RS at Audi stands for RennSport . And the first car to wear these badges was the RS2 Avant . Yes, the Ingolstadt automaker's fastest cars came from the modified Audi 80 Avant station wagon of the B4 generation. However, not only Audi racing engineers but also specialists from the Porsche car company gave him a boost. And so it kept the title of the most powerful Audi until 1996, when the S8 hit the market. But it was so incredibly inconspicuous to look at unless you bought a typically blue specimen.
A total of 2,891 cars were produced, which is 691 more than the automaker originally intended. And the Audi and Porsche engineers did the best they could at the time and packed it all into a very practical car. Of course, the Quattro all-wheel drive, typical for fast Audis and additionally complemented by a Torsen differential, could not be missing. The longitudinally mounted twenty-valve five- cylinder with a volume of 2.2 liters supercharged by a KKK turbocharger came from the S2 sports coupe, but it was drastically modified. Reworked exhaust and larger intercooler, modified intake, injection, valve timing and replaced cams, all tuned for maximum performance. It increased by 85 hp to a total of 315. The torque was 410 Nm. The sound backdrop was enhanced by the blow-off valve, but the car suffered from a traditional disease of the time, i.e. a long delay in the onset of the big turbo.
That much power needs to be tamed, so Porsche supplied new four-piston brakes with 304mm discs with red-painted calipers that came from the 968 Club Sport . But even that was not enough for the weight of the car, so larger 322 mm discs from the 993 Turbo model were moved behind the wheels. In addition, the Ingolstadt engineers reconfigured the ABS to intervene only during critical braking. The whole car was lowered and in addition received seventeen-inch wheels also from Porsche , specifically from the 964 model. The rear differential lock was manually operated, but disengaged itself when you exceeded 25 km/h.
You got from 0 to 100 km/h in 5.4 seconds, which is a very decent number for a station wagon. And you also reached a speed of 97 km/h in 4.8 seconds, but then you had to shift to third gear. You reached 200 km/h in 22.4 seconds and the maximum value was 262 km/h. All of this, of course, if you have mastered the six-speed manual transmission perfectly. On top of all this, Audi claimed consumption of only 9 liters per 100 km, but it is not certain that this was a true figure. In addition to the wheels and brakes, the cooperation with Porsche was also announced by the rear-view mirrors from the 993 type. Because of them, the blinkers had to be moved to the bumper. Audi produced modified bumpers where the front shape of its openings resembled the 993 Turbo model. The appearance was also slightly changed by the differently placed license plate at the back or the central panel between the taillights. In addition to the traditional RS blue color, you could choose another 10 shades.
The interior upholstery also matched the color of the paint. This was dominated by Recaro seats upholstered in alcantara and equipped with electric adjustment. Electric windows were an extra charge, as was a sunroof, automatic air conditioning, cruise control, passenger airbag or headlight washers. You also had to pay extra for the galvanized bodywork. Opposite you was a white speedometer, similar to the one in the Golf GTI .
In addition to station wagons, 3 sedans were also created, one of which is in the museum of the car company and the rest in private collections in Arabia. In its heyday, the price of the station wagon was an astronomical 99,000 marks. Today it is around 20,000 Euros (roughly 400,000 crowns) per piece in decent condition. But finding such is a problem, many of them have not survived to the present day. This is despite RS2 owners being offered a special driving course for the car. This took place on the car company's training ground or on the famous Nürburgring . And the instructors were none other than Alttfried Heger and Walter Röhrl .
The RS division is extremely popular and famous at Audi . And it's all thanks to this guy who set the bar high the first time. In addition, he immediately discovered the potential of RS cars as super-performance cars that can be used practically in everyday life.
