Auto Express RS Avant video

[anditsoundslikebells]

https://youtu.be/KAswrfHpTrc?si=GdL2PECyGgTPsNah

I came across yesterday.

The C5 RS6 takes a bashing. Quite different to Matt's review:

https://youtu.be/4ztSiVzTbrg?si=pna1uZVPDRmYayJ3

I wonder if the difference is objective or subjective.

With all these early RS models being rare I've not seen some on the road, let alone drive them.

The RS2 would be a mint garage queen, the B5 a monster power VeeDub style project car... I'm happy to have the C5 a mildly modded as my only car.

The one that always tempts me away is the B7 manual + 8k revving engine. Add a supercharger and you have a German muscle car wagon.

Some of you guys said it doesn't feel as special as the C5?

......also

I got made redundant from my job in Switzerland. I'll be returning to Holland and maybe one day, back to the UK. Planning a UK car is one of the silver linings of the fork in the road.

[Shoppinit]

Oh. Sorry to hear that. You only just got there!

The B7 is a good car. Nothing not to like, really. I prefer the look of the RS6. I wouldn't mod it though, especially with a supercharger. It doesn't rev to 10k. IIRC the limiter is at about 8k, maybe 8.5, which is still pretty good for a big V8. It doesn't feel as fast as the RS6 even though it is. Turbo effect, innit. Nice and nimble, though. I wouldn't say it doesn't feel as special as the C5. They are very similar car in many ways.

I suspect the reviewer was looking through the lens of track performance. It's not really a track car. Too heavy. It would cost a fortune in brakes and wear apart from anything else, and be outperformed in corners by most things. Also, you don't know what mods had been made to the one he was driving. For all we know it was on crappy H&R, or worn-out DRC.

It's a pity he didn't do the C7 PE. By most accounts, a better car than the C8.

Obviously an RS2 is the dream.

[srichards]

Watched some of that a few days ago. The moment he said 'drove like a shed' I switched off!

[itreallyisRob]

I completely agree with what Shoppinit has said. The C5 is more of a high speed comfy cruiser than a b road blaster, and I dont think it was ever meant to be anything other than that?
B7 is a great car but I found it lacking in power surprisingly! I'd like to have a go of a 'charged one!

[Lander91]

I saw that. What he was looking for out of a car is not what the C5 was designed for, though it can carve up corners well - for a front heavy wagon with a few improvements to suspension, brake pads and some high performance modern tyres.

Even without the mods, e.g. bone stock (but fully working) it does better than its competitors at what it was designed for. I've an almost exact contemporary match with my '04 E55, almost exactly the same milage. The C5 handles better and feels more dynamic - both pull like freight trains but there is a difference in delivery with 2x turbos vs Lysholm sc. Worth mentioning that the C5 has coilovers and Hotchkiss ARBs.

[anditsoundslikebells]

You were too quick Shop! Don't know where I got 10k from

The six months in Switzerland has been good, beautiful landscape, shitty job, absurd management, crazy cost of living. I'm happy to be going back to the relative ease of living in Holland.

I think I'll find one for sale at a dealer in Holland and satisfy my curiosity.

Now that mine is well sorted I'd be mad to go through that again with another car. It also turns out that after making it 580 I don't really hammer it along much. I enjoy being in the luxury large cabin, taking it to the hardware store & tip, the idea of the future camping trips, and occasionally pinning myself to the chair with the V8 rumble and turbo spin up.

If I'm honest, I've always liked the looks of the more classic cars. In a way I can draw a line from my '65 beetle to the '03 RS6. I'd say this is the last model which keeps the classic Audi looks & I'm happy with that.

After a bit more digging I found shops comparison from 2011:

viewtopic.php?f=35&t=90595

I'll be in Holland for 18 months so I'll satisfy my need for a project by finishing the RS6.

I'd like to get the Bilsteins set up properly.

The rear disks are about to need replacing. I'm thinking to upgrade the brake, maybe to an R8 setup. Last time I spoke to them StillStatic can make a kit for it. B5 as reference:

https://still-static.com/product/b5-rs4 ... 56mm-disc/

I'd also consider switching to 20's and bigger brakes... although this is all a dream for now until I get a new job

[Shoppinit]

Don't bother with the brakes. I did mine for fun, but the standard brakes with decent pads are more than up to the job unless you're tracking the car hard.

Yeah, Switzerland is bonkers expensive. And too scary to drive fast, given the Draconian punishments. Don't know what Holland is like for that, except that those massive 100kmh stretches on the motorway during the day make me pull my hair out when I'm driving to Germany.