Bringing Sporty Back

The RS 5 gets a four-door coupé sibling, sitting below the RS 7 in terms of styling while raising the style quotient on the RS 4 Avant internationally, and we see how it fares in the real world

-  Jim Gorde

THE FIRST RS 5 I LAID MY HANDS ON WAS AN absolute hoot! That V8 FSI beautifully naturally aspirated motor raised eyebrows, arm hair, and needles in the info-cluster very quickly indeed. Then came the next one, with a twin-turbo V6 that maintained power output while bringing in more torque across a wider band. Good car. Now they ve brought in a Sportback iteration, earlier S‘d but never RS‘d.

The RS 5 Sportback adds 60 millimetres to the wheelbase and overall length, 27 mm to the height, and 50 kilograms to the weight. The face looks identical to its two-door coupé sibling and the rear is also reminiscent, but tweaked ever so slightly. The long, raked rear windscreen forms part of the fifth-door as the notchback opens up to reveal a cavernous boot. The side profile is enhanced by the addition of two more doors and a longer shoulder and roof-line. There are no real direct competitors, really, with the BMW 3 Series GT now defunct, the 4 Series Gran Coupé absent, and the Mercedes CLS being much larger. There is the Maserati Ghibli, though, and BMW’s fine M340i xDrive, too. But back to the RS 5 Sportback.