On this episode of Head 2 Head presented by Tire Rack
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MotorTranscript
00:00 (upbeat music)
00:02 Hi there.
00:09 This is the all new Audi RS5,
00:12 and the big headline is,
00:14 gone is that sweet, high revving, naturally aspirated V8.
00:18 It has been replaced by a 2.9 liter twin turbo V6,
00:23 which makes exactly the same amount of power,
00:25 but way, way more torque.
00:28 However, since this is still an Audi,
00:30 it means that that smaller, lighter engine
00:32 is horked out over the front wheels.
00:34 And when you put cars like this into a head to head video,
00:37 something like this always happens.
00:39 But here's the thing, in real life, in the real world,
00:51 getting sideways on a public road, nobody,
00:54 and I mean nobody drives like that.
00:57 Well, maybe some people drive like that.
00:59 (upbeat music)
01:04 (laughing)
01:11 (tires screeching)
01:25 (dramatic music)
01:27 For those of you who don't know,
01:39 this is Jethro Bovington,
01:41 and I've been waiting a long time to say this,
01:43 but we're finally working together.
01:45 - Yeah, it's happening, man.
01:46 - And now, welcome aboard.
01:47 - Ah, thank you very much.
01:48 I'm pleased to be here.
01:49 I'm so excited.
01:49 First head to head.
01:50 But today, we're not going to a racetrack.
01:52 - No, we're not, because as we talked about,
01:55 this is an Audi, you put it on a racetrack,
01:56 it pushes and understeers, we complain about it,
01:58 they get mad, so we're going to do this one
02:00 a little bit different.
02:01 - Okay, I can buy into that.
02:02 And if this car is going to work anywhere, it's here.
02:04 We've come to Wales, the roads are perfect quattro country.
02:08 If it's got any chance against this monster,
02:10 it's right here.
02:12 But I wish it was raining almost, you know,
02:14 proper Welsh weather, it's more like California.
02:16 - It's a little cold for California.
02:18 - Let me show you the road.
02:19 - All right.
02:20 (upbeat music)
02:22 - So we've loaded the dice for the RS5.
02:28 These roads really should play to its strengths.
02:31 We've covered the basics already,
02:32 but here's what you need to know
02:34 about Audi's new big hitter.
02:36 That new twin turbocharged 2.9 litre V6
02:39 that Johnny was talking about produces 444 brake horsepower
02:43 and torque is way up to 442 foot pounds,
02:47 all the way from 1900 to 5,000 RPM.
02:51 It drives through an eight speed automatic box
02:54 and a quattro four wheel drive system
02:56 that splits the power 40/60 from front to rear.
02:59 In the rear axle, there's a sport diff
03:01 which utilizes torque vectoring
03:03 and not the cheaper, less effective torque vectoring
03:06 by braking, this actually accelerates the outside wheel
03:09 to counter understeer.
03:11 Audi say this thing gets to 60 miles an hour in 3.9 seconds
03:15 and this one has an option that raises the speed limiter
03:18 to 174 miles an hour.
03:21 Maybe we shouldn't have been so worried
03:23 about how the RS5 would fare,
03:25 even against the mighty C63 S Coupe.
03:28 But then again, the Mercedes really does
03:31 win the numbers game.
03:32 It has four litres, eight cylinders,
03:35 it produces 503 horsepower and 516 foot pounds
03:39 from 1750 to 4,500 RPM.
03:44 Of course, the AMG does without four wheel drive
03:46 and yet it's heavier too, but even so,
03:49 it does appear to have the RS5 cowed
03:51 before it even turns a wheel.
03:54 So is it game over before we even begin
03:56 or is Audi produce something cleverer, lighter
03:59 and more efficient at going fast?
04:01 Something to truly challenge this wild Mercedes AMG.
04:05 (upbeat music)
04:11 (car engine roaring)
04:14 All right, RS5, they dropped the V8,
04:20 they put in a V6, they got rid of the dual clutch,
04:23 they put in an automatic transmission,
04:25 so it's complete garbage, right?
04:26 - That should be the case, right?
04:28 And even worse, the old RS5 pretty much
04:31 was complete garbage except the engine.
04:33 - Yeah, it was a great V8,
04:35 but yeah, that car was always underwhelming.
04:37 - It just didn't, yeah, it didn't work for me.
04:38 - But my expectations for this were on the floor.
04:42 But you know what?
04:44 I'm surprised.
04:44 - No, it's really good.
04:45 - I think it's pretty good.
04:46 - It's really good, right?
04:48 That's what I thought it would be,
04:49 that they're like, well, the AMG is,
04:50 once again, wiped the floor with a poor Audi,
04:54 but it's not like that.
04:55 - No, okay, so let's go through the elements.
04:57 Gearbox.
04:58 Okay, so it's an auto, we've heard it a million times,
05:02 the auto is nearly as good as a dual clutch,
05:04 it's better than a dual clutch.
05:06 - But this is a good auto, so it's good enough.
05:09 - It's the standard, it's the ZF eight speed,
05:11 and I can say ZF 'cause we're in Wales.
05:13 And it's really good, you know?
05:16 It's never gonna be as good, as satisfying as a dual clutch.
05:20 And what I mean by that is,
05:21 you know, a manual, obviously you have control, right?
05:23 You put the gear in.
05:24 With a good dual clutch, like a PDK,
05:27 it changes gears exactly when you want it.
05:29 - I love that part.
05:30 - It's control and it's satisfying.
05:31 This, you're still saying, please change gears,
05:34 and if it can, it will, if it can't, it won't.
05:36 But it's pretty good, it's pretty good.
05:37 - Yeah, it's good, and the engine, I feel bad saying it,
05:40 so the last V8 is screened to like 8,500 revs
05:44 in the old RS4, it just worked.
05:47 - Probably the RA, the original RA with the manual.
05:49 - Oh, it was perfect.
05:51 But it never really got going in the old RS5,
05:53 and this one, it's got torque, it actually revs.
05:57 - So 2.9 liter, twin turbo V6,
06:00 only makes 450 horsepower, 443 pound feet of torque.
06:04 That blows my mind when we say only,
06:06 because yes, it does not make as much power as the AMG,
06:10 but a generation ago, a 2.9 liter twin turbo V6
06:14 was like, it was a flat six, but it was a Porsche 959,
06:17 it was half a million bucks, made 450 horsepower.
06:19 - We've lost perspective.
06:21 - But I mean, what an engine.
06:22 I mean, I'm just, it just pulls and pulls.
06:25 - It does pull.
06:26 - And you know, the torque, and the all wheel drive.
06:28 And I don't mind the small capacity if it's revving.
06:31 That's what it's got, it's got some revs.
06:32 It doesn't rev super high,
06:34 but it's got the bite at the top end.
06:36 - That's the thing with Audis, right?
06:37 Sporty Audis, 7/10 awesome, 8/10 pretty good,
06:41 9/10, 10/10, falls apart, understeering massive.
06:44 Not here.
06:45 - No, it doesn't understeer.
06:46 What it doesn't do though, it's got the sport diff,
06:48 it's got the torque vectoring diff,
06:50 and that used to feel really cool.
06:53 Just get the car into the corner, get on the power,
06:55 and you feel the outside wheel
06:57 really digging in.
06:58 And that created just a proper balance.
07:02 This, you don't get it, it's just neutral.
07:04 It's just hooked up, it just goes, it just grips and goes.
07:06 - But neutral's good, and I think also,
07:08 you know, if you think about this car again,
07:09 compared to the AMG, it's kind of calm,
07:12 it's almost mature.
07:13 - Yeah.
07:14 - And mature is not necessarily bad.
07:15 There are times when you want to be a mature,
07:19 responsible member of society.
07:20 You don't want to be this thug
07:22 running around with your hair on fire.
07:24 This is kind of the car,
07:25 'cause you can go just as fast, I think.
07:27 - Yeah.
07:27 - The fact we're saying this, this is good,
07:29 because I thought we'd just be saying,
07:31 oh yeah, understeers, it's boring, it feels heavy.
07:33 - Right.
07:34 - But we're not, we're actually saying,
07:35 do you know what?
07:36 This car has got a decent chassis.
07:38 - Oh.
07:38 - We want a bit more neutral,
07:39 we want a bit more of that oversteer feel
07:42 with the sport diff,
07:43 but it's got a good chassis,
07:44 it's got good body control.
07:46 It actually works.
07:47 - It can take the power.
07:48 - Yeah, take the power.
07:49 - Yeah, yeah.
07:50 - Let us have it.
07:51 Let us have this thing as it should be,
07:53 as it could be, as an RS needs to be.
07:56 - It's a good car.
07:57 - But, let's check out that C63.
08:00 - Yeah.
08:01 (upbeat music)
08:03 - So, what were we saying about the Audi engine being okay?
08:16 (laughing)
08:19 - Yeah, I mean, Audi, they make a really nice
08:22 four liter twin turbo V8.
08:24 - Yeah.
08:25 - And so does AMG,
08:26 and like, AMG have actually put it in the right car.
08:29 - Look, this is like driving an ax handle, right?
08:32 It's just this brutalist,
08:33 kind of ridiculous and pointless,
08:35 but wonderful at the same time.
08:37 - I just love how it's completely free.
08:39 It's like, you know,
08:41 the Audi just feels a bit buttoned down everywhere,
08:44 and it's like, this thing is like,
08:46 someone's just got drunk and said,
08:48 yeah, just do everything.
08:50 Do everything you can do to make this car mad.
08:53 - I know, it's like you asked a 17 year old,
08:56 like, would you like it to be really loud?
08:57 Yeah, yeah, yeah, and like,
08:59 waste all the gas in the world?
09:01 Yeah, that's cool.
09:02 You know what I mean?
09:03 (engine revving)
09:03 So, let's talk about the engine,
09:05 'cause the Audi has got sweet little Revi V6,
09:08 plenty of power,
09:09 and then you jump in this,
09:10 and it's like, what are Audi thinking?
09:14 - So, it's a four liter,
09:15 which to my American ears sounds very tiny,
09:18 but it drives like a seven liter.
09:20 I mean, it just doesn't feel turbocharged,
09:23 there's so much power, so much torque,
09:25 and it's blown away.
09:27 And, what's crazy,
09:28 this is the minimal state of tune,
09:29 practically, for this engine.
09:31 If you get this engine in the E,
09:32 and it's like another 100 horsepower,
09:34 another 150 pound feet of torque.
09:36 - That's a good point,
09:37 because normally when you buy a car
09:39 that's like the lower powered version of a Senna,
09:42 it feels it, it doesn't rev, it feels--
09:44 - I should've spent another 7,000.
09:46 - Yes, it just feels like all the power in the world,
09:50 all the time.
09:51 - It's just mega, and AMG is the one manufacturer
09:54 that when you hear downsizing,
09:55 you think, well, AMG's finished, it's game over, right?
09:58 - Right.
09:58 - And they've done it better than anyone.
10:00 - Yeah, that's incredible.
10:01 - This engine, it's got proper character,
10:03 proper noise, loads of power.
10:06 - Basically lag free, I mean, it's just a brilliant engine.
10:09 - Yeah, I mean, save for Ferrari with a 488,
10:12 who've got that crazy throttle response.
10:15 But for everyone else, it just blows them out of the water.
10:18 - I'm just shocked by it.
10:19 I didn't notice we even talked about anything
10:20 but the engine.
10:21 (laughing)
10:22 So there's more to the car.
10:23 So, transmission, it's that old seven speed,
10:26 MCT, multi-plate, no torque converter.
10:29 Total shortcoming, totally like the worst part of the car,
10:32 but the engine's so good, you overlook the transmission.
10:35 - I think that's the thing,
10:36 you want standout things in a car, don't you?
10:38 It's nice to have even floors,
10:40 but you want one thing that really drives home
10:42 what the car is, and this thing is the engine.
10:44 - I'm not even convinced the paddles
10:46 are connected to the transmission,
10:47 'cause I'm pulling them,
10:48 and sometimes it changes, sometimes it doesn't.
10:49 I don't care.
10:50 Like, it's so great.
10:52 And I will say, compared to the sedan,
10:54 'cause this is the coupe,
10:55 the rear track on this is wider.
10:57 It's actually off the E63.
10:59 So instead of being this kind of jolly oversteer,
11:02 this thing is planted, puts all the power to the ground,
11:05 and just moves.
11:06 I mean, you know, I bet you if we did a Speedo
11:08 versus Speedo comparison,
11:10 this is not any quicker than that Audi,
11:12 'cause that Audi is properly fast.
11:14 But it just, you get the sensation of like,
11:16 (laughing)
11:17 you know? - Yeah.
11:18 So it does everything.
11:19 What I like about it, it's properly quick,
11:22 it's properly tied down now,
11:23 but it's got a wicked balance between power and grip.
11:27 - Yeah.
11:28 - So it doesn't feel too locked down.
11:30 You feel like you're driving the car.
11:31 So that's great at high speed.
11:32 But low speed, it's just like a party, this car.
11:36 - Yeah. - That's what I love.
11:37 You could be doing 15 miles an hour,
11:40 and you are having a whale of a time.
11:42 - Yeah, and you're the guy in the room holding a knife.
11:45 (laughing)
11:46 You know?
11:46 Or a hand grenade.
11:47 Like, you're just aggressive.
11:49 - Okay.
11:49 I'm not going to a party.
11:50 (laughing)
11:52 - No, but you know, around all the other cars,
11:54 this is the dangerous car.
11:55 I'm like, this thing's just crazy.
11:57 - And it's just, this is where AMG have nailed it.
12:00 They've always made fun cars, but they've just got it now.
12:03 They've got the craziness, but they've got the control.
12:06 They've got a bit of finesse that they never had before.
12:10 Everything just has come together.
12:12 - Yeah, 'cause you're exactly right.
12:13 They were always like this great engine company
12:15 with no steering.
12:16 You'd sort of say, well, okay, there's no steering,
12:18 but the engine's great.
12:19 - Yeah.
12:20 - It's just kind of like average rear-wheel drive steering.
12:22 It's nothing special.
12:23 - Yeah.
12:24 - But with this engine,
12:25 it feels like the greatest thing in the world.
12:27 I love it.
12:28 - In an old AMG, what do you do?
12:29 Do a burnout.
12:30 That's it.
12:31 - Yeah, yeah, yeah.
12:31 - And then in this, you can do whatever you like.
12:32 You can do a burnout,
12:33 but you could also go to a track and have a good time.
12:35 You could smoke it about.
12:37 You could drive it neat and tidy.
12:38 It just ticks loads of boxes for me.
12:41 I love it.
12:41 - It's pretty impressive.
12:42 - This car, it gets it right.
12:45 Okay, maybe one thing wrong.
12:46 - Yeah, the transmission, but you know.
12:48 - Two things.
12:49 It looks a bit weird.
12:50 - What is that?
12:54 Why does it look like that?
12:56 I mean, who would put yellow vinyl stickers
12:59 all over their AMG?
13:00 - Yeah, in the UK, we would definitely call that chap spec.
13:02 - We have a term for it in the US,
13:04 but I can't say it on camera, but it's atrocious.
13:06 I mean, it's just, ugh.
13:07 - Yeah, and it's done in such a bad way.
13:09 That's what I don't get.
13:10 It's not like they're beautifully painted on.
13:12 There's like these massive ridges where the stickers are.
13:15 - It's like the Corvette Grand Sport does the same thing.
13:17 It has this beautiful, sparkly paint,
13:19 and then just, blah, here's some ugly,
13:21 like horribly cut stickers.
13:23 - Yeah, so this is the edition one,
13:24 so you don't have to have it like this,
13:25 but there are people who have,
13:27 and you pay a premium for this.
13:28 - I've seen people in LA with this,
13:30 and like the stickers, while they do, like, they're bad,
13:33 but like what's atrocious are the wheels.
13:35 The yellow clashes with the brake calipers.
13:37 You have two different shades going on.
13:38 It looks tacky, and then it just shrinks the wheels.
13:41 It just makes the car look like dwarfed or something.
13:43 It's just, ugh.
13:44 Because they shrink, you get more of that big shoulder,
13:47 and I quite like that butch look,
13:48 but yeah, overall, it's not great.
13:50 - And now, we've seen the car in other colors.
13:52 Like I drove a blue one with a red interior,
13:54 which looks pretty good.
13:55 You know, it's pretty good.
13:56 - Yeah, they've got that aggression about them,
13:59 but the Audi.
14:00 - It's good.
14:01 You know, it's funny, because I think the previous gen,
14:04 A5, this is a B8 A5.
14:05 I think it's one of the most beautiful coupes of all time.
14:08 Just a stunner, but then every time
14:10 they added a little bit of performance to it,
14:12 they'd thicken it and square it off,
14:13 and by the time you got to the RS5,
14:15 it was like they had a yardstick,
14:16 and they just cut all the curves off the car,
14:18 and it was like a rectangle.
14:20 - They just added and added and added,
14:21 but it just took away from the shape.
14:23 They completely lost it.
14:24 - Yeah, and then now with the new one, with the B9 A5,
14:26 I just think it's kind of whatever looking,
14:28 but the RS5, it just works.
14:30 The curves are great, the stance is great.
14:33 I think it's just gorgeous.
14:35 - The detailing.
14:35 It's like Audi, they've got it wrong before, the RS5,
14:38 but they've got the detailing right on this,
14:40 and the spec of this car is perfect.
14:42 - Yeah, first of all, the color is Sonoma green.
14:44 Second of all, I love it.
14:46 The tragedy is, in the US at least,
14:48 no one's gonna get that color.
14:49 They're gonna get silver or gray or black.
14:51 - Yeah, it's the same in the UK.
14:53 It's silver, gray, black, maybe red,
14:55 but yeah, no one's gonna get this color, it's a shame.
14:57 - The sad part for us is that it's so good,
15:00 it's so much better than I thought it was gonna be
15:01 that we could have done this episode on a racetrack.
15:04 - Yeah, you know what?
15:05 I do know this place, but it's not like any racetrack
15:08 you've been to before.
15:10 - I'm in.
15:11 - I knew we'd get a track in somewhere.
15:13 (car engine revving)
15:15 - Jethro wasn't kidding.
15:17 This is Millbrook Proving Ground,
15:19 an industry test facility about 30 miles north of London.
15:22 Millbrook has all sorts of torture devices for cars,
15:25 and some pretty intense high-speed tracks too.
15:28 The best of them is the tumbling, soaring,
15:30 alpine handling track, where some dude named Daniel Craig
15:33 once flipped his Aston Martin DBS.
15:36 When it's not acting as a James Bond set,
15:38 the hill route is tearing up prototypes
15:40 like a mini NĆ¼rburgring.
15:41 The alpine track is therefore the most perfect
15:44 non-German place to test a car.
15:46 But before we do that, there's another Millbrook facility
15:48 I'm dying to try, the banked high-speed bowl.
15:52 Okay, so here we go.
15:54 You've done a bowl before, haven't you?
15:56 You've done loads of bowls.
15:57 - I have, but this one seems kind of more concrete-y.
16:01 - It's bumpy, it's concrete, it's two miles long,
16:04 so the banking's pretty steep.
16:06 A hundred miles an hour in the top lane
16:08 is meant to be hands off the wheel.
16:09 - We're gonna try and go faster than a hundred.
16:11 - We're gonna try and do a little bit more.
16:13 - And we don't know if this car is limited to 155
16:16 or delimited to 186.
16:17 - We don't.
16:18 - No.
16:19 - Or maybe it's like full press special
16:22 and it's limited to like 210 or something.
16:24 All right, let's just get up there, get this over with.
16:27 - Okay, we're at a hundred right now.
16:29 Buck 20.
16:33 Buck 30.
16:36 - It's nice and stable.
16:38 - Buck 40.
16:39 - It rides the bumps easy.
16:40 - That's 150 miles an hour.
16:43 That's not limited 'cause we're going 160.
16:48 165.
16:51 170.
16:55 (laughing)
16:58 - This is scary.
17:00 - Oh, 171, that's fast, man, that's fast.
17:03 Three, four, five.
17:08 Five.
17:09 - Ah, 175.
17:11 - Wow, that feels quick.
17:16 - That felt very fast.
17:18 - But I tell you what, it's stable as anything.
17:20 Just.
17:21 - The car felt good, the road feels bumpy,
17:23 the car felt fine.
17:24 - It's quite hairy, isn't it?
17:25 - Yeah.
17:26 Let's see what that Audi can do.
17:28 - Wow.
17:29 Yes.
17:31 - Johnny seemed almost too happy during that ride.
17:36 This bowl is a scary, scary place,
17:39 but I guess ignorance is bliss.
17:41 I'm a bad passenger, so I'm taking precautions.
17:44 Lots of them.
17:45 Sorry, Johnny.
17:47 175 to beat.
17:48 This should be perfect for this.
17:52 - Well, let's find out.
17:54 - Okay, 110.
17:56 120.
17:59 It's good, feels steady.
18:01 - Yeah, it's good.
18:02 - It's quite a weird bowl, isn't it, to drive on?
18:05 140.
18:06 50.
18:14 - I'm just chickening out.
18:16 - It feels stable, you'll be all right.
18:18 It seems Johnny now suddenly understands.
18:22 He's quiet.
18:23 I've never known Johnny to be quiet.
18:25 One push, one push.
18:27 And to be fair to him, the RS5 does seem more upset
18:30 by the bowl than the consummate C63 S.
18:33 155.
18:35 Yes.
18:36 Keep going, keep going.
18:39 160.
18:43 Let's do 170, go.
18:45 162.
18:47 - I'm just not feeling it, man.
18:49 - It's quite weird, isn't it?
18:50 - It just feels like it's going to unglue about that speed.
18:53 - Yeah, it starts to wander on his tires.
18:57 - I mean, I probably could have pushed it,
18:58 but what are we going to gain?
18:59 - 162, I win.
19:01 - Yeah, yeah, yeah, all right, you got me there.
19:03 - Okay.
19:04 - 160 is pretty quick.
19:05 - It's not bad.
19:06 - Yeah, well, Jethro beat the pants off me.
19:09 Look, the AMG was smoother and more stable at high speeds,
19:12 but to quote Homer Simpson, it was my first day.
19:16 I may have chickened out a little bit.
19:18 However, it was time for redemption.
19:20 And as Jethro found out, I'm weirdly skilled
19:23 at jumping cars.
19:24 Oh, look, there's me in the green one.
19:27 (car engine revving)
19:30 Well, time to wrap this episode up.
19:36 And I got to tell you, I was just shocked by the Audi.
19:39 - Yeah, I think we both were.
19:41 - In a lot of ways, it's kind of the better car.
19:43 It's so comfortable, it's so, I guess,
19:45 mature is the word, I don't know.
19:47 - Yeah, but it's mature, but not boring.
19:49 - No, no.
19:50 - So it's like, it's resolved.
19:51 - Yeah, and if you need to really get somewhere quickly,
19:55 it's kind of the better car 'cause it's just like,
19:57 it's calmer and more comfortable, it eats up miles.
20:00 I've really kind of developed a crush on it.
20:03 I didn't think I would, you know, does that make sense?
20:05 - It's the color.
20:06 - Yeah. - It's the color.
20:07 - And it very well could be the color, I am that simple.
20:10 - I just like that sense that it's got its own identity.
20:14 Although it's got that slightly dialed back feel,
20:17 like they haven't fully gone for it,
20:19 what they've come up with in its own right
20:22 just works as one thing, doesn't it?
20:24 It's just, like I say, it's cohesive
20:26 and it just does everything.
20:28 I guess that's what's impressive.
20:29 - Yeah, it is. - It does the whole lot.
20:31 - And remember the other thing is we're driving around
20:33 right now in the C63 S, they very well might do a RS5 Plus
20:38 or Performance or whatever. - Plus, yeah, plus.
20:40 - And it could uncork that engine
20:42 and make it a little louder and crazier.
20:44 And you know, maybe that would be the hairy beast
20:46 that we're kind of looking for,
20:49 which nicely leads us back to this car.
20:50 (laughing)
20:53 - Oh, this is the car that's definitely got its hair on fire.
20:56 - Right? - I love it.
20:57 - Yeah.
20:58 (laughing)
21:03 - You know, it doesn't actually jump as well as the Audi.
21:05 - No, it doesn't. - Wow.
21:06 - But it's-- - Oh, it's just the noise
21:09 and the drama and the fizz and the (growling)
21:14 It kind of was the benchmark and remains the benchmark.
21:17 - Yeah, it's just wonderful. - Forever more.
21:19 (car engine revving)
21:22 (laughing)
21:27 - Therefore, the winner of this head-to-head is the C63 S.
21:33 (laughing)
21:35 Coupe.
21:36 - Yeah, man, the 900 pound gorilla on steroids, awesome.
21:40 - Yeah.
21:41 (upbeat music)
21:46 (dramatic music)
21:48 (dramatic music)
21:51 (dramatic music)
21:54 (explosion)