From All-Show To All-Go, These Grocery-Getters Are Among The Finest Avants In The Nation.
The Sport Wagon concept is somehow intrinsically European. It offers both speed and utility, but with none of the handicaps of an SUV. At one time or another most of the German manufacturers have offered something along these lines to tantalize the public. Cars like the M5 Touring spring to mind, and even the M Coupe is like a little wagon. The British got in on the act with Aston Martin's eccentric Shooting Brake. However, Audi are the undisputed wagon daddies. They take the crown thanks to consistency and outright insanity.
If you're unsure about Audi's credentials, we assume you missed the 6/06 issue with the Audi RS family. In it we documented the lunatic lineage that stretches back to the Audi 80/90-based RS2. Launched in '94 and offering 315hp from a Porsche-tuned 2.2 liter five cylinder 20v, it was the fastest way to make a Labrador puke. They followed up with the 380hp B5 RS4, which is legendary throughout the world. More recently we got the 450hp RS6 and Audi has just announced a wagon version of the latest 420hp B7 RS4.
So if you want to get to the best snowboarding slopes before anybody else, an Audi wagon, or Avant, is what you need. And since none of the cool RS Avants have officially made it to the US yet, it's up to the tuners to do this for you. The A4 1.8T Avant has been a great tuning platform in B5, B6 and B7 variants. So we thought we'd gather three of the nicest Avants to scrutinize exactly what's possible with these cars.All three embody slightly different approaches. One's a 12sec drag car, another is a widebody show car and the third is a daily driver - so there's something here for everybody.