A5/S5/RS5 Automobile First Look: 2010 Audi RS5

[Bartek S.]

By our count, there are only eight days until Audi unwraps its RS5 sport coupe at the Geneva motor show, but that’s not stopping the automaker from spilling the beans on its latest model.

Although the RS5 uses the same direct-injection 4.2-liter V-8 found in the S5 Coupe, the folks at Quattro GmbH have transformed the engine into a verifiable screamer. The high-revving V-8 is good for 450 hp @ 8250 rpm, and throws down as much as 317 lb.-ft. of torque between 4000 and 6000 rpm. (For comparison, the S5’s engine is rated at 350 hp @ 7000 rpm and 325 lb.-ft. of torque at 3500 rpm).

Audi’s Quattro all-wheel-drive system is, of course, standard equipment, but a revised center differential allows an increasingly variable torque split -- although it’s set to send 60 percent of the power to the rear wheels, as much as 85 percent can be channeled through the rear differential. Also standard is a seven-speed dual-clutch transmission. For the time being, no manual variant is expected.

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