2025 Audi RS 6 Avant GT First Drive: A Beautifully Engineered Collector's Item

• The Audi RS 6 Avant GT is a limited-edition wagon with just 85 coming to the U.S.
• Lurid white paint scheme is the only option.
• Significant body and engineering changes include new suspension and a carbon-fiber hood.
• We expect it to cost close to $200,000, about $75K more than an RS 6 Performance.

That chunky sum buys more than just exclusivity and trick suspension. The lurid paint scheme was inspired by Audi's successful IMSA race car from the late 1980s and is the only option on U.S.-bound cars. It clothes a wealth of detail changes, including a carbon-fiber hood and front fenders, with the latter incorporating a new vent to help cool the standard carbon-ceramic brakes. 

Audi aficionados at the local cars and coffee will also spot the new bi-plane rear wing, the fancy rear diffuser and the 22-inch forged aluminum wheels. The new suspension lowers the car by 0.4 inch, and this, coupled with the deletion of the roof rails, gives the car a more hunkered-down, purposeful stance. No SUV ever looked this athletic. 

Inside, the changes are more minimalist, amounting to some new stitching and a plethora of GT badges, including a numbered plaque to identify your slot in the production run. The rest of the cabin is the usual Audi mix of fine taste and impeccable build quality. There’s room for five adults and as much luggage capacity as a Q8 SUV. If required, you can justify the RS 6 as a genuine family car. 

And you can justify it to yourself as a genuine sports car. I only drove the GT on a track, so driving impressions must be qualified, but there’s no denying it’s hugely entertaining. For such a heavy car — approaching 5,000 pounds — it’s impressively agile. The steering is precise and nicely weighted and it's easy to place the car on the track. 

To complement the new suspension, Audi also stiffened the sway bars — by 30% at the front and a mighty 80% at the rear — and retuned the rear differential in the all-wheel-drive system. You never quite escape the feeling that this is a big car, particularly in slower corners, but it can be hustled along. The brakes also have decent pedal feel, especially for car with carbon-ceramic stoppers. 

It sounds good, too. The twin-turbo 4.0-liter V8 is untouched, but 621 horsepower and 626 lb-ft of torque is ample, and the eight-speed automatic complements it well. Audi reckons the GT is one-tenth of a second quicker to 60 mph than the standard car, so 3.2 seconds, and top speed is up to 190 mph. More than enough to scare the family Labrador. 

At its price, the GT competes with SUVs such as Porsche's superb Cayenne Turbo GT, but with its higher center of gravity, the Cayenne can't replicate the feel of a fast wagon. More direct competition is on its way. In the next year, BMW will debut the M5 Touring and Mercedes the AMG E 63 wagon. Both will punch harder — the BMW has 717 hp — but both will be plug-in hybrids, weigh significantly more and have a different feel. For the foreseeable future, the RS 6 will remain something of an oddball, and the GT version is the oddest of them all.

Edmunds says

The GT will no doubt appeal to collectors given its exclusivity, but it would be a shame if they all end up locked away in dehumidified garages. The engineering changes genuinely result in a more engaging drive, and while the paint scheme might offend the introvert, it’s certainly striking. Is the GT objectively worth around $50,000 more than an equivalently optioned RS 6 Performance? Probably not. But if you have the cash, you’re unlikely to regret your purchase.