NoMoreBMWs

https://www.caranddriver.com/feature...tning-lap-2018

It seems that the Hankooks were the goat here: the sport diff in Dynamic and Auto was just over-heating the tires.

ArvX147

Weight is king on the track and the civic is wayyyyyy lighter with only 100 less HP.

RS5 is not a track car, as expected...

-=Hot|Ice=-

The RS5 is more of a really fast GT. Audi has admitted this already.

JD15

The bigger issue is that it's only 0.4s faster than the previous RS5.

ArvX147

That part I can throw totally on the tires. The fact that the RS5 doesn't (always) come with pss/ps4 or equivalent Conti offering is a tragedy and a huge oversight by Audi considering that stock equipment means everything to magazine reviews.

JD15

A $90k GT certainly deserves better tires and not the Hankooks that Audi chose to save a few bucks. Something like the PS4 you mentioned would probably cut a few seconds off the lap time and would be worth the cost of better marketing.

-=Hot|Ice=-

With the B9, I just don't see the RS5 really being worth it compared to the S5.

JD15

Though not a true track car, Audi really should have equipped the RS5 to perform better on a track test. For comparison, the M4 and M2 were four seconds and three seconds faster, respectively.

NoMoreBMWs

My E92 M3 was about 1.5 seconds slower around VIR. I know from fastestlaps.com (and seat of the pants) that if anything an S5 is a little quicker on a tight course. The RS5 is quite a premium for 1.5 seconds.

Two caveats:

1. In Europe, where you can use the RS5's straight line speed, it might make more sense.
2. Tires. The Hankooks make nice summer high speed touring tires, but PS4s would do better. But then again both the RS5 and S5 would be quicker on PS4s.

ArvX has it just about right here: the mass (and distribution of the mass) disqualifies the RS5 as a sports car. If I could live with a coupe I'd be looking at the new Supra with its 3300 pound curb weight and 50/50 weight distribution for less money than an S5. Having said that, there's no reason to believe that anyone here bought an RS5 thinking it was a sports car.

McGriddle

They say they weren't in Dynamic and used Individual instead to put the Diff into Comfort. However, shouldn't they have then dropped the transmission into "S" instead of "D?" You can clearly see the transmission is in "D" in the video on the lower right at about 2:48. Dynamic normally puts you into "S," but they used Individual. I haven't tried that in my own RS5 since I either use Dynamic or Auto in "S" mode. Does Individual with the Engine and Trans in Dynamic have no difference in throttle response in D versus S? I need to test that in my RS5.