One kind of wishes Angela Merkel could have done more for the luxury automakers based in Germany, to help them avoid new emissions regulations of increased stringency, imposed by the peaceful and benevolent European Union.
She did succeed to some degree, though, but did not do well nearly enough, as we learn that the next Audi RS4 will lose the naturally-aspirated 4.2-liter V8 that revs through the roof and turns car guys’ ears into cartoonish grins…
You couldn’t really call it sacrilege, in the case of the RS4, though, because while the revised V8 the latest one comes with is nice (if a bit less torquey than before), it was only its predecessor that had one too, whereas the car two generations before had a smaller engine. Car&Driver brings to light the fact that the manufacturer with the ringed badge will be plonking in the same 475 hp three-liter turbocharged V6 that will replace the V8 in the RS5, when the times will come for an all-new RS4.
So Audi’s decision to take the displacement and number of cylinder south will make the RS4 feel like a very different beast to what we are used to, and while it will probably be faster than the current model and the one before that, its engine is definitely one to remember.
By Andrei Nedelea
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