    Bucket List Drive: The Alps. Click image to enlarge |
Day 2
After waking up to cowbells and a blanket of fog so think I could barely see past the balcony from the room, I was ready for more driving. On the menu was the RSQ3, the real reason for this event. For us North Americans, we were testing a couple vehicles we could later test on home soil, but also sampling forbidden fruit in this RSQ3, Audi’s compact crossover available overseas, packed with a 310 hp turbocharged five-cylinder.
We departed shortly before our convoy partner from the previous day, drove scintillating roads that were not even marked as notable passes, but were still infinitely better than anything within two hours of the GTA. Sure, there are some nice sections of road around here, but this seemed like a non-stop assault of roads engineered not for connecting various population centres, but purely to entertain.
The RSQ3, its diminutive five-cylinder offering character far beyond its 2.5L displacement, surprised us with its abilities. On these mountain passes, its smaller size, lighter weight but still competent chassis meant it could keep up with any of the big boys at the hands of a willing driver. After all, there is only so much room to exercise 560 hp between hairpins, and the RSQ3’s 310 lb-ft of torque, available from 1,500 to 5,200 rpm were always kicking, while Audi’s suspension magic meant the RSQ3 exhibits minimal body roll without being an uncomfortable ride, and the front-biased AWD is quick to react and push the car quickly out of a turn. I was much impressed with its performance, but the compact SUV roots showed – despite Audi’s excellent sport steering wheel and quilted leather seats, the centre stack seemed basic, with economical parts and some strange design gaps. You won’t notice these much when tearing up an Alpine pass with the 2.5 turbo-five screaming, but it falls a little short of the premium, coherent interiors we’re used to from Audi that are such a treat in the daily grind.
While scouting out a nice little perch, our convoy buddies pulled into the same lot, and we fired off some dramatic shots of the RS6 Avant with archetypal Austrian pasture and mountains (yup, these are a few of my favourite things: when the twin-turbo V8 barks, when the S tronic stings, etc., etc.). They offered a swap, and I figured, “What the heck…”
Part of me did not want to drive the RS6 Avant, which I find to be one of the most beautiful car on the market and possibly the most perfect wagon ever created, because I didn’t want to get caught up in the obsession with ‘forbidden fruit’. This car is not coming to North America, so why trouble with the minute differences between it and the RS7 with which it shares engine and platform?
Well, now I’m troubled. It drives even better than it looks. It seems to add just that small intangible to the omnipotence of the RS7, and I could swear that it has banished the minute lag to the RS7’s steering on initial turn-in. The RS7 has a moment of hesitation, perhaps millimetres or single degrees, but the RS6 turns in now, and all the power, refinement and capability are there, but with a cargo hold to shame most SUVs. I’m ruined forever now.
