Audi stickers red-hot facelift RS4 and RS5

Having both debuted two years ago, Audi has backed-up pricing of the facelift R8 last week by announcing the stickers of the revised RS4 Avant and the RS5.

RS4

Continuing as the sole estate version of the A4, and the flagship until the arrival of the RS6, the RS4’s exterior revisions consists of redesigned headlights with standard LEDs or optional Matrix LEDs, a gloss black honeycomb pattern for the wider and also borderless Singleframe grille, wider wheel arches, the now trademark three slits below the bonnet, revised front and rear bumpers, matte aluminium roof rails and chrome dual oval tipped exhaust outlets.

Riding as standard on the otherwise optional, in Europe, 20-inch alloy wheels, the RS4 also offers buyers the option of three exterior packages, the matte aluminium, carbon or gloss black limited to the mirror caps, diffuser, front, rear and side sills, the RS badge and the added option of the Audi four rings logo at the base of the rear doors.

Inside, the 10.1-inch MMI Navigation Plus infotainment system comes as standard along with the 12.3-inch Virtual Cockpit Display instrument cluster that boasts RS specific graphics and readouts, 30 colours for the ambient lighting, plus the RS sport steering wheel and larger aluminium gear shift paddles.

For the local market, the RS sport seats trimmed in black nappa leather or moon silver with embedded honeycomb stitch work is standard with the added option of the RS Design Package made up of fine black nappa leather armrests with Crescendo Red stitching, black seatbelts with red detailing, an Alcantara gear lever and centre console with Crescendo Red stitch work, black RS badged floor mats with red piping, and further Crescendo Red detailing on the steering wheel, knee pads and gear lever itself.

Aside from the infotainment system, the RS4 also boasts Lane Change Assist and from the options list, an upgraded Bang & Olufsen 3D sound system, Heads-Up Display, Park Assist, a surround-view camera, Active Lane Assist, Adaptive Cruise Control and Traffic Jam Assist. Practically remains unaffected by the upgrades with the boot swallowing 495-litres or 1 495-litres with the rear seats folded down.

Up front, Audi has kept the twin-turbocharged 2.9 TFSI V6 engine unchanged with its 331kW/600Nm going to all four wheels via an eight-speed Tiptronic gearbox. Able to accelerate from 0-100 km/h in 3.9 seconds and top out at 250 km/h or 280 km/h with the optional RS Dynamic Package, the RS4 comes as standard with the RS sport suspension, but not the torque splitting RS sport differential which is optional.

RS5

Unveiled some two months after the RS4, the RS5 largely the mirrors the changes applied to its sibling, but with the option of a carbon fibre reinforced plastic (CFRP) roof on the coupe Ingolstadt claims helps reduce weight by four kilograms. Like the RS4, the RS5 comes as standard with 20-inch alloy wheels, plus the optional matte aluminium, carbon and black styling packages. Also carried over is the interior which gets the mentioned 10.1-inch infotainment system and Virtual Cockpit Display instrument cluster, along with the unique albeit now RS5 branded applique and features.

As before, the RS5 is again available as either a coupe or Sportback with motivation coming from the same 331kW/600Nm 2.9 TFSI V6 as the RS4. Hooked to the eight-speed Tiptronic ‘box, the RS5 will get from 0-100 km/h in the same 3.9 seconds as the estate, with the top speed being limited to the same 250 km/h or 280 km/h.

Going on sale from the first of April, both come as standard with a five year/100 000 km Audi Freeway Plan.

PRICING

RS4 Avant – R1 296 000

RS5 Coupe – R1 394 500

RS5 Sportback – R1 409 500

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