Remember the Audi RS6 GTO concept? Revealed back in 2020, it was designed to mark 40 years of quattro, which it did in unmistakeable fashion: inspired by the old 90 IMSA racer and fit to burst with visual muscle, it was everything the world loved about big, fast Audis. We never thought anything like it would actually be made. But, not for the first time, we were wrong: behold the Audi RS6 GT, ‘the pinnacle of the model series’.
If not quite as extreme as the GTO, the IMSA influence here is plain to see. Even if it weren’t pictured next to the glorious old racer, you’d know what the wheels, decals, spoiler and seats were paying homage to. It’s IMSA with Isofix, which we can 100 per cent support. As well as the Arkona White with traditional Audi Sport black, grey and red seen here (where white wheels are mandatory), buyers will also be offered Nardo Grey or Mythos Black with black and grey graphics and black wheels. Please, please don’t do that. People look at RS6s anyway, they’re too obvious these days to be ignored - may as well give them something great to look at.
The GT is far more than a mere cosmetic exercise, however, even if that rear spoiler is a near-carbon copy of that seen on the GTO. It’s not about crazy power for a run-out limited edition, either, as this boasts the same 630hp and 627lb ft from the 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8 as in the RS6 Performance. Instead this fast Audi pursues a path of upgrades similar to that seen on the RS4 Competition, where lots of the powertrain is left untouched and the chassis is focused on instead.
To that end, this GT also gets coilover suspension, just like the B9 Comp. And let's not forget it was transformative on that car for both looks and handling. The standard RS6 starts from a better place already, so we’ve high hopes for how this GT gets down a road. Perhaps the ride height could be made even ruder still as well. Audi says the suspension is three-way adjustable (for the RS4 that was high- and low-speed compression, plus low-speed rebound, so could be the same here), with a higher spring rate as well as stiffer anti-roll bars (30 per cent at the front and 80 per cent at the rear) ‘significantly increasing the fun factor’.
Assisting in that noble ambition is a new Continental SportContact 7 tyre that’s said to reduce understeer (285/30 R22 at each corner) alongside a revised sport diff; in the Dynamic drive mode, it can now deliver up to 85 per cent of the torque to the rear axle, with a ‘focus on greater agility and rear bias’. Nice. Ceramic brakes are standard, and the eight-speed auto delivers ‘optimised’ shift times, which must mean faster. Probably with more of a kick in the back than standard, too. Performance improves slightly as a result: 3.3 seconds to 62mph saves a tenth, 0-124mph in 10.5 is faster than any production RS6 has gone, and 190mph flat out ought to be enough.
While the paint job identifies the GT as not just another RS6, there are subtler cues as well. The roof rails are gone, for instance, so there’s no hope of a roof rack. Beneath the paint there’s some carbon fibre, too, with both bonnet and front arches made from it for the first time on an RS6; those changes might trim a bit of weight from the nose and encourage that rear-biased handling. More interestingly, the changes mean that the RS6 GT isn’t actually made entirely at Neckarsulm; it leaves there as a Performance with the RS design package plus, then goes to Bollinger Hofe, birthplace of the R8 and e-tron GT, where each of the 660 cars will spend a day each having parts like the bonnet, arches, the rear wing and coilovers fitted. Just seven people will work on the GTs, at three assembly points.
Those lucky enough to find themselves aboard an RS6 GT will sit in stunning carbon-backed bucket seats (with RS6 GT embroidered on them), the serial number engraved on the transmission tunnel, red and copper contrast stitching for the Alcantara and black leather, plus Crimson Red belts. It’s recognisably an RS6 driving environment, basically, with some amazing seats, because here’s an Audi you’re really not buying for the interior.
Audi will make just 660 RS6 GTs (the inspiration for that number isn’t clear), with 60 allocated for the UK. The price is £176,975 on the road, almost £50k more than the Performance Carbon Vorsprung, currently the most expensive RS6 at £129,445. But as surely the final RS6 with a V8, plus the styling overhaul and chassis tweaks, it’s hard to imagine the UK batch sticking around for very long. Quite the opposite. Expect deliveries to begin in Q2 2024.
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