We’re pinned back in our seats ripping through the Black Forest in the 2019 Audi RS 5 Sportback, medieval German castles tucked hidden somewhere behind the green blur of thin tall trees. There’s a morsel of tasty irony being in Germany at the helm of Audi Sport’s newest model, as the U.S.—which often doesn’t get some of the most tantalizing German sports cars—will get Sportback first before any other market. Including Germany.
Michael Renz, head of Audi Sport tells us that’s on account of Americans’ appetites for performance and upmarket cars. And performance indeed it’ll have, there’s plenty of grunt on tap from its 444 horsepower, generous 443 lb-ft of torque, Audi-developed 2.9-liter twin-turbo, paired with an eight-speed ZF Tiptronic transmission. This is the same one Porsche borrows, the four-ringed product managers remind us. Good thing too, as we had two days to push the five-door hatchback in a variety of environments.
The Drive
A small luxury, our drive included autobahn blasts, a half-day at Audi Sport’s Neuburg, Germany headquarters, with a few laps on its own test track, and a bounty of glorious country roads. The mix really helped determine how much of a comfy GT or raucous hooligan the RS 5 Sportback can be.
Look at That
Our Sonoma Green color is exclusive to the RS 5 model range, and on Sportback it looks as if the Hulk has had a successful summer shred. The taut lines, muscle, wide Singleframe grille, and honeycomb air intakes indicate that there’s a mini-dragon tucked under the hood. While you can currently buy an RS 5 Coupe—ripe with plenty of appeal itself—coupes have obvious limitations. Ones the Sportback remedies with two extra doors, and a hatch-rear which adds further practicality.
Don’t Look at This
When it arrives later this year, Audi Sport’s newest model will start at $75,195 after delivery. That sounds like a great price with all of style, performance, and technology Sportback offers. But our as-tested models had all the bells and whistles, including the Dynamic performance package—which adds red brake calipers, an RS sport suspension with Dynamic Ride Control, and an RS sport exhaust system with black tips—as well as higher-tier Dynamic Plus pack. That ups the electronically-limited speed of 155 mph up to 174 mph, carbon-ceramic brakes, a carbon engine cover, and gray calipers. The catch? Loaded models will run north of $90k, and at that point the field of alternatives widens.
Cockpit and Cabin
Audi’s famously exquisite interiors continue to delight on Sportback. The S sport seats, leather-perforated RS flat-bottom wheel, available Virtual Cockpit, best-in-the-biz 8.3-inch MMI center media screen and Navigation system, and available full color head-up display make for an impressive environment.
More, Please
While at the Audi Sport testing grounds, Audi wet down a tarmac and had us complete a few exercises that helped us determine a few things. First, while Quattro provides exceptional grip—40 percent of power is sent to the front wheels, 60 percent to the rear as a standard setup— that can fluctuate as needed. That includes sending all of the torque to either rear wheel, which especially helps when pushing out of a corner. But it also has a two-stage electronic stability control deactivation, which can be initiated simply by holding down the ESC button. The result? You can powerslide to your heart’s delight, the Sportback can drift if you will it to.
It can also handle, as proved with a few blasts around the Neuburg track. Steering is direct enough, and the chassis pinned down with plenty of grip, to allow for hard driving. On the autobahn, the torque comes on in a blink, there’s thrust when you want it, throughout the range, and performance brakes to bring our upgraded 275/30 20-inch summer performance tires to a screeching halt when needed. The real test though? Was on the country roads.
Audi’s RS 5 Sportback is as much a GT as a sports car, and as such is really meant for longer, spirited drives, like a good road trip. There are various driving modes—comfort, auto, individual, and dynamic—and there is a fair bit of differentiation that can be had. In comfort, the engine is nearly muted, the ride, as advertised, mightily smooth and comfortable, and the cabin a generally pleasant place to be. On the other end of the spectrum, dynamic firms everything up, and the exhaust gets downright menacing, in the best way possible. It’s almost as if you have several cars in one.
Less, Please
In the endless search for weight savings, when every ounce is tabulated for better performance and fuel economy, there are some concessions. One particularly silly one is the perforated sheet that separates the cabin from the glass sunroof. It’s light, but it also doesn’t shut out all of the light, something that people in the sunniest climes could find annoying over time.
The Future is Now
Audi has outfitted its newest RS with lap timer, it’s already got the best nav screen and graphics in the biz, and there are new features, too. Gear-shift lighting indicates where you’re at in the rev-range, and when you’re approaching an optimal time to shift. Parking assist is a sure sign that eventually, the robots will call our number. We tested it out, and you still do the braking and accelerating, but the car completely handles the steering for you. So for those parking-challenged individuals we all know, especially with parallel parking, it does the work for you. Like the first calculators to arrive, it’s useful technology that we can see eventually becoming the norm. But for now, you can try it for yourself, and impress your occupants, or save face.
Get Real
Boasting a lot of bark and plenty of bite, the 2019 Audi RS 5 Sportback will bring Audi Sport’s latest model to the U.S. first, later this year. Squint and you might see a bit of Audi’s glorious rally cars of yore, but make no mistake, Sportback is a modern technological marvel of a machine. With a trick new suspension that’s ready for brunch with grams or track-attack with your best man—whatever your speed—and plenty of style, and added practicality, the RS 5 Sportback is packed with allure.