Drove 2013 RS4 and RS5

[Goran]

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.