2024 Audi RS 5 Sportback Review: This Is What Fun Sounds Like

With automakers hurtling into electrification, you'd be forgiven for assuming the pickings were slim when it comes to sub-$100k gas-powered playthings. Instead, those with a decent-sized toy budget but some lingering demands around practicality find themselves unexpectedly well catered for, not least with the 2024 Audi RS 5 Sportback. While its coupe-inspired four-door form may still trigger branding questions, letting nomenclature dissuade you would mean missing out on something genuinely fun.

About as long as an Audi A4, the RS 5 Sportback exaggerates its stance by being slightly lower and wider. It's handsome, too, in a way that some big-grilled rivals from other automakers seem to have given up on. The Audi's maw is large, but proportional, topped with a charming row of nostril-style hood vent slots. The swooping roofline emphasizes the long dash-to-axle ratio; the whole thing looks taut and muscular, but not comedically so.

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Nineteen-inch wheels are standard (there are optional 20-inchers on this particular car), and though the Nardo Gray paintwork may feel a little played-out by this point, there's no denying that the RS 5 looks good in it.

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The $10,300 Competition package unlocks a 180 mph top speed and adds sport direct steering and a coilover suspension system with sport sway bars. For the most part, though, it's an appearance package, though an excellent one: 20-inch bi-color 5-Y-spoke wheels shod in Pirelli P Zero Corsa rubber, a sport exhaust system with matte black tailpipes, and lashings of matching trim, front and rear diffusers, and badging.

It doesn't take long to be swayed by the RS 5's charms, though with a 2.9-liter twin-turbo V6 engine under the hood, RS sport suspension, and Audi's marvelous Quattro sport rear differential all standard, that's no great surprise. 444 horsepower and 442 lb-ft of torque delivered with a gurgling, farting, bellowing exhaust note and a dinosaur's grunt from behind the grille: I'm all aboard the EV hype bus, but there's still a special place in my heart for something that sounds like this particular drivetrain (and, for that matter, the weird-but-lovable noises that come out of the five-cylinder Audi RS 3).

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It's fast, too. Zero to 60 mph arrives in 3.8 seconds, and the standard top speed is an electronically-limited 155 mph. Even in Comfort or Auto mode, with the 8-speed Tiptronic gearbox in "D" not the feistier "S" setting, the RS 5 pulls with a desperate urgency. Snick the transmission toward you again, into its Sportier setting, and the Audi will hold lower gears and thus push you into what you'd be forgiven for referring to as "the hot aural zone": that's the spot north of 3,000 rpm where the valves, baffles, and any other sound-nannying systems fall away.

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It happens all the more often when you hit the dedicated "RS" button on the steering wheel. While it may blend in among the wheel heating and phone call controls, it quickly summons the angriest steering, transmission, suspension, and engine settings.

The RS 5 Sportback isn't the most powerful of the Audi Sport lineup, but — in keeping with the general theme of "it's about having the right amount of grunt for the road, not the most" — it's one of the more usable models. An R8 is, even post-discontinuation, a wonderful thing, but it can be tough to find roads where you can come anywhere close to tapping its 600+ horsepower. Much in the same way, though the RS 5 Sportback has more potent rivals, it's fair to question whether that excess translates to any more actual fun from behind the wheel.

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Make no mistake, the RS 5 is a fun car. Stab the RS button and it's a flat-cornering star with seemingly inescapable levels of grip and poise. The ride quality with the adaptive dampers at their firmest is definitely on the hard side, but it pays dividends for predictability in corners, as does the combination of Quattro all-wheel drive and the clever rear diff. There's a sense of the rear end of the Audi being shoved from left to right as you steer, tightening the turns.

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What power the 2.9-liter V6 has, it puts down exceptionally well. Indeed, dressed up with winter rubber, you could make a solid argument that the RS 5 is an ideal all-seasons sports car. Only ground clearance might stop your snow fun.

Inside, Audi's dashboard has aged reasonably gracefully, though the 10.1-inch infotainment touchscreen does feel rather slapped in place. Dedicated — and easily adjusted — HVAC controls are welcome, though, as are specific buttons for things like drive mode and traction control. All the switchgear feels sturdy and clicky, while the metal paddle shifters are a nice, premium touch (hey, Audi, transplant them to the excellent SQ7, please) alongside the Competition package's grippy Alcantara-wrapped wheel.

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The MMI infotainment's black and white color scheme is dour — there's wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto if you'd prefer — and the bright red RS-theme graphics for the driver display feel a little like an 8-bit racing game from the NES days. It's all very clear, though, and the RS driver assistance package ($1,500) adds a head-up display, 360-degree camera, and Park Assist.

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Generally, though, Audi's standard equipment levels are high. The 2024 RS 5 Sportback's $78,900 (plus $1,095 destination) starting price includes a Bang & Olufsen 3D sound system, heated and massaging Nappa leather front sports seats with matching hide on the center console and doors, tri-zone climate control, and Audi's fancy matrix-design LED headlamps. There's also adaptive cruise control with Traffic Jam assist and active lane assist, front and rear parking sensors, forward collision warnings and avoidance assistance, and lane departure warnings.

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The $500 Side assist package adds blind spot warnings — an odd omission, frankly — and, along with the $1,450 MMI Navigation Plus package, brings this particular RS 5 to $97,745 all-in.

Rear accommodations are snug (and the protruding center console with controls for the third zone of climate control makes the middle spot useless for all but the smallest of small children) with headroom for those 5' 9" or less, or thereabouts. Anyone taller will likely find themselves in contact with the headliner. It's not as dark back there as you might expect, though, thanks to the RS 5 Sportback's standard panoramic glass roof.

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Behind, a 21.8 cu-ft trunk feels positively capacious, when contrasted with the RS 5 Coupe's mere 10.9 cu-ft. That's another big advantage of the hatchback rear, which powers open to reveal a wide, easily-loaded space.

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When it comes to fuel economy, the EPA says you could see 18 mpg in the city, 25 mpg on the highway, and 20 mpg combined. That's achievable, just as long as your right foot is coy; it's also a little better than the most direct rivals in BMW's stable.

The "you can only pick one car for your garage" parlor game has been getting progressively harder in recent years, as automakers expand their ranges wildly, while the boundaries between models blur. Do you want a supercar-fast SUV, or a truck that thinks it's a Baja racer, or an electric sedan that can outpace the best of the German limos (yes, Lucid Air Sapphire, I'm talking about you)? All of a sudden, the "four-door coupe" that caused such consternation when Audi first debuted its A7 seems charmingly mainstream.

The RS 5 Sportback makes a convincing argument for securing that privileged parking spot. It's not the largest, the most spacious, or the most powerful of the vehicles-with-sporting-pretensions out there, but it finds itself in a deeply compelling Venn overlap of practicality and pace.

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Those who need some stick shift action should run, not walk, to the nearest Cadillac dealership and buy a 2024 CT4-V Blackwing (or stretch to a CT5-V Blackwing) before GM does a GM and axes it. The Giulia Quadrifoglio looks great, drives marvelously, sounds incredible, and is perfect for anybody wanting to build a closer relationship with the Alfa Romeo servicing department. And of course, there's the BMW M3 and M4, each excellent to drive even if you'll find yourself embroiled in "but is it ugly?" arguments every time you park.

You have choices, and good ones, is what I'm trying to say. And among that fine roster, the 2024 Audi RS 5 Sportback feels like a diamond scalpel with a comfortable handle: remarkably easy to wield, and uncompromising in how it performs.