Regardless of performance, it was bloody good fun. Anyway, here are the results of our test:
Straight line acceleration to about 120ish there is very little in it. He was first on the throttle and I was behind catching him up... but not rapidly. I would definitely have overtaken him given enough runway, but there was so little in it, to all practical purposes the straight line performance is the same.
In the twisty stuff I think he was surprised how nimble the RS6 is, but he still was all over my ass. No doubt that the RS4 is more agile, but the RS6 is no slouch either. But for sure, you won't lose an RS4 in the twisty stuff if you're in a RS6. But neither will you shame an RS6. Didn't help that I was 2 up, either.
Then we decided to swap cars. This is my impression of the RS4:
No doubt it feels slower when you've just been driving an RS6. If we hadn't just gone head to head I would have sworn that it was a slower car. In the RS6 you get a large swell of power from low down which makes the car feel powerful. In the RS4 you have to work the engine. When you do start working the engine, you very quickly (and deceptively) get up to proper speeds.
Once you start pushing the RS4, though, it's a real pleasure. I was surprised how instantly at home I felt in it, giving it the beans. Extremely responsive and once you get used to changing gear at 8000 rpm you get a big grin on your face that you can't turn off.
Braking felt about the same in both. Steering very similar in both.
Suspension was interesting. The RS4 was on sports plus suspension, working very nicely. It felt surprisingly similar to my '6 on PSS9s. Same comfort, very similar handling.
The only negative thing I can say about the RS4 is that I wasn't able to find a comfortable driving position. I don't like the seats, but they do hold you in much better than the RS6 seats.
In summary, neither car will "rip apart" the other. They are both excellent, excellent cars. They both look stunning and they both perform very similarly, in straight line or twisty stuff.
The RS6 is slightly quicker in a straight line, but not massively. The RS4 is slightly better in the corners, but not massively. No big surprises there.
so the Millennium Falcon will be a useful tool, especially if you like the that turbo rush... hmmm, i'm off to check the classifieds.....
Also, I didn't spend a lot of time setting up the seats and I didn't want to mess up my mate's seat position too much. Another friend is picking up his RS4 this week and that one that has got the comfort seats so I'll give that a try.