Why Germany is in a Super-Saloon Civil War at the NY Auto Show
The Audi RS5 Sportback and the facelifted Mercedes-AMG C63 are both revealed at the New York Auto Show. Jaguar unveils the F-Pace SVR. The Audi RS5 CoupĂ© hasn't been given a lot of love by journalists, and has been criticised far and wide for being dull and aloof. Audi's answer to this is the new Sportback version, with four doors, a first for the RS5 (although a regular S5 bodystyle) and normal RS innards. That means a 2.9l biturbo V6, also found in some Porsche models, producing 444bhp and 443lb ft of torque, and rocketing the 1840kg (slightly more than usual) RS5 Sportback to 62mph in just 3.9s, which is two tenths tardier than the CoupĂ© (although TopGear has timed that car at a ludicrous 3.2s), and on to an electronically capped top speed of 155mph, or if you tick certain boxes, 174mph. Pricing starts at around 63 grand. We've got high hopes for this one if they can sort the chassis. Naturally, however, in the German holy trinity of £60k super-saloons, it isn...