Here’s every generation of Audi RS6

For the family-minded individual, the Audi RS6 is a lifeline thrown from the sports car world to a humbler, more humdrum plane of existence. It’s purchasable proof that your life doesn’t have to end when your progeny’s begins, that you can have your cake, eat it too, then haul the leftovers home at 150mph.

Or, to put it more simply, it’s a very fast, quite luxurious and almost excessively spacious automobile that, with the right amount of mental gymnastics, could pass as practical... right up to the first service bill. And as it’s been the ‘sensible’ dream car of countless parents for two full decades now, we thought we’d look back over the past 20 years and four generations of RS6... and try very hard not to play favourites.

4.2-litre twin-turbo V8
444bhp, 413lb ft
0-60 in 4.7 seconds

Remember back when we used to talk about Q cars? Pepperidge Fa... er, Audi does. For our money, the original RS6 still does the best job of hiding its bonfire under a bushel.

Even though the C5’s 4.2-litre, twin-turbo V8 – developed with Cosworth’s help – made as much power as the 2002 DTM Championship-winning ABT Audi, it never shouted its performance credentials at passers-by.

In fact, we’d wager that if you de-badged it and fitted a set of reserved wheels, only the most avowed car nerd would understand the animal they’re looking at.

5.0-litre twin-turbo V10
572bhp, 479lb ft
0-60 in 4.6 seconds

While the C5 had the same power as a DTM racer, the C6 would instead single out Audi’s flagship supercar – the R8 V10 – and manage to usurp its title as the most-powerful Audi of 2008.

But then it would be, with a dry-sumped V10 that, just for good measure, also had a pair of turbos bolted on. It really was a different time, wasn’t it?

Coincidentally enough, the C6 was the first RS6 to offer ceramic brakes as an option. Well, it was either that or drag-racing parachutes, right?

4.0-litre twin-turbo V8
596bhp, 516lb ft (553 lb ft on overboost)
0-60 in 3.9 seconds

All good things must come to an end, of course. And the BMW-Audi war of who could fit the most outlandish engine in a purported family car.

But if it’s any consolation, the C7 was 120kg lighter than its predecessor, thanks to increased use of aluminium and the fact it wasn’t lugging an entire 5.0-litre twin-turbo V10 up front. It also had better weight distribution – 55:45 front to rear in the C7 versus the 60:40 ratio in the C6.

So it was lighter, better-balanced, more powerful and had more torque than the old V10 leviathan. Objectively better. Subjectively? Weeeeelll...

4.0-litre twin-turbo V8
592bhp, 590lb ft
0-60 in 3.6 seconds

A quick look at the spec sheet suggests Audi put the C7’s basic running gear in the new C8, messed about with the styling to cater to the new ‘What’s a Q car’ crowd and called it good. Er, about that.

The V8 might be similar, but it’s now bolstered by a full 48V mild hybrid setup, resulting in the quickest-accelerating RS6 ever. And it’s handier in the corners, too, thanks to four-wheel-steering.

After three generations of RS6, it’s such a big deal that building them is actually integrated into the assembly line, rather than production cars being hand-finished into RS models – despite the fact that the new RS6 only shares a roof, front doors and tailgate with a regular A6. If the C5 was the quiet achiever, if the C6 and C7 left any doubt as to what lay within, the C8 absolutely isn’t, and doesn’t. That said, if one arrived at our doorstep, we wouldn’t exactly send it back...