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2018 Audi RS Q5 Powered by 2.9L Twin-Turbo Porsche Engine Rendered

Audi's first "RS" vehicle was the RS2 Avant, a hot version of the 80 wagon that had been tweaked by Porsche. Now, the two companies are coming full circle by sharing the development costs of one special 2.9-liter V6.
2018 Audi RS Q5 Powered by 2.9L Twin-Turbo Porsche Engine Rendered 67 photos
Photo: X-Tomi Design
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It's already found its way under the hood of the all-new Porsche Panamera 4S and is about to be installed in the spiritual successor to the RS2, which is the RS4 Avant.

After that, we'll likely see the same twin-turbo powering the RS5 coupe, cabriolet and even a Sportback 4-door designed for the US market. But a little bird in German told us the RS Q5 is also on the agenda.

What's ridiculous is that we are even treating this as a rumor. Should we not believe that the company which invented quattro all-wheel drive wants to make a fast SUV? It wouldn't even be the first RS Q model, as that title belongs to the somewhat ill-conceived RS Q3.

About a day after the Parisian debut of the all-new Q5, we have our first rendering from X-Tomi Design. He seems to have used some of the styling elements from the TT RS, but we think keeping the Q5's current grille was a mistake.

All RS models will have a deep-set mesh. Other than that, there's nothing wrong with the rendering, which gets us excited about a potent mix of practicality, curb appeal and performance.

We mentioned the 2.9-liter engine, which is pretty much guaranteed to find its way under the hood of the RS Q5. However, some reports suggest the new 2.5-liter turbo will be used instead, which we find hard to believe. Not only is the 5-banger only available in MQB cars, which the Q5 isn't, but it stands no chance of competing with the Mercedes-AMG GLC 63 and whatever BMW has cooking.

We suspect the output of the 2.9 TFSI will be exactly the same as that of the old 4.2-liter V8 which it replaces: 450 PS. However, torque will be at least 50% higher and available from low revs.
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About the author: Mihnea Radu
Mihnea Radu profile photo

Mihnea's favorite cars have already been built, the so-called modern classics from the '80s and '90s. He also loves local car culture from all over the world, so don't be surprised to see him getting excited about weird Japanese imports, low-rider VWs out of Germany, replicas from Russia or LS swaps down in Florida.
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