Famous Firsts– The Audi RS2 Avant
February 19, 2024
Before the usual suspects write in with the “errr, I think you’ll find…” comments, we’re well aware that Audi’s first car was the Type A Sport-Phaeton way back in 1910, but that’s for another episode in this series. Today we’re celebrating the Audi RS2 Avant from 1994 because not only does it turn 30 next month (many happy returns you absolute legend you) but it also signifies the very first of Audi’s now revered RS models. Oh, and it’s dream garage material for a lot of us here at Car & Classic, too. Naturally.
Nowadays the coveted RS badge, standing for RennSport (or racing sport), is a ubiquitous sight on the boot lid of many an agile Autobahn Audi and is synonymous with speed and power. It’s up there with the likes of BMW’s M and Mercedes’ AMG divisions in the adoration and esteem stakes but to understand the thinking behind Audi’s high performance arm we have to travel back in time to 1980 and the legendary Quattro.
We’ve spoken at length about the Quattro in previous magazine articles so you can brush up on your Audi history here but in short the Quattro was developed as a homologation car for rallying by Audi’s motorsport division and it was a car that would pave the way for the German auto maker’s RS sub-brand. It was proof that competition tech could work incredibly well on the road as well as on a rally stage and that way of thinking would go on to define the performance, prestige and exclusiveness, not to mention the full everyday practicality, that RS developed Audis would become renowned for. It was the RS2 Avant’s proximity to that motorsport heritage and expertise that would be the catalyst for its road-going success and that of all subsequent RS models.
Developed as the spearhead of the Audi 80 product range, the RS2 Avant (Audi’s nomenclature for its long boi models) followed the earlier Audi S2 and S4 performance variants as the daddy of the line in 1994, with the RS sitting at the top of the tree, ahead of the S in terms of both performance and trim levels, spawned as it was by Audi’s desire to further push the envelope of its road cars. But enough with the alphanumeric analysis, what of the car itself?
A bit of an oddity in the early ’90s, fast estates would soon become normalised, what with Volvo’s glorious 850 T-5R debuting around the same time, but what Audi did was turn everything up to 11, raising the stakes and going all in to create the fastest estate car in the world at the time. The RS2 Avant was very much a collaborative project though, with Audi hitting up Porsche for a bit of a helping hand. And we all know that Porsche knows a thing or two when it comes to making cars go zoom zoom…
The two German giants were already BFFs having worked together previously on Porsche’s 924 and 944 models so to return the favour the boffins at Zuffenhausen would take 2,891 of Audi’s fettled 80 Avant bodies and bung in that legendary 2.2-litre five-cylinder turbocharged engine, tuned to perfection and mated to a six-speed manual gearbox. They then slapped on some brakes and wheels from the Porsche 968 Clubsport, performed some Porsche wizardry on the suspension and a legend was born. Backs were patted, hands were shaken and a genre defining icon was produced to suitable fanfare.
What the two companies had produced was nothing short of utterly spectacular. Here was an estate car with all-wheel drive that developed 315bhp and was capable of 0-60mpg in under five-and-a-half seconds, as well as a top speed of over 160mph. Notoriously as quick as the then current Ferrari 456 and unbelievably out-performing the bloody McLaren F1 of all things from 0-30mph it was not only lauded as the fastest wagon on the planet but also the first Audi to crest 155mph. Impressive to say the least.
Including the seats, Michael Hölscher, head of the RS2 project at Porsche at the time reckons: “around 20 per cent of the RS2 stems from Porsche”, going on to say that: “Porsche were responsible for new parts and development services, while Audi took care of body parts and components that could be transferred from other models. It was an exciting collaboration that brought about nothing but benefits for both companies”. Not to mention for the car buying public too, we might add.
As touched upon earlier, less than 3,000 RS2 Avants were ever built and with only 182 right hand drive versions making their way to the UK it’s an incredibly rare beast, not just on these shores but the world over. Of course, this is Car & Classic and at the time of writing we have three examples available on the site, one of which being right-hand drive, complete in the now famous Nogaro blue paint scheme, so if you fancy a bit of iconic, Porsche-engineered, all-wheel drive turbo estate lunacy then we can certainly sate that particular desire for you.
The Audi RS 2 Avant not only remains one of the finest estate cars ever built but it also marks the genesis of the RS success story, scribing the first chapter in this epic tale and it’s a story that continues to write history to this day. With frankly absurd performance thanks to those ties to motorsport, coupled with a certain level of exclusivity, RS-badged Audis have consistently fascinated petrolheads for decades. Can we have one now please?
