Audi RS2 1994 advert | Time for Tea

This old tape has surfaced during ongoing 25th anniversary celebrations for the legendary RS2

It's an illustration of just how special the RS2 was that Audi Sport's first pure roadgoing product looks exotic even alongside the likes of its very latest R8 RWD. The 25-year-old 315hp estate's blend of Audi and Porsche engineering is the stuff of legend, the PH Hero bringing genuine supercar hardware and performance to a segment that had previously been the sole reserve of practical boxes. Bless the RS2 for creating a class that PHers have worshipped ever since, because nothing's cooler than a fast estate.

Audi's rightfully very proud of the achievement and, with its 25th anniversary upon is, it's fittingly happened to stumble across (or remade?) previously unreleased advert footage. Used in 1994 to publicise the car in America - where it was never officially sold - the tape resurfaces in the year that US buyers can finally access the RS2, thanks to it becoming exempt from the country's archaic, age-related import restrictions. Whether that's thanks to convenient timing or an opportunistic marketing plan for the new RS6 - also soon to arrive on US shores for the first time - we don't know. Or care. This advert makes for a brilliant nineties throwback for many reasons we need not list.

Certainly, all PHers - even those outside of the US - should find reason to celebrate the RS2's birthday, as it remains a true great. You may remember when Matt pitched Audi's performance legend against a modern equivalent, the 300hp SEAT Leon Cupra ST, a year ago, with somewhat predictable results in the RS2's favour. The RS2, as the nineties VHS footage reminds us, remains a marvel of engineering, with straight-line pace (including a 4.8-second 0-60mph time!) to rival the likes of Porsche's 968 Turbo S, not to mention a five-pot warble to trounce it.

In 2019, the model's perhaps more desirable than it's ever been, and that inevitably reflects on prices, with the trio of RS2s advertised on PH up for between £38k and £66k respectively. That might be a lot of money, but as far as motoring legends to carve a new niche go, this has to be one of the finest. We dare you not to soak up the RS2 heyday nostalgia with a brew in hand and this 1994 footage playing back.