Boostinfd

Rs5 transmission doesn't roll backwards at a stop... It's like the damn automatic... It creeps forward. R-tronic and DCT rolls back at a stop.

superswiss

Yes, it creeps forward on a flat surface and minor incline, basically as long as the engine is strong enough at idle to move the car, the clutch will slowly engage as soon as you step off the brake. It won't do that on a real incline. I believe above a 3% grade is where the engine at idle can no longer hold the car, so the clutch won't engage until you give it enough throttle.

rdh226

Where? (New England? Northwest? etc...)
RS5 is normally-aspirated, it is not a "blown" engine...you are thinking maybe of the S5?
Hmmm ... subtle is not how I would normally think of an RS5, but sitting next to a whale-tail Porsche, yeah, I guess the RS5 is more subtle.
NO to the ceramic brakes. No need.
It's German so it's a mainenance nightmare. It's an Audi, so it's a maintenance nightmare. that said, it you stay on top of reqular maintenance, 100K miles is -- well, should be -- trivial.

At this point I would heartily recommend buying the Audi Care (I think is the name) prepaid maintenance package/program. It will save you beaucoup bucks. Viz: just did my 15K service, "retails" for $1300!!!!! Prepaid it's about half.
Where? All seasons are mediocre at everything, and suck in true winter. If you're in winter country (I live in New Hampshire), winter tires are a MUST. I most highly recommend Blizzaks, they are superb ice tires, which pretty much describes New England conditions. 18" wheels work, by the way, so you can get slightly taller and narrower Blizzaks (as I recall, 255/40-18s).
Personally, "grey" -- bleh.

Unforutnately, Audi no longer offers Pearlescent White -- now that was a color you could lose yourself in.

For an RS5, a trip to the custom color charts is a must. Mine: Monterrey Green Pearlescent. Quite possibly the only one in the country, if not the whole world.
My very-personal feelings:

In true Audi-car tradition (http://www.tiac.net/~rdh/http/Urq/index.htm), it's a love-hate thing. The engine/transmission computer in "Drive" mode is so busy frantically trying to upshift to keep the revs low (it's typically 3rd or 4th gear by the time I get through most intersections) that by the time it realizes I keep pressing the go pedal further and further it almost panics and does a double or treble downshift and throws you back in your seat, forcing you to hit the brakes before you roll over the car in front of you. Read: it's damn hard to drive "moderately" unless you take over and do all shifts manually, to at least keep the engine to a predictable-response regime wherein you can move your foot and get a predictable and reproducible engine response other than the computer trying to slip in another upshift to keep you out of reach of any torque.

But OhMyGawd five or six seconds on an onramp just lights up the whole day! (Of course then you have to brake hard to get down from 100+ to a paltry 70MPH in order to safely merge with traffic...woo hoo!) Oh, and keep an eye out for the constabulary, they have a notoriously poor opinion of folks' spirited driving...sitting at the end of the onramp they can just ruin an otherwise glorious day!

The RS5 is a big car. Wider but shorter than the S4.

The not-especially-big (4.2L) V8 is a very-highly-strung engine, it has NO oomph below 3000RPM. (Oh, all right, it has an itsy bitsy bit of oomph below 3K.) It needs -- it wants, it *LOVES* -- to rev. It has to rev. It exists to rev! It's the most rev-happy engine I've had the pleasure of since my ole Lotus Europa Twin Cam. And Dear Lord it is a glorious beast in full battle cry! Sends shivers down your spine.

Other than my constant battle/frustration with the shift computer, as a everyday driver it is Audi's usual understated competence -- it is so just-plain-right that you don't even realize how well it does so much (other than manage the transmission) until you sit in almost anything else (and are taken aback by something just not being quite right somehow).

It does suffer from relatively poor rear visibility, very common in so many of today's cars. (Audi gave me an A3 loaner while my car was in the shop for 3 days to do the 15000 service, and ye gawds, the A3 had worse rear vision than the RS5! Aiyee!)

And like pretty much all of todays' ilk, the technophreak electronic thing living in the center dash that obfuscates the "stereo" should be taken out, shot, drawn and quartered, boiled in oil, and buried in an unmarked grave. I mean, whatever happened to "press button 3 to get preselected station 3" -- now I have to navigate and scroll through a damned onscreen menu! (Ahem, this is one of my pet peeves!) I stuck a CD (you know, those little round silvery things that have music recored on them), and it took me a full minute (much of it consumed with deletable expletives) -- and a couple of unintentional almost lane-changes -- to figure out how to get it to switch from my iPod to the CD. And from what I read, Audi is one of the less-offensive implementations! But hey, maybe a Modern Girl will get off on all that stuff.

Now to figure out how to install some fog lights . . .

Ash83

Why did you pay $700 for service even you have the prepaid service plan, what they did that was not included?

RSFIZZEL

You will not regret anything about buying this car. The extra 5-10k will be the last thing you think of after driving this the first week. It is well worth the premium to similar cars and is in a league of its own. Plus.. in 3-4 years if you decide to sell it.. it will still demand a good price because it is so rare (just look up with old RS4 are selling for). I have a Daytona Grey and wouldn't have any other color. The pearl finish looks different on sunny and cloudy days and all cleaned and waxed looks amazing! I get so many looks all the time. I personally like darker colors on cars and with the titanium package it looks MEAN. If I was going to go with lighter color it would be Sespang Blue, very nice color that pops but those are just my choices. As far as the brakes.. don't spend the money on the ceramic. The stock brakes are just fine and ceramics are for the guys taking this to the track on a regular basis. I engine brake most of the time so brakes just bring me to a stop. I live in Ohio and can attest that winter tires are 100% a must. Don't get all seasons, that would be very dumb IMO. The P-Zero Pirellis that come on are summer only and are nice. What I did is just purchased some knock off 19's rims AND tires so I could just swap them out easily. I went with the 19' Michelin Alpin PA4 and I tell you they ROCK in the snow. With the quattro AWD and nice winter rubber its amazing the traction this car gets. I would def. not run 20's in the winter no matter what. Hope that helps, good luck with your purchase!

RSFIZZEL

I'm liking that green! What exclusive color is that?

rdh226

Sorry, misunderstanding. If you do NOT buy the service package, they will hit you up for $1300-odd. If you have bought the service package, which I did, the total you pay for the service package (as a dealer addon/option package) is about half of what you would pay if you did not buy the service package and just paid as you went.

I paid $0.00 for the whole 15000K event (I have to call it an event, it was so damn complicated and drawn out; learning experience for dealer and me both).

-RDH

rdh226

Monterreygruen (Monterrey Green) Pearl. Color code LZ6B.

I was trying for "British Racing Green". Worked out OK. It's a little darker than I wanted, not quite as much "sizzle" (metallic effect). But that's "Pearl" not "Metallic". As with all the Pearls (and Metallics), it changes personality as you shift your vantage point, depending how the sun hits it, and is damnably hard to capture in a picture. In bright sunlight, it's gorgeous, in subdued light it's remarkably, well, subdued for such a vivacious paint.

-RDH

P.S. As a side effect of my, ah, battles with Audi over paint (I really Really REALLY wanted Pearlescent White a la my 2000 S4; they successfully refused), Audi America ended up making two Paint Chip Books containing the majority of the paints -- stock and "custom" -- that they offer. Supposedly, they're keeping one somewhere in L.A. and the other in New York somewhere. Twas a lot better than trying to interpret the colors Google found on the net, but they're still just "chips" and you have to take a lot on faith when ordering one of the custom colors.

RSFIZZEL

I love the pearl finish, I have Daytona Grey and your right about the different vantage points, have to see in person. I think your color came out great, I like the darker contrast!