As Audi’s best selling line gets ready for its curtain, I wanted to celebrate its last performance and take a look at what its replacement represents for the future of the company.

My celebration took place outdoors, ‘in the round’, as it were, courtesy of the swansong RS4 cabriolet. Top down, exhaust bellowing joyfully, I took a last mountain thrash and reveled in Audi’s limited edition, motorsport department-honed machine. Its breadth and depth of talent left me in doubt as to the sequel’s ability to measure up. This, despite the probable billions spent on the new MLB architecture that underpins the S5, first US example of the all-new A4 lineup.

Besides, the RS4 has that groovy ‘S’ button on the dash that unleashes the full DTS Surround Sound experience, and which is the aural accompaniment to the ministrations of one of the great eight cylinder engines, a 420hp masterpiece that revs to over 8300rpm.

It makes the S5’s tamer engine of the same size seem a bit knobbly-kneed at ‘only’ 354hp. It does sound good, with a throaty American huskiness to its note, and because it has a few pounds-feet more torque, and 350 pounds less mass to haul about, it runs the same mid-fours zero to sixty. Yet it’s missing the RS4’s wide, wide powerband, which allows you to stay in same gear through a series of bends, and never creates the same incredible high-pitched thrills as you hone in one its lower redline.

They both run six-speed manual gearboxes, and around town it’d be hard to tell them apart. Here again though, is an example of the incredible breeding of the RS series: loaded up, piling into a corner at good clip, it is much harder to finesse home the cog swaps in the S5; some combination of clutch take-up and spring loading in the shift linkage give a discernable edge to the older car. The RS4 also has the stouter stoppers; its simply massive crossdrilled rotors and 8-piston fixed front calipers offer a level of feel, bite, and resistance to fade that the more prosaic, series production S5 cant hope to compete with.

That was expected, as there’s a $25-30k difference between the two. Some of the money must have gone to the RS4’s elegant, Yamaha-designed suspension, wherein the wheels are connected by hydraulics diagonally. This means acceleration, cornering, and braking forces acting on the car create a mechanical response that keeps the Audi level no matter how hard you push it, without making the ride intolerable.

The S5 rides equally well (which is to say excellently), yet its body control isn’t as taught, despite the better rigidity of its fixed-roof structure.

Or, it must be said, of its new layout, which will be shared with all future midsize to large Audis and Bentleys. The company has gone to great lengths with this new design to move the engine back in the chassis, creating more balanced weight distribution and less of inherent understeer. It’s just that in comparison to the RS4, the S5 feels a bit nose-led as one approaches the limit. Whereas under the same provocation, the older car never wimps out, hewing to its line, and offering a level of granular steering feel and adjustability that the new offering can’t compete with. Let’s put that in context, though: for the other 90% of the time though, the S5 gives nothing away to its elder.

And in many ways, it moves the game on convincingly. I’ve always loved the looks of the RS4 since it debuted in four-door form a year ago; the combination of upright, Bauhausian carriage and bubble-flared aggression seemed just right, as did its hunkered-down stance and subtle, brushed-aluminum detailing.

Yet the Walter de Silva-penned S5 makes it look so last year’s discount rack special, it’s quite amazing. Few cars I’ve driven have elicited such uninhibited reaction from others. If it looks good in pictures, it has to be seen in the metal to believe. I watched people literally trip over their feet trying to clock it rumbling past. Its front end’s lighting graphics are both menacing and classy. I asked half a dozen people how much they thought it cost, and not once did anyone guess within $10,000 of the Audi’s asking price, making it’s mid-50’s sticker some kind of bargain for the level of rolling sculpture it delivers.

As captivating as its exterior is, it’s inside that the S5 cements the deal. While the RS4 boasts the expected Audi solidity of construction and beautiful materials, its upright architecture seems very dated once you wrap the S5 around you. The intuitive grouping of controls around the shifter, the unbelievable level of thought that went into making sure the light hit the metal trim just so, the way shapes and textures flow and complement, set a new standard for interior décor in the sub-six figure range. Sadly, some things don’t change; like many Audis, it had a rattle somewhere within the solid-appearing surroundings.

There’s no looser here; I’ll celebrate the sunbaked back-road blasts the RS4 thrilled me with for a long time; buyers will get an AWD, four-place rocket sled that should hang on to its value well, based on past RS products residuals. I am still captivated by the all around practicality served up by the super sexy four-place S5, and pleased by the number of areas in which it is nicer to live with. What is really exciting is that at some point in the near future, Audi will unleash an RS5 that will combine the best of the first and second features.

Price Range: RS4 Cabriolet: $84,775-85,525; S5: $52,575-60,315

Send article as PDF to