Audi RS5 Sportback Ascari Edition Review: Performance On A Silver Platter

Audis you've probably never heard of because this is a Audi RS5 Sportback Ascari Edition, one of just 100 ever produced. So the way I figured I'd break down this review is I'll first walk you through the RS5 and then we can jump into the Ascari Edition and what I think make this car special and then at the end I'll tell you whether or not I think it's worth it. So starting with the RS5. So the current generation RS5 joined the lineup for the 2018 model year but it did so as a coupe. The Sportback which this is essentially meaning it has four doors joined for the 2019 model year. However for 2021 both cars get a refresh in the name of new updated styling and updated tech in the interior so I'm driving that updated car. So what makes the RS5 go? Well it is a twin turbocharged 2.9 liter v6 developing 444 horsepower and 442 foot-pounds of torque. Now this being an Audi it does come standard with all-wheel drive and an 8-speed automatic transmission. So all that performance translates to a 0 to 60 time of 3.8 seconds and a top speed of 174 miles an hour with the dynamic package which this car does have. So let's start with the power delivery. The power delivery it is quite intense. Frankly 444 horsepower is nothing to scoff at. However this car the butt dyno is telling me somewhere closer to 500. This feels more powerful than those figures would suggest and I think the culprit here is going to be that torque figure that 442 foot-pounds of torque and the way this transmission is tuned to deliver that torque it just makes use of every little bit of available power. So as soon as you put your foot down big big torque down low but it carries all the way to redline and the gears themselves are so nicely spaced that you're kind of always in boost. As soon as you put your foot down you don't really lose boost you don't really lose momentum and the result is this car feels dramatically fast. And now aside from that this does have all-wheel drive like I mentioned with torque vectoring which this car can send almost all of its torques just one wheel. In the real world the result is extreme amounts of grip. You can really feel this car sort of sucking you into the corner not really wanting to understeer or anything. This is not it's very sort of un-Audi. Out of every Audi that I've driven before even I drove the S5 a couple of years ago that was far more understeery than this. This thing is absolutely planted and frankly yes if you push it to like 100% you'll get a little bit of understeer but the threshold at which that happens is so high that I would argue that 99% of people driving this car will never ever get there. So what you really do get to experience is immense immense speed and immense grip. So this car its capabilities are undeniable. Now back to that transmission because I mentioned it is an 8-speed automatic but it is not a dual clutch. However I'm not holding that against this car because the tuning of it is so great and the speed with which it shifts is so fast that frankly I wouldn't care that the fact that it's not a dual clutch. It's perfectly fine and around town which is where you're likely gonna spend most of your time with this car is incredibly smooth you can't even notice it which is great. So up here when I'm in the canyons you're really blasting I'm not really looking for any additional performance from the transmission. Now to round up the engine section as I get caught in a little bit of traffic let's talk about the sound because you can hear the sound through the cabin as I accelerate but it's not overly dramatic. I do think that v6 sounds wonderful especially when you have your foot planted in it it screams and it sort of sings a really nice tone. It feels refined and it kind of goes along with the sort of luxury esque you know theme of this car. Now when you do upshift in anger it does have that characteristic sort of Audi Volkswagen fart noise which I really don't know how else to describe it but I really am NOT a fan of it. I think it kind of spoils the rest of the really nice tone that this engine puts out but it's there and I guess it does add a little bit of drama to the overall experience but I could really do without it. I really have very few complaints of the way this car drives and frankly this has a variable steering ratio and there's a lot of feel which is very uncharacteristic of again of Audis that I've driven in the past. There's a lot of feel coming through and it feels quite lively I get a lot of good information and frankly it's perfectly matched to this car and the segment that it's in and what it's trying to compete against. So that was also incredibly surprising but when you put everything together you put the engine, the transmission, the all-wheel drive system and then you add the fact that this car has a 275 30 square stance tire setup and this car drives absolutely phenomenally. Again I have very very few complaints about it and it's so accessible that has been the main theme with this car. It's not only incredibly fast but it's also very very easy to drive at the limit. It's very easy to drive. It's not scary or intimidating by any means and it would allow even folks that don't have that much driving experience to come up here to the canyons and really enjoy themselves because they don't have to be a pro driver to extract the most out of their car. This car kind of hands you its very best in a silver platter for you to enjoy and that's kind of been the overarching theme of my time with this car. The more I push it the more rewarding it becomes and frankly the limits of this car are much much higher than I really expected. So overall on the driving section this car is an absolute winner. So let's look back to the Ascari edition end of this equation because that adds a lot to the way this car drives. The package cost $20,500 but you get the beautiful Ascari blue paint, carbon ceramic front brakes, those 275 30 profile tires that I mentioned earlier, big 20-inch wheels, forged wheels. You have an incredible amount of carbon throughout, the variable steering ratio, this Alcantara steering wheel. You also get the RS dynamic suspension so there's a lot in that package. Is it expensive? Sure but you're getting a lot for that money but the thing I want to touch on are those carbon ceramic front brakes. First of all they're freaking enormous and they're also blue color match to the car although it is slightly different shade of blue but they are blue just like the rest of the car and they are probably one of my favorite aspects of the car. Now when I first got into it I thought they were a little bit grabby but once you put some heat into them and you get them properly going they are absolutely awesome. For 2021 this car gets a significant amount of exterior updates like I mentioned earlier starting with the grille. The entire front end has been sort of tweaked. It's not really a revolutionary change it's more evolutionary but the grille is slightly tweaked, the headlights are new and frankly this car is a little bit wider than its predecessor just subtle tweaks here and there that really make a big difference. This is probably my favorite looking car in the segment. I think this car looks incredibly elegant regardless of the angle and this Ascari blue paint is an especially a highlight because it's incredibly sparkly, it shines in the sunlight, lovely but it also has these contrasting silver trim bits throughout with the silver wheels and this color combo is probably my favorite RS5 I've ever seen even counting the green one which I'm a huge fan of green but I think this Ascari blue really really takes it and overall just the design of this car, the taillights, the LED taillights look fantastic. I love the way this car is styled. I like the silhouette also the sloping roofline you know we have a lot of you know coupe style SUVs now but this really does actually have a proper nailed sloping roofline that looks classy. This car just frankly it screams that it is it looks as expensive as it is you know and we'll touch on price a little bit later but I really have no downsides in terms of design. I think Audi nailed it. I have loved the RS5 the way the RS5 looks since it launched and frankly seeing it this many years on is only cementing in my mind that it has aged quite quite well. Let's talk about the interior because that is where you're gonna be spending all of your time with this car and frankly I love the interior layout of this car. The big fans across the dash, the central digital instrument cluster, this is an updated screen in the middle here it's 10.1 inches now and houses an updated infotainment system as well with wireless Apple CarPlay and wired Android Auto connectivity but overall the layout in here just let's not even talk about materials yet let's talk about the layout it's beautiful I think it's very very fitting for a car of this price point I think it looks classy looks elegant and frankly everything is incredibly easy to use. Now in terms of materials like I mentioned earlier this Alcantara steering wheel is part of the Ascari package and we have tons of carbon throughout which frankly I think you know gives it that sporty look in a car that weighs 4,000 pounds is not making any weight differences but is a great use of material there's gloss black throughout and a little bit more Alcantara here and there even in the doors and such but the fact that there's a couple of different materials whether it be carbon plastic Alcantara and different finishes it really does make this all black interior still feel quite nice it still feels like a quite nice place to be in despite it being a generally dark cabin. Now the digital instrument cluster in front of me is easily the interiors highlight because it feeds me all the information I would likely ever need I pretty much do not need the screen in the middle because I can configure my navigation all of my information right here in the middle if they just add an Apple CarPlay to the center screen we can do away with this one over here. These sport seats they're standard for the RS 5 they have a sort of honeycomb pattern on them and frankly the quality of the leather everything in here feels incredibly top-notch and quality obviously given the price point which again we'll touch on in a second but frankly I have no complaints about the interior sound deadening is excellent this could easily be a highway cruiser a daily driver absolutely no problems on that front and yeah this interior is a very very nice place to be and I love that the exterior like I mentioned earlier is quite elegant and the interior is also again still leans on elegant so we need to talk about at this point the price because as much as I really genuinely like this car and I think it's a fantastic performer it does come at a price now the standard RS 5 Sportback without the Ascari package starts at a little over $75,000 but with the Ascari edition it starts at just under $96,000 excluding your destination charge which is $1,045 so let's talk at that price point we're essentially talking about a six-figure RS 5 once taxes and fees and everything is all settled do I feel this car delivers a six-figure driving experience I think yes I think genuinely the way this car steers stops accelerates and just tackles corner is definitely befitting of a six-figure car now I have to be completely honest that I have not driven a standard RS 5 Sportback without the upgraded brakes or the suspension or the steering to really genuinely compare but just comparing this to all the vehicles I've driven recently I don't feel like this car is lacking you know given that price but I don't think anybody's gonna buy this car at nearly $100,000 and be deeply disappointed and that's kind of my overarching thought with this car I've been very impressed with it and it's actually got me thinking why don't we hear more about the RS 5 I know we talked about a lot about the m3 or the c63 but in the general sort of conversation of the space I don't think we really hear much from the RS 5 I think too many folks sort of write off this car without even really giving it a chance and frankly what how he's been cooking up over here sort of on its own lane is really truly special I think this is not only up there with this closest competitors but I would pick this over some of its competitors so that's probably the biggest compliment I could give this car and I think we're gonna end it right there so I want to thank you again so much for watching please make sure to LIKE and subscribe it really does help us grow and leave any suggestions for any cars that you'd like to see whether that be supercars sports cars luxury cars we are going to cover pretty much anything we can get our hands on so until then take care and I'll see you on the next one