• The BMW M3 Touring is the fastest station wagon to lap the circuit, recording a time of 7:35 in mid-2022.
  • Audi’s RS4 replacement will likely use a plug-in hybrid 2.9-liter twin-turbo V6.
  • Like a true RS model, the car has fat hips and looks absolutely mighty.

Is the Audi RS6 Avant perhaps a little too big for your liking and has more power than you could ever need? Well, Audi will soon have the answer in the form of the new RS5 Avant, which will replace the RS4.

The rival to the BMW M3 Touring has been in the works for quite some time and is being developed feverously at Green Hell. Very few owners will ever take their RS5s to the track, but the car looks right at home on the circuit, and at one stage, the engineer behind the wheel drifted it around a left-hand bend, revealing that, just like the current RS3, it will be much more playful than other recent Audi RS models.

Read: 2026 Audi RS5 Avant Plugs Into The Future Of Performance

A couple of years ago, BMW set an impressive Nurburgring lap time with the M3 Touring of 7 minutes and 35 seconds and, in the process, secured a new lap record for a production-spec station wagon. It’s unclear if Audi will try to topple this time, but the RS5 Avant should be capable enough to do so, and we expect to see a time close to the benchmark set by BMW.

Many key details about the RS5’s powertrain remain under wraps. It should feature a revised version of the RS4’s twin-turbocharged 2.9-liter V6 with some extra grunt provided by a plug-in system. The last RS4 Avant delivered 444 hp and 443 lb-ft and is now well-and-truly outmuscled by the M3 and C 63 S. We’d be shocked if the new car doesn’t provide over 500 hp at a bare minimum, although we’re not holding our breath that it’ll rival the monstrous 671 hp delivered by the 2.0-liter plug-in hybrid setup of the Mercedes.

Whatever the case may be, there’s another powerful and fast station wagon on the horizon, and that can only be a good thing for enthusiasts like ourselves.