[s-cars] RS6 vs M5

[JShadzi at aol.com]

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<< And with few exceptions they are usually the fastest car on the road
around me.  I have not yet taken them to the track so I cannot compare them
to anything else in that setting, sorry.  >>

Well, lets hope so considering what you paid...

<<But this > same discussion seems to come up every year or two and I am
> starting to really see the humor in it.  Who cares if your RS6 is .2 of a
> second a lap
> faster than that BMW?  Maybe the driver in the BMW is a lousy track driver.
> Maybe the M3 guy is a real hot shoe?  Did I want to drive and own a fast
> car?  Yes.  Do I?  Yes.  But really I purchased these cars for that reason
> plus a lot of others too.>>

When it comes to the daily car I drive, I could care less what any of these
cars does at the Nur-ring or even LeMans for that matter - I will never have
a chance to enjoy what is "better" about those kinds of cars or experiences.
And, the conversation keeps coming up because Audi is positioning itself to a
market that is, for the most part, leaving the "historical-Audi-enthusiast"
out in the cold, with no real options.  Lets look back 10 years ago or so,
when the RS2 was released, it was audi's fastest car.  Though it was a little
on the heavy side, it was very fast, and handled well.  The one problem with
the RS2, which is amplifying with ever generation of new Audi cars, was that
it weighed too much, and could have lost 3-400lbs of "luxury" equipment.

In the bigger cars of that era, UrS4, V8, etc, none "outperformed" the RS2,
the expectation was not there, the luxury cars were for luxury, and the
performace car for just that.

Increasingly, Audi is afraid to let one of its smaller cars outperform its
flagship models, and all the high hp motors are being put in tanks that are
really not performance cars, but luxury cars.  Granted, we've yet to see the
new S4, but chances are it will be a V8 and not one of the higher hp twin
turbo motors, plus I'll be forward to seeing the sticker price on that baby.

My message to Audi, "its ok if a small body "S" car out performs one of your
flagship luxury cars."

>
> <I think the only real test of this premise is to have the same driver put
> some hot laps on the RS6 and an M5.  I'll bet the M5 is faster.  But does
> that really matter?  You do know that AMG will have a 469hp E55 late next
> year?  Isn't it beautiful how that works?>>


Your'e right, it doesn't matter, and it doesn't matter what the other marques
are doing except on the corporate, marketing level.  There is much more than
0-60 and 1/4 mile times or lap times to a sports car evaluation.  I would
like to see any of the German car marques offer a sports sedan for under $30k
as the Japanese have been doing so well lately.

Javad