'No holding back' - Abt launches 720hp RS5-R
The era of hybrid Audi Sport was already pretty potent - as if that was ever going to stop Abt...
The aftermarket has faced a significant problem over the past few years: the crazy standard of cars coming from the factory. With cars as powerful, capable, wild to look at and expensive to buy as they are now, what possible modifications would you get? BMW will sell you a yellow, 727hp M5 Touring very gladly indeed, a car with the performance and visual attitude that wouldn’t have seemed possible from an OEM not long ago. Mercedes has 800hp-plus plug-in hybrids as well. A 911 GTS is as fast as a Turbo of very recent generations; the Turbo S itself must be close to 918 Spyder speed. You get the idea.
So what to do if you’re someone like Abt, and the new RS5 is now a 639hp prospect? It’s quite simple, actually: you double down on what’s got you here in the first place. The latest RS Avant and saloon are punchy and powerful in every sense, so Abt is offering extra helpings for 130 RS5-R customers. More show, more go, more carbon, more of the stuff Audi wouldn’t quite be brave enough to have in a showroom. Or a workshop.
There’s almost a hundred more horsepower, for one thing, the Abt Power S performance upgrade freeing 591hp from the twin-turbo V6 for 720hp in total. There’s no mention of changes to the internals, so this is presumably a software-based boost. With a requirement for super unleaded (like you’d ever put 95-octane muck in an RS Audi). On top of 667lb ft (or almost 10 per cent more than the standard 609lb ft), the performance uplift is most certainly going to be noticeable.
If not as noticeable as the rest of the R package. There’d be little danger of missing an RS5 as it is, all steroidal shoulders and swaggering stance, though it’s made to look almost puny by Abt’s latest. Not only are the side skirts, aerobladed rear wing, front spoiler, wheelarch louvres and mirror caps all Abt’s own, they can be specified in either glossy exposed carbon or matt carbon camouflage. Both ensure a level of drama not found in the standard car, whether that’s people looking at it - or the fear of kerbs when it comes to parking it…
Still, those willing to take on a car with 22-inch wheels surely won’t mind a bit of extra carbon fibre to fret about. The Abt RS5-R kit introduces the forged rims with lowering springs and new anti-roll bars for a ‘sportier setup’. Which, actually, the standard Audi never really felt like it needed, but then nobody modifies a car this drastically for what they need. It’s obviously all about want, and those who want the toughest-looking Audi Avant ever need look no further.
This wouldn’t be an Abt R build without an interior overhaul, either, so there’s even more Alcantara than even Audi will do, carbon paddles, ‘1 of 130’ badges and new floor mats. The sills get the Abt touch, too, so there’ll be no danger of forgetting where all that money has gone. Abt will offer the 720hp RS5 as either a saloon or an Avant, though it’ll come as no surprise to learn that the upgrade works best on the estate. Check the configurator for how weedy the saloon’s spoiler is. The cost for a Hulk-spec Audi is €65,000, or about £55,000 right now, which is more than 50 per cent on top of even the most expensive new RS5s on PH currently. So a hard one to make a rational case for, especially as more power will likely slice the range even further, but if modifying had to make sense then it’d probably never happen at all. Expect that Abt application form to be busy…
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