2018 Audi RS4 Avant Spied Testing at The Nurburgring With S4 Badges

As all petrolheads have already found out, Audi has ditched the naturally-aspirated V8 unit of the RS4 with the upcoming generation. Its replacement is a V6 twin-turbo engine that is possibly shared with Porsche’s Panamera. The latter’s unit has a displacement of 2.9 liters, and it provides 440 HP and 550 Nm (406 lb-Ft) under the hood of the four-door coupe from Stuttgart.

In the case of the next RS4, Audi is expected to come up with at least 450 HP, but some reports do not rule out values as high as 500 HP. The turbocharging solution will reduce the rev limit of this engine, but the unit will come with a more generous torque curve, along with a fitting power band.

Another important aspect of the next RS4 is that it will be lighter than its predecessor. The reduced weight should bring improved handling, enhanced fuel economy, and lessen the wear on braking and suspension components. All of the described changes should make the next RS4 Avant faster than the ongoing model, which was a quick car even in the wrong hands.

Audi is expected to launch the next RS4 Avant as a 2018 model year vehicle, which means that you could see it in late 2017. As you can see in the video below, published by the YouTube channel “Supercarsfromeu,” the engineers are driving the RS4 prototype rather quickly across the German track.

The prototype comes with fenders that have been equipped with an improvisation on the fenders, which are not seamlessly joined to the vehicle.

It is important to remark that this prototype, which comes with S4 badges, also has two twin exhaust pipes, which do not match Audi’s traditional oval exhaust tips for its RS range. The production car based on this prototype should have a generously-sized oval exhaust tip on each side instead of the configuration seen in the video.