Audi RS5 Sportback launched in India for Rs 1.04 crore

Audi has announced the launch of the RS5 Sportback in India. The RS5 Sportback, a go-faster sibling of the four-door S5 Sportback already on sale, will be powered by a 2.9-litre twin-turbo V6 engine. Prices for the RS5 Sportback will start from Rs 1.04-crore.

Design

With its swooping coupe-like roofline and hunkered-down stance, the RS5 Sportback looks like it means business – the business of going fast, that is. The full fat RS5 does have subtle differences over the ‘regular’ S5, getting RS-specific bumpers with the honeycomb grille being nestled in a new single frame. Most of the design elements such as the Matrix-LED headlamps, panoramic sunroof and frameless doors are carried over from the S5 Sportback. The most prominent visual differentiator between the S5 and the RS5 has to be the body-coloured mirrors on the RS, with the S5 getting chrome housings for the same. You also get sportier ten-spoke alloys on the RS, albeit sharing the same wheel size as the S5 at 19-inches.

Interiors

It is a similar story when you step inside, with the RS5 getting a familiar interior layout. Make no mistake, this is a well-appointed high quality cabin with plenty of kit on offer. As a result, you get all-black interiors finished in leather and Alcantara, sports seats and a 180-watt music system with ten speakers, complemented by Audi’s MMI Plus interface with navigation. There’s also a flat-bottomed steering wheel with metal-finish paddle shifters. You also get Audi’s Virtual Cockpit Plus, displaying all sorts of information from the engine’s torque outputs to G-forces to the driver. You also get to choose between two RS driving modes to tweak the engine response, shift speeds and steering sensitivity – useful for when you’re hooning the RS 5 about.

Engine

Unlike the earlier car, the new RS5 Sportback has ditched natural-aspiration, with a 2.9-litre twin-turbo V6 now lurking under the hood, mated to an eight-speed tiptronic gearbox. Power and torque figures from the V6 stand at 444bhp and 600Nm respectively, giving the RS5 a 0 to 100kmph time of 3.9 seconds. And if the brutal acceleration isn’t enough, the RS5 has a top whack of 250kmph. Power is sent to all four wheels via Quattro permanent all-wheel drive, with a self-locking differential.

Price

With introductory prices for the RS5 Sportback starting Rs 1.04 crore, the Audi is very competitively priced – especially against the likes of its rivals from Mercedes and BMW. Both the Mercedes-AMG C63 / C63 S and the new BMW M3 are not sale in India; but with the C63 S being priced at Rs 1.39 crore and the new M3 being estimated to cost around Rs 1.4 crore – the Audi RS5 Sportback seems to have found itself a sweet spot amongst the go-faster Germans.

Check out evo India's exclusive first-drive review of Audi RS5 Sportback here