Nowadays, you don’t need to look too far in order to find a high-performance super wagon. In fact, Audi alone will sell you not one, but two: the RS4 and RS6.
The former is powered by a 2.9-liter twin turbo V6 producing 450 PS (444 HP) and 600 Nm (443 lb-ft) of torque. Audi claims a 0-100 km/h (62 mph) acceleration time of 4.1 seconds and a top speed of 280 km/h (174 mph), if you tick the right boxes that lift the 250 km/h (155 mph) electronic limiter.
Those are some pretty impressive numbers, especially the 0-100 km/h (0-62 mph) time. It’s more than half a second quicker than the previous iteration, and nearly a full second faster than the naturally aspirated model from two generations ago.
You could argue that, compared to its direct predecessor, the 2018 RS4 is faster simply because it’s lighter by 80 kg (176 lbs) and it shifts faster, and while that may be true, there might also be a little more to the story.
This particular RS4 is currently undergoing a long-term test for Carwow, and since the journos were amazed by its performance, they decided to run a dyno test.
What they discovered is that it actually puts out more power than advertised.
First, it dropped 456.2 HP (462.5 PS), followed by an even more impressive 460.2 HP (466.5 PS) in the second run. That’s a big difference compared to Audi’s official blurb, which claims a max output of 444 HP (450 PS).
Now, there’s no cheating on Audi’s part; power outputs on specific cars can vary a bit from the official numbers a bit, and a 4 percent difference is nothing special. Plus, it means that this particular RS4 is a smidge more powerful than advertised. Surely no one could complain about that, right?