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There are cars and there are benchmark cars. There are quite a lot of them in this issue of BSM too – the 360 Modena will be known as the first Ferrari you could drive to work, the Quattroporte is certain to be famous for its sheer beauty and the Corvette will remain the automotive expression of the Cold War era. And the Audi you see in these pages will be remembered for providing 420 bhp to all four wheels of an unsuspecting sedan. Or – this is even better – an estate.
The primary objective of flying in to Dubai was to sample the massive SUV debut of the Q7, but thoughtful friends at Audi felt it would be a good idea for us Asian scribes to sample the RS4 at Dubai’s clean-as-a-slate motorsport facility. No, we had not told them about our Summer of Speed issue.
First things first. As far as very fast sports sedans go, the textbook states that you got to have a big motor up-front driving the rear wheels, right? We all think so, since that is what we have been reading for years. And motoring hacks the world over, being proper nutcases, love the idea of massive torque to the rear wheels so that can they can slide around test tracks. But in real world conditions, where these cars have to survive severe European winters for example, it helps to have all that horsepower go to all wheels all the time. Even if that means no wild slides and opposite lock corrections that make the driver feel like a hero.
The RS4, as the name indicates, is the finest interpretation of Audi’s Quattro thinking. Not that Audi has not tried the stunt before. Actually, they have been chasing classic rear wheel driven legends like the M3s and AMG Mercs for some time now. But for the first time since the days of Walter Rohrl and his all-conquering Quattro coupe, a four-wheel drive car is going to lead that segment. Let me tell you why. First, let me just, er... kick start the RS4 with the cool button start.
Driving off the pit-lane, the RS4 lets you know that you are not driving any humdrum A4. The slight rumble from the exhaust, the sports-car vibes that cannot elude the seat of your pants and, of course, the seats that try to locate the exact location of your kidneys so that it can keep you grabbed. The last time I drove a four-wheel drive sedan hard I crashed spectacularly as anyone playing GT4 for the first time would. So I try to get familiar with things – starting with a blip of the throttle. The noise of engine revs building up has never been so spectacularly calibrated. It starts with a crackle and settles into steely rumble, and gets on to a lumpy thrum (the V8 got to announce itself, right?) and pales off with a hint of a wail which is normally reserved to only genuine supercars. It really sounds like a music system tuned by someone whose middle name is Equaliser – you don’t miss the subtle low notes yet high frequencies will never get people to look for forgotten bomb shelters. Brilliant.
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