Californian dealership Audi San Diego has just posted these photos to its Twitter account and mentioned that the pictured car’s price is “about $78,600 plus fees.”
Audi is yet to confirm pricing of the new RS 5, though given the car’s performance and expected competition the alleged pricing is not completely unreasonable. By comparison, a BMW M3 Coupe starts at $60,100 while the Mercedes-Benz C63 AMG Coupe will set you back at least $62,305.
The Audi benefits from some features that its rivals miss out on, namely, a sophisticated all-wheel drive system featuring a crown-gear center differential. Based on the quattro setup found in most of Audi’s lineup, the RS 5’s all-wheel drive system uses a self-locking crown-gear center differential, which can widely vary the amount of torque sent to the front or rear wheels. Under normal driving conditions, torque is split 40 percent front and 60 percent rear, but as traction changes, up to 85 percent of the torque can be sent to the rear wheels (or up to 70 percent to the front).
Power comes from a high-revving 4.2-liter V-8 rated at 450 horsepower and 317 pound-feet of torque. The engine is matched to a seven-speed S tronic dual-clutch gearbox and drive is channeled to all four wheels via the aforementioned all-wheel drive system.
The complete package is good for a 0-60 mph time of just 4.5 seconds and an electronically-limited top speed of 174 mph. Stopping power comes from 14.4-inch steel discs, though for ultimate performance a carbon ceramic set with 15-inch discs is offered.
The RS 5 comes with 19-inch wheels as standard, though we recommend going for the optional 20-inch set shod with beefy 275/30 tires. Another option we recommend ticking is the sports exhaust system, which gets black tailpipe trims and active acoustic flaps.
Inside, there are sports seats trimmed with Nappa leather, RS-design carbon fiber inlays around the dash, Audi MMI with Audi connect Internet connectivity, and a 14-speaker Bang & Olufsen sound system.
Note, if you happen to prefer a convertible bodystyle, Audi is currently working on a new RS 5 Cabriolet, which we expect to be revealed later this year.
2012 Audi RS5
