Audi RS6 Avant: Spotted

A stealthy 740hp, V10-powered Audi RS6 estate for a third of its original price? Yes please…

As with a lot of things medicinal, your body can build up a tolerance to certain drugs and so be less affected by them. You could try something different or stop taking them altogether to reset your system, or, you could up the dosage. Take this Audi RS6, already rather potent in standard 580hp form, the previous owner decided to have it remapped to a borderline insane 740hp. Crikey.

Normally it is advisable to say that when you remap a vehicle, a manufacturer will get funny about it and tell you that it’ll invalidate the vehicle’s warranty – but since this 2008 example is well out of the original three-year cover period, why not unlock the full potential of the engine. To hell with being sensible.

When the RS6 came out many observed how accessible it made all that performance, promising a 0-62 mph time of 4.6 seconds. A 40:60-split quattro four-wheel drive system provides plenty of traction off the line, so it should still be able to take-off just as fast come rain or shine.

And this is perhaps the appeal of the RS6: all the go of a supercar with none of the impracticalities. The Avant version (like this one) adds an additional layer of practicality thanks to a big boot. To put it simply, it would take longer to load and unload a Billy bookcase into an RS6 than it would to drive it from the Ikea showroom to your home.

Are there any downsides? Well, it certainly won’t be cheap to run, but what production car with such performance would be. No, it’s the weight. At 2025kg, the RS6 is a bit of a porker and is really more of a blunt instrument than a back road hack. It’ll cope with spirited driving well with stonking levels of grip from those 20-inch 275/35 tyres, but it won’t have the delicacy of a contemporary M5 Touring – although the rarity, ruinous running costs and zippo-sized fuel tank of the BMW mean you’d have to be an ardent M5 fan to buy one.

No, if you want a fast estate car, an RS6 Avant is one of the best examples of its kind. More modern ones have gone to a downsized 4.0-litre V8, which is a great power unit, but it’s not a V10, is it? Nab this one for £24,990 (over £50,000 off what it was ten years ago) and few other cars – past or present – will be able to deal with its brutal 740hp, nor its ability to plod across continents in comfort. Get the limiter removed, and you could see 200mph. Not bad for something that’s the same price of a well-specified new Mazda 6 diesel.

SPECIFICATION – AUDI RS6 V10

Engine: 5,204cc, V10, twin-turbo
Transmission: 6-speed automatic, four-wheel drive
Power (hp): 580@6,250-6,700rpm (standard)
Torque (lb ft): 479@1,500-6,250rpm (standard)
MPG: 20.2
CO2: 333g/km
First registered: 2008
Recorded mileage: 76,000
Price new: £77,625
Yours for: £24,990

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