2007 Audi RS4

History

Audi reserves the RS, or RennSport, moniker for the most exclusive, top-of-the-food-chain vehicles in their lineup. They don’t make them often and when they do, there are not many to go around. Here in North America, the B7 series of Audi’s A4 lineup ran from 2004 to 2009 but the RS-ified variant was only available in 2007 and 2008. While the folks from Ingolstadt were already offering high performance in their S4 model, the RS4 is an altogether different animal.

Visually, it features a 1.5” wider front and 1.9” wider rear track, versus the regular A4, to improve handling. Hence those beautifully bulging haunches you’ll only find on the RS4. Under the seemingly normal hood resides a naturally aspirated 4.2L V8 beast, calmly waiting to scream up to an 8,250-rpm redline and on to 60 mph in 4.6 seconds. Audi’s legendary Quattro AWD system distributes the power to all four corners via 6-speed manual, the only transmission available. Did someone say wintertime four-wheel drifting?