Doug DeMuro Compares Audi RS6 Avant to RS2 Avant
Doug DeMuro turns his famous eye for detail toward the new Audi RS6 Avant and a sibling 30 years its senior.
Reading the forums, it’s clear some people find Doug DeMuro annoying. And for the record? I’m not one of them. While I can kind of see where some of his critics are coming from, the fact of the matter is that whenever I watch one of his videos, I learn something. That’s not something I can say about most of car-themed channels on YouTube, and it doesn’t hurt that when I met him on a press junket a few years back, he seemed like a genuinely nice guy.
So when I hear people make fun of him over the way he says “quirks and features?” It always reminds of Liberace’s famous response when he was asked about his critics — “I cried all the way to the bank.”
That said, while DeMuro can afford some truly serious hardware, he recently picked up a 1994 RS2 Avant, which he called “the coolest fast wagon ever.” From someone who gets to drive everything from Paganis, to Ferraris, to McLarens, to Lamborghinis, that’s high praise. Better still, he lined his uber-wagon up next to Audi’s latest fire-breathing longroof for a comparison, and the results are as fun and interesting as any of his fans would expect.
In this family comparison, one of the first things he points out is just how much bigger the modern Audi is to its elder sibling. Now, it’s hard to find a car that hasn’t swollen substantially over the decades, as even icons like the Porsche 911 have put on substantial pounds. But while the RS2 is based off the contemporary A4-sized sedan, and the RS6 is based off of the current A6, the fact remains that there’s a whopping 17-inch difference in the overall length of the cars.
No matter which way you slice it, that’s a lot of sheet metal, and when the camera steps back so we can see them both in profile, the difference is striking. On a side note, I recently compared a 1999 Honda Civic Si with a 2020 Si and found the size difference crazy. Yup, the modern automotive landscape is kind of like Texas — everything is bigger.
Of course, there’s a lot more than size that separates these blue beauties, and DeMuro dives into it all. One of the things which I really thought was interesting was just how much more stylized and advanced the headlights are. The units on the RS2 look like clear little boxes, and honestly more like Lego bricks than anything you’d expect to see on a modern vehicle, while the RS6 lamps are thoroughly stylized, and seamlessly integrated into the body.
Another key difference, as you can see from the image above, is grille size. While the RS2 does have some intakes at the bottom of the front clip, the slot at the front is miniscule in comparison to the acres of mesh on the RS6. Seriously, a significant portion of the real estate on the old model is taken up by the Four Rings badge, while the face of 2021 model is seemingly all grille. That’s another change that we’ve seen happen across the industry, and it’s interesting to see such a direct comparison. Turns out, a 591-horsepower V8 needs to breathe a lot of air!
There’s lost more where that came from, so make sure to watch the video — and let me know if there are any striking contrasts DeMuro missed!
Photos: YouTube