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Ive previously owened (and loved) an RS4 avant which was perfect for my needs at the time living in the UK and Ive since owned an F10 m5 for the last 3 years or so which I have absolutely loved; however one thing that is definately apparent is that when road conditions are not perfect, its very difficult to utilise everything the m5 has to offer and living in England its obviously very rare to have perfect driving conditions and any form of wet essentially means that the m5 is wasted

Im therefore considering purchasing an RS6 sometime next year when prices drop to a level that I can afford second hand...Im definately wanting to go back to an estate for practicality reasons and ive always loved the look of the RS6. More importantly though, I want the quattro system so that I can deploy all of the power all of the time...When I compare my old RS4 avant with my existing M5, the RS4 in the wet was much much more usuable due to the quattro system so I can only imagine the advantanges that the RS6 will bring over my existing m5

So i wanted to keep this post fairly open and ask for your experiences so far with the RS6 and even better if you have experiences directly with the m5 so that you can directly compare the two

Many thanks!

I've not driven the M5. They were a tempting proposition as they are good value, but for me they looked too ordinary so didn't get a look in. I didn't want to spend that much on a car and still look like a Sales Rep in a 520d! For me, the RS6 looks sensational and it's the sort of car i still look back at after i've parked it.

Like you so, quattro brings that all-weather performance and i think Audi have done a great job to make the 2 ton RS6 drive well. Yes, it's not a sports car, but i still enjoy driving it and am impressed by it's talents. I may not be able to compare to an M5, but given it has a GT3 as a stablemate, i think that's pretty high praise that i still look forward to driving the Audi.

I basically love the car and couldn't endorse it enough!

The most noticeable is that your indicators will work.

One thing I love about the m5 is the gearbox, simply amazing....how does the RS6 gearbox compare? can it operate in full manual mode?

bam_bam wrote:The most noticeable is that your indicators will work.

+1

drbru wrote:One thing I love about the m5 is the gearbox, simply amazing....how does the RS6 gearbox compare? can it operate in full manual mode?

Yes, it's great - never ignores a downshift command like some 'boxes (Mercedes!).

I went from an F10 M5 to a C7 RS6.

The M5 (for me) was more fun to drive in the dry and the gearbox was significantly better, lightning fast gear changes both up and down the box. However I should mention that the RS6 was a fairly early one (EDIT: Sorry robf but mine did sometimes react slowly to a downshift). I test drove a 2016 last week and noticed that the gear box seemed significantly better in manual, it is possible I was lucky but it certainly seemed improved but an auto is unlikely to ever outdo the double clutch in the M5.

Overall the Audi is by far the more practical car and the power is always usable. It is, perhaps, a little too accomplished.

I love the gearbox on the 6. I much prefer it to the double clutch jobbie in the rs3. I can drive it in either Drive or Sport mode and both behave exactly as I'd like them to. I sometime wish the throttle response was better in drive but that might just be the way I leave it in dynamic and not cycle through the modes on start up. And when the mood takes me I flick it into manual. Before I bought the car I thought I'd spend a lot of time in manual (always had manual cars previously but driven loads of autos / DSGs) but I spend a surprising amount of time in the auto modes.

I had a F10 M5 for a while, was a great car but to me the RS6 feels quicker and more entertaining. Possibly the exhaust note and all weather ability.

Paul_m had an M5 then RS6, pretty sure he has given his thoughts on here before.

MikeFish wrote:Paul_m had an M5 then RS6, pretty sure he has given his thoughts on here before.

So bear in mind I would drive a BMW all day long if they made something I want (high power 4wd) but they don't. Cant remember what I said before but I am sure my thoughts have not changed?

For me the only thing that lets the M5 down is lack of traction. I know an other guy on here raves about 700+ and no traction issues, the way I drive the lack of traction really p1ssed me off. he must be a pussy (no offence just bit of fun) I am sure he will be along shortly to defend that statement

* Driving. Both cars are lovely. Comfy quiet could drive them both all day long
* Toys I guess it depends how much you want to spend both are excellent
* Driving sensibly MPG M5 deffo has it. I could easily get 26 - 28mpg where I struggle to get 22 -23 in the RS. 4 wheel drive making the difference?
* Gearbox cant really fault either. The M5 is sharper and quicker (twin clutch) but with both being over 550bhp there is nothing in it. RS box is amazing you would struggle to know its and Auto
* Engine, the M5 has a stronger engine at top end. Where the RS runs out of puff (cant comment on the PE RS) the M5 wants to kill everything in it path right to the rev limit. I loved it
* RS back end likes to squirm around. (read on here loads of complaint around torque steer both on AIR and springs, I don't think its that but something funny) M5 I found hated moving over the white lines when passing cars and could get into a bit of a speed wobble so I guess they both have issues / compromises
* RS LED headlights are fantastic. M5 they were an option so I never had them
* M5 HUD which I loved. RS is an option like the above I would not pay for either but they both great options
* RS HUGE space in the car. estate is very handy
* Both are crazy fast cars and very very capable although the RS is more sure footed most of the time and just feels safer due to the crap British weather.


overall they re both fantastic cars. If BMW made a 4WD M5 it would be sitting on my drive right now, but would 4wd spoil it?? who knows.

On saying all the above you will love the RS6 fantastic car and I guess everyone likes different things. Not sure why but I like BMW Oh and my new car on order is a Audi

I still miss the M5 where as I don't miss the RS. Weird. I still remember the dealer driving off in the M5 and thinking what have I done.

Look forward to your thoughts when you get the RS

Thanks for your thoughts Paul...really useful and a lot of that I can completely relate to especially around traction...I just think because of our English weather, the power is not useable all of the time and everytime I stamp on the accelerator in 1st or 2nd I dont want to have to worry about the back end stepping out..

I remember I once had my wife and 3 year old in the car....stuck behind a lorry for a good 20 minutes in the rain on a single lane road...I remember going to overtake him from third gear (not overly aggressive) but nearly lost the back end and from that moment I just thought i needed something that can cope with the rain better

Yes the M5 is a very exciting car but......Im hoping the RS6 is just as exciting but with simply more traction! lol

Realistically this wont happen until I can find an RS6 with the spec I want for something in the £50s so this will prob happen next summer which leaves me a good amount of time to sell my M5 and find the right spec RS6

We are all similar folk... i saw an M5 get pulled over last night on the same stretch of road i got done a few weeks ago

Paulm wrote:I still miss the M5 where as I don't miss the RS. Weird. I still remember the dealer driving off in the M5 and thinking what have I done.

I had exactly the same experience

Paulm wrote:

MikeFish wrote:Paul_m had an M5 then RS6, pretty sure he has given his thoughts on here before.

So bear in mind I would drive a BMW all day long if they made something I want (high power 4wd) but they don't. Cant remember what I said before but I am sure my thoughts have not changed?

For me the only thing that lets the M5 down is lack of traction. I know an other guy on here raves about 700+ and no traction issues, the way I drive the lack of traction really p1ssed me off. he must be a pussy (no offence just bit of fun) I am sure he will be along shortly to defend that statement

* Driving. Both cars are lovely. Comfy quiet could drive them both all day long
* Toys I guess it depends how much you want to spend both are excellent
* Driving sensibly MPG M5 deffo has it. I could easily get 26 - 28mpg where I struggle to get 22 -23 in the RS. 4 wheel drive making the difference?
* Gearbox cant really fault either. The M5 is sharper and quicker (twin clutch) but with both being over 550bhp there is nothing in it. RS box is amazing you would struggle to know its and Auto
* Engine, the M5 has a stronger engine at top end. Where the RS runs out of puff (cant comment on the PE RS) the M5 wants to kill everything in it path right to the rev limit. I loved it
* RS back end likes to squirm around. (read on here loads of complaint around torque steer both on AIR and springs, I don't think its that but something funny) M5 I found hated moving over the white lines when passing cars and could get into a bit of a speed wobble so I guess they both have issues / compromises
* RS LED headlights are fantastic. M5 they were an option so I never had them
* M5 HUD which I loved. RS is an option like the above I would not pay for either but they both great options
* RS HUGE space in the car. estate is very handy
* Both are crazy fast cars and very very capable although the RS is more sure footed most of the time and just feels safer due to the crap British weather.


overall they re both fantastic cars. If BMW made a 4WD M5 it would be sitting on my drive right now, but would 4wd spoil it?? who knows.

On saying all the above you will love the RS6 fantastic car and I guess everyone likes different things. Not sure why but I like BMW Oh and my new car on order is a Audi

I still miss the M5 where as I don't miss the RS. Weird. I still remember the dealer driving off in the M5 and thinking what have I done.

Look forward to your thoughts when you get the RS

Damn right he will

Being brutally honest, the car gets driven Jekyll & Hyde so although probably 60-70% of the time it's not being pushed hard, the balance of the time it's on track & hooning across country (yes, a pussy who actually fully exploits a cars performance on track)

The differentiator with my fettled M5 appears to be the wheels as I chose the standard 19" wheels, whereas many (most) chose the 20" wheel & those appear to suffer more with poorer traction. All that said, you can't defy physics & the weather so the RS6 will certainly make better progress in the wet, but the heightened dynamics in the dry (for me) more than make up for that. I use the aged old point that when the conditions are poor, is thrashing around at high speed really a sensible/safe way to drive? When the road conditions are less favourable I purely peg my progress back a little. The 'moments' I've had in my car have actually been in the dry & in good road conditions, where a huge dollop of torque catches the car out when going 2nd-3rd & 3rd-4th, but this is easily corrected & has only happened a few times.

Had the C7 RS6 been available in Saloon form & the deals/discounts available when I bought my M5 as they are now on the RS6 then i'd probably have gone RS as overall I prefer Audi's & wouldn't dismiss the safety that Quattro provides, but this wasn't the case & I'm more than impressed with the car I have.

One final point is the noise, the RS6 with a Sports zorst sounds much better than the M5 either CP or non CP. Having had a very loud GT-R before the M5, I wasn't really bothered about shouting every time I drove & much of my travel are long distance motorway journeys so a little peace & quiet wasn't a bad thing.

Both very similar & yet very different cars & you'd be hard pushed to find fault with either, so it really comes down to personal taste, driving style & how important AWD is to you. It's likely the next M5 will either come with or have the option of AWD, but for me that defeats the object as the driving dynamic is the M5's USP, so if the next variant is AWD i'd likely swap back to Quattro.