Audi RS 6 Avant vs. BMW M5 Touring: Big Wagons Hit the Track

• The 2025 BMW M5 Touring is the first longroof version of the car to make it to the U.S.
• Naturally, we had to put it up against its fast wagon rival, the Audi RS 6 Avant.
• There is one pretty obvious winner.

Choose your fighter

The M5 Touring uses a turbocharged 4.4-liter V8 making 577 horsepower and 553 lb-ft of torque. The engine is supplemented by a 14.8-kWh battery pack and an electric motor shoved inside the eight-speed automatic transmission. All told, the M5 Touring pumps out 717 hp and 738 lb-ft of torque, routed to all four wheels. 

This all sounds good so far. However, such a complicated powertrain has resulted in a car that's heavy as heck. Our scales confirmed it: The M5 Touring weighs 5,460 pounds. That's heavier than the all-electric BMW i5 sedan with its huge battery pack. 

With important options like the $8,500 carbon-ceramic brakes and the M Driver's package (which bumps the top speed up to 190 mph), this M5 Touring checks in at $140,775 including destination. 

The RS 6 Avant Performance is also a V8-powered all-wheel-drive wagon with pretty similar dimensions to the M5. But notably, Audi has kept plug-in electric power far away from the RS 6, relying solely on the turbocharged 4.0-liter V8 beneath its hood. The RS 6 Avant offers 621 hp and 627 lb-ft — quite a disadvantage compared to the M5, until you remember that the Audi is 600 pounds lighter. To even them out, you would have to strap a grand piano to the Audi's roof.

We have a rather liberally optioned RS 6 here, featuring a retina-scorching $41,000 in options. Big-ticket items include $8,500 ceramic brakes, a $2,250 RS exhaust and suspension, $7,650 for Y-spoke wheels and carbon-fiber trim pieces and almost $5,000 for the Bang & Olufsen sound system. All in with the destination charge, we're looking at $167,140. 

Let's check the numbers

Before sending the wagons around our handling circuit, we went through our usual group of Edmunds instrumented tests. Our testing would serve as the first indicator of whether the M5's portly weight gain would actually translate to performance loss.

The Touring surged to 60 mph in 3.4 seconds and hit the quarter mile in 11.3 seconds at 124.7 mph. But the Audi RS 6 Avant Performance was slightly quicker, hitting 60 mph in 3.3 seconds and the quarter mile in 11.3 seconds at 121.5 mph. This shows the RS 6 getting off the line better, but the M5's extra power coming into play to give it a higher trap speed. Make it a half-mile drag race, and the Touring would likely be the victor. 

Braking down from 60 mph saw a similar result, with the Audi outdoing the BMW in every one of our runs. The RS 6's best effort was 111 feet, just a hair better than the M5's 112 feet. Despite both wagons wearing track-ready ceramic brakes, their big footprints got the best of them.

Our 200-foot lateral skidpad revealed the biggest difference between these wagons. The M5 Touring pulled 0.99 g of lateral force, while the RS 6 Avant Performance managed 1.05 g. This demonstrates clearly that the BMW's Hankook tires didn't have the same grip level as the Continentals on the RS 6. 

Hot laps

The handling course at our test track is notably tight without much room for error. It helps nimble cars perform at their best and exposes oversized cars for what they are. This was not the best playground for a new BMW M5 Touring. It felt enormous. And I don't just mean the weight; behind the wheel, you are instantly aware of the M5's large footprint. 

But that didn't hold it back on the straightaways. Like our quarter-mile trap speed demonstrated, the Touring can absolutely rip in a straight line. If there's any area where the new Touring does feel like an improvement over prior M5 models, it's in outright acceleration. The torque supplied from the hybrid powertrain is just relentless.

We were less thrilled with the BMW's shifting logic, which sent a shudder through the car every time it moved gears. A responsive transmission is not necessarily a bad thing, but upshifting in the M5 was intense enough to be a driving distraction.

Our testing team was quick to point out their disdain for the BMW's Hankook rubber. These tires simply couldn't hang on when they were needed most, resulting in the car breaking traction exactly when you didn't want it. Turn the traction control off all the way, and suddenly you're operating a five-door drift machine — even with all-wheel drive. The M5 has the option to send power to only the rear wheels, but that exercise feels futile considering its tendency to kick the tail out in the standard drive mode.

"Wow, that feels an entire weight class down from the BMW." Those were the first words from our testing director's mouth as he hopped out of the RS 6. 

And he's right. When you drive the two wagons back to back, there is an immediate sense that the Audi is more agile. It felt sharper than the M5 in just about every section on the track, save for the straightaways, which favored the BMW.

But even with less power, the RS 6 was ultimately the better thrill. Its V8 supplied ample power and included a fun growling soundtrack in every foot-down moment. The gearbox was smooth while operating on its own and got even better when we chose to do the work ourselves with the paddle shifters. And once those Continental tires got some heat in them, the RS 6 clung on around corners more like a supercar and less like a family wagon.

Weirdly, the thing we liked least about the RS 6 Performance is one of its highlight features: the self-locking center differential. The Audi's ability to shuffle power between all four wheels depending on the situation is a good thing, but it did so a bit clumsier than we would've liked. During a quick corner, we could feel (and hear) the car trimming the power from the inside wheel, which felt unnatural. A system like this shouldn't be noticeable to the driver, and it definitely was.

The M5 has a ridiculous list of ways that you can configure the car for driving. You have individual control over the steering, brakes, engine, transmission, all-wheel-drive system, suspension and exhaust. Then there's a separate manual altogether for the electric elements, controlling whether the Touring drives in all-electric, hybrid or recharge mode depending on battery levels. If reading this was confusing, that's because doing it in real life was as well. It will take the owner multiple track days to figure out the best way to dial in the car to their liking.

Interior and practicality

For two vehicles in the mid-$100,000s, you should expect high-quality cabins, and both the BMW and Audi deliver in this regard. 

Part of this RS 6 Avant Performance test car's absurd asking price is an extensive list of extras that make the interior truly special. The blue stitching on the seats, along with the blue weave in the carbon-fiber trim, is fantastic. There's not a single section of this Audi's interior that feels cheap. 

The RS 6's tech is a bit on the older side. But driving this car around for a few days made me realize that I like Audi's previous infotainment setup more than anything it has produced in the last year, like what's in the Q6 E-tron. It's simpler with easier menus, and while there are individual controls for parts of the driving experience just like in the M5, in the Audi, it takes seconds to configure, not days.

When it comes to practicality, both of the wagons won't let you down. The Audi has more space for your things with all of the seats upright, but both cars allow you to drop the second row of seats to expand the cargo areas. There is SUV-rivaling room in each trunk, enough to handle multiple check-in size suitcases or a sizable Costco run.

Winner, winner

To put it plainly, newer technology does not always equate to something better. The BMW M5 Touring's hybrid powertrain pushes the boundaries of what this car can be, but it does so at the cost of overcomplicating the car.

The Audi RS 6 Performance has flaws of its own, but it's maintained beloved status by enthusiasts since its debut — and for good reason. This is the best superwagon on sale and one that should go down as an all-time great. 

Photos by Tyler Clemmensen