Audi's going back to where it all began for the RennSport (RS) division - by announcing a limited edition of the current RS 4 Avant, the Nogaro, in homage to the original RS product, the RS 2 Avant of 1994. Yes, it's the 20th anniversary of RS...
Exterior
The RS 4 Avant Nogaro will be shown at Geneva and will be on sale at Audi dealerships in the coming weeks. It'll start from €87,300 in its homeland, which is in excess of €10,000 more than the standard RS 4 Avant's €77,100 price tag, but no word yet on adjusted prices for other markets. Remember, the RS 4 Avant costs €102,670 here.
So what do you get for the premium? Well, outside, the car is finished in Nogaro Blue, the most recognised (but not the only) colour for the RS 2, and features gloss-black detailing elsewhere, specifically around the windows, the front grille, the exhaust tips and on the roof rails. It also benefits from gloss-turned finish 20-inch wheels with a V-spoke design and red, RS-branded brake callipers behind them. You might also note the wing mirrors and front splitter are body-coloured, not silver, which subtly alters the appearance of the Nogaro variant.
Interior
If you're going to buy one, just promise us you'll go properly '90s in here. The Nogaro will come with half-and-half leather and Alcantara trim, which you can have in all black if you must, but to properly pay tribute to the RS 2, you need to go for the option of having the Alcantara in Nogaro Blue.
Audi continues to beat the black 'n' blue drum elsewhere, with blue contrast stitching on the armrests, steering wheel and gearstick gaiter, optional blue piping for the floor mats and even a blue thread running through the weave of the carbon dash inlays. You'll also get special Nogaro badging on the S tronic gearshift and on the door sill trims.
Mechanicals
Ah, now we get to the juicy bit. Except... um, we don't. Audi has done precisely nothing to the drivetrain of the RS 4. Not necessarily a bad thing, as the 4.2-litre V8 engine makes 450hp and 430Nm, but maybe a tiny increase in headline figures, maybe via a special exhaust, would have been welcome. The speed limiter is raised to 280km/h, though, which is an option on the standard RS 4. With its seven-speed S tronic dual-clutch auto, it does 0-100km/h in the same 4.7 seconds as the 'boggo' RS 4 Avant, and achieves 26.4mpg combined (10.7l/100km) with CO2 emissions of 249g/km.
The brake discs feature a wave design and are internally ventilated and perforated. You can option up carbon ceramic discs at the front if you want more stopping power, while buyers can also add in a sport differential that splits torque between the rear wheels. Finally, Dynamic Steering and 'RS sport suspension plus with Dynamic Ride Control' can be fitted - at extra cost, of course.
Anything else?
For our younger generation of readers, the RS 2 was built in 1994 in co-operation with Porsche. It had a 2.2-litre five-cylinder engine making 315hp, 400Nm and driving all four wheels - naturally - via a six-speed manual gearbox. It could hit 100km/h from rest in 4.8 seconds and go on to 262km/h. A total of 2,908 were built until production ceased in July 1995, with 180 in right-hand drive, and the majority of them were in Nogaro Blue to commemorate Frank Biela's two victories at the circuit in his championship-winning 1993 French Touring Cars campaign.
Perhaps more infamously, the RS 2 could utilise its traction to hit 50km/h from rest in just 1.5 seconds - quicker than a McLaren F1 and, apparently, Jacques Villeneuve's F1 machine of that era.