Drove 2013 RS4 and RS5
 

I got invited to one of these Audi Sport showcase days. I really wanted to try the R8 and RS6 of course, but I should have booked much earlier to stand a chance. Anyway I got to drive the RS4 avant and RS5 cabrio. Both very similar.
RS5 cabrio was a bit scary going fast in the corners, RS4 more controlled. I think the S8 is just as controlled in the bends and maybe even feels a bit more planted? I hope I'm not being biased.
Basically its a very similar engine to the S8, 4.2 V8, same torque 317lbft, just higher revs, and max torque maybe slightly higher in the rev range? from 4000rpm onwards. It really does feel comparable, as you would expect since torque and weight of both cars is almost identical, just that little bit faster accelerating especially at the top end.

RS4 is a very fast car, and to me even in 'dynamic' mode it doesn't feel as harsh as some magazines have said. It sounds amazing, and at high rpm letting off throttle you can tell its a proper clutch (dual clutch) there is definitely a jerk of sudden engine breaking when lifting off quickly.
At town speeds in 'auto' mode its very smooth, even seems to have that slight delay in accelerating that is similar to the auto S8 with the torque converter gearbox. It is faster than the S8 but not by as big a margin as I expected. Also its torque shove seems to come on very high in the rev range which feels a bit strange.
I'm not sure that the seats are as comfortable as the D2 S8, and the shape of S8 seats looks better to me. The RS4 steering wheel feels nice, but it is way too light at crawling speed, its just ridiculously light.

Despite the seemingly huge differences, to me there are a lot of similarities in the way the drivetrain behaves. Me personally I doubt I would get an RS4 instead of a D2 S8. Perhaps if the D2 had the dual clutch transmission and RS4's high revving V8 it would be almost a perfect car.
£55k for the RS4 vs £4k for a used S8, the small performance increase does not seem to justify spending so much more. I know you get a brand new car etc, etc.

Good report, and I like the seats bit best+++. Coincidentally, I've just changed my mobile this morning (from an HTC One with ee, to an LG G3 with 3…), and the 3 store manager and I were swapping car stories - he has a 335 petrol - his comment was " the seats are amazing in the S8", though we also discussed speed, power, etc etc (and fuel economy..), of course +++

Thanks! Yes the seats just wont do. Am I too picky to dislike a car just because of the seats?
Another thing I remembered and wanted to add. In 'dynamic' mode the car hangs on to gears and stays in a high rev range to make it feel more responsive. For example cruising at 30mph I think it was hanging on to second, it was definitely in the 3500rpm range and wanted to stay there. I found this really annoying, I bet even a D2 would be pretty responsive if you kept it in low gears and revs high. To my mind what the car needs is more torque to make it naturally more responsive in any gear.

Besides your hands (and you rightly make a great deal of that) its what connects you to the rest of the car! I was given a 300mile ride in a Nissan X-Trail the other day and it was really uncomfortable despite being "luxury leather seats". I mean, my backside ached after a couple of hours. No support, too firm in the wrong places. and the car is noisy too! After being dropped off I eased gratefully into the '8 for the last 20miles home...... bliss - and i blew the north going traffic off the the A9 between Tain and Brora without sounding like a wheezy tractor. :)