the century sprint in 3.6 seconds instead of 4.1.

Unfortunately, all that additional muscle comes with considerably more baggage, quite literally: The RS 5 weighs around 2.37 tonnes, roughly 580 kg more than its predecessor, yet its boot has shrunk from 495 to 361-litres. Bigger, stronger and faster, but less room for your luggage - whoever said progress was straightforward?

The Inside Story

Open the door and it's immediately familiar Audi territory. Everything feels solid, the fit and finish are excellent, and the RS sports seats strike a fine balance between holding you firmly in place and allowing you to walk normally after a long drive.

The driving position is spot-on, with a flat-bottomed steering wheel that feels properly purposeful.

Then there's the dashboard, which appears to have taken the concept of screen time rather literally. An 11.9-inch digital instrument cluster sits alongside a 14.5-inch MMI touchscreen, while the front passenger gets a dedicated 10.9-inch display for navigation and entertainment. A privacy function helps prevent distracting video content from being visible to the driver.

Useful? Certainly. But I still wish Audi would bring back proper physical air-conditioning controls; not everything needs to involve poking a screen.

The Bang & Olufsen sound system, however, is outstanding. More on that later.

Rear accommodation is decent, although the 361-litre boot, expanding to 1,302 litres with the seats folded, is disappointing for an estate approaching five metres in length (for comparison’s sake, the M3 Touring offers 500-litres and maximum 1,510-litres) - the hybrid hardware has clearly taken its share of luggage space. So yes, it's a family estate, just not quite the load-lugging champion its proportions suggest.

Powering It

Now comes the part that might upset the purists.

The RS 5 Avant is Audi Sport's first plug-in hybrid RS model. Before anyone starts mourning the good old days, let's examine what that actually means.

Underneath the bonnet sits a 2.9-litre twin-turbocharged V6 producing 503 bhp (375 kW) and 600 Nm, supported by an electric motor delivering another 174 bhp (130 kW) and 460 Nm. Together, they produce 630 bhp (470 kw) and 825 Nm, channelled through an eight-speed tiptronic automatic and quattro all-wheel drive.

A 25.9 kWh battery, with 22 kWh usable, provides up to 83 km of electric range under provisional WLTP figures. For the curious, charging at 11 kW AC takes approximately two and a half hours.

Those numbers explained, what that means is you can quietly creep out of your condominium carpark in EV mode without announcing your departure to the entire neighbourhood. Then, when the V6 fires up, the soundtrack changes rather dramatically and you start grinning like an idiot…

The electric motor also fills the gaps before the turbochargers reach full boost, giving the RS 5 immediate response without sacrificing the sensations of a combustion engine.

The downside? Weight. At almost 2.4-tonnes, the RS 5 is substantially heavier than its predecessor; Audi counters that with RS sport suspension, twin-valve dampers and a new rear-axle torque-vectoring system called Dynamic Torque Control.

The latter actively redistributes torque between the rear wheels in as little as 15 milliseconds, helping the car turn into corners rather than simply pushing its considerable mass through them.

Very clever indeed, but does all this technology actually make the RS 5 enjoyable?

Driving Experience

Given the keys for half a week, I spent one of the nights driving around the circumference of Singapore; not because I had somewhere important to be, I simply wanted to see how many personalities Audi had managed to squeeze into this complicated-sounding estate.

Quite a few, apparently. In its default ‘Balanced’ mode, the RS 5 is surprisingly civilised. Select ‘Dynamic’, and the steering, throttle and suspension become noticeably more alert; it's the setting for when you're feeling enthusiastic, perhaps even a little showy.

‘Comfort’, meanwhile, is what you want after a long working day. The suspension relaxes, the drivetrain settles down and, with your favourite music playing through that excellent Bang & Olufsen system, the RS 5 becomes a rather agreeable grand tourer.

But when you're feeling mischievous? ‘RS Sport’. This is where the car removes its business suit, loosens its tie and remembers that it comes from Audi Sport - the V6 becomes more vocal, throttle response sharpens and the eight-speed tiptronic starts delivering satisfyingly assertive gear changes.

I absolutely love the shift-shock under hard acceleration. In an age when performance cars have become obsessed with seamless power delivery, there's something deeply satisfying about feeling an engine working through its gears. Some might call those interruptions a lack of refinement; I call them… character.

And when you really put your foot down, the RS 5 Avant is nothing short of explosive. There's barely a moment's hesitation before the electric motor and twin-turbo V6 unleash a tremendous wall of torque, pinning you firmly into the seat as the scenery begins arriving rather more quickly than anticipated. The V6 growls with increasing aggression, the eight-speed tiptronic fires through its ratios with deliciously assertive jolts, and the relentless surge of acceleration makes the whole experience feel wonderfully mechanical, almost theatrical. It's brutally rapid, yet there's a rhythm to the way it gathers speed that makes you want to experience it all over again. In a world where instant acceleration has become almost ordinary, the RS 5 reminds you that being fast and feeling fast are two very different things.

Then there's the dedicated Boost button on the steering wheel. Press it, and the RS 5 summons its full 630 horses and 825 Nm for 10 seconds, selecting the appropriate gear and opening the exhaust valves. A countdown appears on the instrument display, just in case you need reminding how quickly 10 seconds can disappear.

It's effectively a shortcut to maximum performance, rather than additional horsepower.

Not forgetting ‘RS Torque Rear’, a track-oriented mode that directs more torque towards the outside rear wheel to encourage controlled oversteer.

Did I try it? Absolutely not. My responsible adult self decided that preserving my driving licence and avoiding unnecessary insurance paperwork was more important than discovering how sideways a 2.4-tonne Audi could travel.

Some temptations are best reserved for Sepang...

Handling Wise

Now, here's where things become genuinely interesting. The RS 5 is heavy, there's no escaping that; but through corners, it behaves with a composure that makes you question where Audi has hidden most of those kilograms.

That aside, while the electric steering is precise and reassuringly weighted, a little more road feedback wouldn't hurt.

Those gorgeous 21-inch wheels, wrapped in seriously wide 285/30 R21 Bridgestone Potenza Sport tyres all around, contribute enormous mechanical grip through fast corners and sweeping bends.

Combine that with the rear-axle torque-vectoring system, and the RS 5 turns in confidently, holds its line and accelerates out without unnecessary drama.

The suspension keeps body movements tightly controlled, although sudden directional changes still reveal the car's considerable mass. On Singapore's expressways, it's equally convincing - straight-line stability is excellent, the ride remains composed and the brakes deliver reassuring stopping power with a progressive pedal.

It's not a lightweight sports car, nor does it pretend to be one. Instead, it's a rather remarkable demonstration of how far chassis engineering has progressed. Kudos, Audi.

Now we all know how important good anchors are, looking at the quality of drivers plying our roads. With Audi’s high-performance system featuring cross-drilled discs (by the way those are 420 mm front and 400 mm rear discs, with six piston front and four piston rear calipers), braking power is one of the RS5’s strongest suits. I was fortunate enough (or unfortunate, depending on how you look at it) to put the brakes to a rather unexpected test - I’m glad to report they proved more than capable of hauling this wagon down from speed with remarkable urgency. My heart rate, however, took considerably longer to return to normal.

In A Nutshell

At over S$700,000 in Singapore, the RS 5 Avant isn't exactly an impulse purchase. Its natural rivals include the BMW M3 Touring and Mercedes-AMG C 63 S E Performance.

And it's certainly not perfect. Heavy, the boot could be bigger, and the touchscreen-heavy cabin needs some getting used to. The steering could communicate more as well.

Years ago, I drove the naturally aspirated V8-powered RS 4 Avant and came away convinced Audi had created something wonderfully imperfect. Seeing the progress, this new RS 5 Avant here is a very different machine; yet, despite its electrification and electronic intervention, it hasn't lost that essential sense of mechanical involvement.

The RS 5 Avant's greatest achievement isn't its output, acceleration or even its astonishing ability to disguise all that weight; it's how effortlessly it gets under your skin. I had it for half a week, drove it through the night(s), and still found myself inventing excuses to get behind the wheel.

Some cars are difficult to forget; this one was difficult to leave alone. And frankly, if Audi had given me another week with it, I'd probably still be out there…

Technical Specification - Audi RS 5 Avant

Power/Torque: 630 bhp/825 Nm (combined)
Battery type/Capacity: Lithium-ion/22 kWh
Charging time: 2.5 hours (AC), 0-100%. DC not supported.
0-100 km/h: 3.6 seconds
Top speed: 250 km/h
Efficiency: 9.6L/100 km
Agent: Audi Singapore Pte Ltd

Photos by Azfar Hashim (@azfar.talks)

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