At first sight, you might think it's kind of an unfair comparison. Sure, both wagons are over five metres long and both are powered...
by a 4.0-litre V8. However, this Porsche will cost you more than €160.000, excluding taxes. The Audi on the other hand, 'only' costs €104.000.
However, we haven't mentioned the most popular tax in our country yet, the bpm-tax. And because the Porsche is able to drive electrically,
the Porsche only has a small amount of bpm. However, the Audi isn't able to drive electrically, so it has lots of bpm to pay.
Also, the Porsche comes with ceramic brakes, parking heater, metallic paint, a top speed of over 300 km/h... All as standard.
In short, it's fully loaded, whilst the RS6 still has to be equipped. If you start ticking options, you'll have to pay around €21.000...
for a pack which also has four-wheel steering. And because that's a very neat option, you should have it on the Porsche as well.
And that results in a price difference which is only five percent of what it used to be. I love tax regulations.
Sure, you can ask yourself how fair it is to financially stimulate a car powered by a 4.0-litre V8, but it's still able to do 35 kilometres...
fully electric. Of course, it won't be very quick because it's only using a small part of the power, but it's always available.
That means it feels rapid enough. Also, when you're driving at around 100 km/h on the motorway, it does 35 emissionless kilometres without effort.
I'd almost say that every kilometre is one, because if the V8 kicks in, the fuel gauge almost plummets faster than the speedometer rises.
And that says something. Combined, the engine and electric motor produce a whopping 680 horsepower and 850 Nm of torque.
It absolutely doesn't care that the car itself weighs almost 2.300 kg. If you use the launch control, it's almost like being fired from a cannon.
But it doesn't stop at 100 km/h, it just keeps accelerating. Almost like you're in a vacuum. And the great thing is, if you put all modes in Sport,
the double clutch PDK-gearbox reacts extremely direct to the flappy paddles. It's incredibly sharp, you immediately get the electric push...
with the huge V8-torque following behind it, but if you engage E-power again... The V8 shuts down and it becomes a quiet, calm, comfortable electric GT.
So it's able to be comfortable and economical, and on the other hand it can be very fast and very sporty. The only time when it doesn't...
really work, is when you're transitioning power sources. When you're driving along in Hybrid-mode, you decide you want to overtake a lorry.
When you put your foot down, you'll confuse the electronics. It has to think about combining electric power with the V8 and the way it has to operate...
the clutch. It takes a tad too long and it sometimes feels a little abrupt when its solution is producing a huge wave of power.
The chassis then. I think it's even more impressive than the amount of power. Sure, 680 horsepower makes everything fast, but the chassis has...
air suspension as standard and some kind of supercomputer to combine everything. So when you're driving it in its most comfortable...
mode, it's such a floaty car. It cancels out imperfections completely. But when you go into Sport Plus, the air suspension lowers,
the active roll-bars and dampers tighten up, the four-wheel steering becomes more agressive and the LSD kicks in.
And that's when you feel most connected to the car. Sure, it weighs a lot, but you immediately feel the connection. In your finger tips,
in your buttocks, you'll feel what the car is doing and how far you're from the limit. That means you're able to drive this 2.400 kg-giant in a way...
that shouldn't be possible. It sticks to the tarmac because of the four-wheel drive. And because that four-wheel drive sends all of the power to the back...
and lets the LSD work its way around the power, and only sends the power to the front when there's no alternative, it's truly playful to drive.
You're able to throw it around corners in Sport-mode, and the connection really feels special because of the weight.
However, something every plug-in hybrid suffers from, you'll always feel the mass being present. Despite all of its performances, it'll never become nimble.
And it might sound crazy, but coming out of the Panamera, this 2.050 kg RS6 does feel nimble.
Something you don't really feel when you steer into the corner, but rather when you're halfway through. Mr. Newton just pulls...
less hard than in the Panamera. That's nice. It also feels less complicated, despite the fact they share a lot of parts.
Both are built by Volkswagen of course. But the RS6 feels more analogue. That's because of the drivetrain, because it doesn't have an electric motor.
You'll be waiting for one engine only when you put your foot down, and that makes it very uncomplicated.
It's full throttle and you're off. Sure, it's a tad slower than the Panamera on paper, but that's scoreboard-journalism.
When you reach 2.000 RPM and it throws the 800 Nm of torque on the tarmac, you won't hold this back.
However, you'll see that in the consumption figures and this comes with a fully automatic 8-speed instead of Porsche's PDK.
And it's a tad smoother, but it doesn't have the hard changes of the PDK. That also means that when you put your foot down,
it's a bit drawy despite being a bit quicker. However, if you put it in manual and you start paddling yourself, it's truly impressive you can change...
gears this quickly with a conventional gearbox. You just don't get the hard changes the PDK has.
So it works a bit differently, but the result is just as crushing. It's incredibly quick.
Then there's the chassis, where the differences are a tad bigger. That starts with the optional Dynamic Ride-chassis. Quite a remarkable...
option, because the RS6 comes with air suspension as standard. So you'll pay for steel springs, but also for active shocks.
Between right front and left rear, and vice versa. So if you corner to the right, the shocks on the left get pumped up, to counter body roll.
That means the car feels really tight, and combined with rear-wheel steering and the sports differential, this might be the best driving RS from the past years.
It's a huge, heavy car with lots of weight in the nose. It also doesn't offer as much connection as the Porsche.
There's less feeling in the steering wheel, but the way you steer into the corner feels less like nothing than other RS-cars.
You're not only managing the weight at the front. Instead, you're throwing it around corners. The quattro-four wheel-drive allows you to put your foot...
down immediately when exiting a corner, and it'll go. So it offers the accessibility of a true Audi RS,
going incredibly fast without too much effort, but it doesn't feel like it's actively working against you.
And that's very impressive. If you ask me, one of the best and sensational Audi's RS-models from the past years. But does that make it good enough to...
beat the Porsche? When we add up the points, I don't think it is. The Porsche is one and half times as expensive as the Audi,
and it shows. The interior is a more special place to sit in than in the RS6, which feels like a dressed-up A6.
Also, you have the possibility to plug the Porsche, so theoretically the usage costs of the Porsche should be lower.
It's much more of this time. Sure it has lots of power, but it kind of makes up for it with its green edge.
On the other hand, I can't remember the last time I had this much fun behind the wheel of an RS. Also, I must admit that I find the 'Yes I have lots...
of power and I'm not ashamed'-attitude of the Audi pretty refreshing...