Audi RS5 (2010): It's official

The Audi RS5 - now it's official

Audi has now released details of the new Audi RS5 which will go on sale in May and offers 450bhp from its 4.2 litre V8.

Update: When we ran this story all we had from Audi was the Euro price for the RS5. But they’ve now told us that the “…RS 5 is expected to open for UK order in the spring priced at in the region of £58,500.”

On Saturday we reported on the leak of the Audi RS5 brochure which gave us a big pile of photos of the new hot Audi. What we didn’t have – although we were pretty sure what was likely – was any indication of exactly how much power the RS5 would get and when Audi would be getting the RS5 to customers. Well, as we said after their brochure designers dropped a clanger sticking the brochure on their own site, Audi would have to get a shake on and release the info officially. And they have.

Just as expected the Audi RS5 get a 4.2 litre V8 which manages to corral 450 horses thanks to the ability to breath a bit deeper. This translates in to a 0-60mph of 4.4 seconds (official – 0-62mph 4.6) and up to a goverend 155mph. But you can opt to have the restrictor removed, in which case the RS5 will carry on up to 174mph.

The Audi RS5 also gets Audi’s latest quattro system which gets a new crown gear diff with electronically controlled clutch pack which can split the power up to 70% front and 85% depending on grip, althought the default is 40:60 F/R.

What is good to see is that the RS5 is endowed with Audi’s new seven-speed S-Tronic dual clutch transmission, which we hope sees action where it’s really needed – in the R8 which has basically the same lump. The R-Tronic in the R8 is a pretty woeful bit of kit and spoils what is otherwise a great car. I know, you could have the manual, but that can also be a pig in traffic. And despite us all yearning for open roads it’s traffic we find ourselves in for most of the time.

On the styling front the RS5 gets a few extra bits to differentiate it from the S5, including single-frame grille with honeycomb inserts, a new front bumper with oversized air inlets and bulging wings which are somewhat reminiscent of the original Audi quattro.

As we already know, the Audi RS5 will debut at Geneva next month (actually, next week) and go on sale in May at a starting price of €77,700. Audi UK haven’t given us any price information – or customer car start dates – yet so we’ll update with that information as soon as we get it. And if you want the nuts and bolts there is always the Audi RS5 Press Release to peruse.