- The 2026 Audi RS5 Avant has been spied testing again and looking close to production-ready.
- These new images of the wagon version show the RS5’s huge oval exhaust tailpipes for the first time.
- Audi is turning the RS5 into a PHEV, but it’ll stick with six cylinders rather than downsize to an inline four.
Now the TT and R8 have been axed, and with the RS6 coming close to the end of the line, Audi’s combustion-powered performance lineup is looking a little thin. Not for long, though, because these images of an almost production-ready RS5 remind us that fresh, fast metal is just around the corner.
We’re sure you’ve got this by now, but for the benefit of newbies, Audi is moving ICE cars to odd numbers, and giving EVs the evens. So the new A5 and S5 sedan and wagon that debuted in July are replacements for the old A4 and S4, though the sedans are actually liftbacks so they’re also replacements for the old A5/S5 Sportback.
Related: Everything We Know About Audi’s Plug-In Hybrid RS5 Sedan
Housekeeping done with, we can get back to these spy shots of the RS5 Avant and those huge oval tailpipes, which are mounted further inboard than on previous RS Audis. We haven’t seen these pipes in any previous spy shots of either the sedan or wagon, though they’ll be present on the final production versions of both models.
Of course, what we can see is just a bit of trim – the real tailpipes are much smaller in diameter, but they certainly help draw attention to the RS5 from behind. Other design cues specific to the RS5 include flared fenders front and rear, the fronts featuring a vent between the wheel and the door. And the five-spoke rims stuffed under each of those arches are enormous, both in diameter and width.
The presence of filler flaps on each rear quarter observed in these and previous spy shots confirm the RS5 will be a PHEV, and intel suggests it will get a version of Audi’s existing 2.9-liter twin-turbo V6 combustion engine. The last RS4’s V6 made a now weedy-looking 444 hp (450 PS), and the new V6-powered S5 mild hybrid only makes 362 hp (367 PS) but with electric assistance the new RS5 could theoretically make more than 600 hp (608 PS).
If it turns up with much less than that the RS5 is going to look underpowered next to its 671 hp (680 PS) AMG C63 rival, though poor sales of the AMG that reports attribute to the automaker’s decision to downgrade from eight to four cylinders confirm that power isn’t everything when it comes to choosing a new premium-badged family hot rod.
We’re expecting the RS5 to debut early in 2025 and hit the road later that year as a ’26. Europe will get both liftback sedan and wagon body styles, but it’s looking like America will be sedan-only.
