Originally Posted by
G@Fourtitude
I'm not outspokenly critical of Audi of America's choices and I get how that might look like PR. Rather, I'm regularly in contact with their staff, aware of their level of enthusiasm and their challenges that they face. I count many of them as personal friends and acquaintences. Given the genuinely pro nature of all of that, I can see how that might sound like PR… particularly to those who are more negative on the subject. All that being said, I'm pretty confident I remain objective… but I think that's natural on both counts. It may sound like PR but I think most objective viewers when considering the information (as it is available to them and I get plenty) would be more positive.
I know there's a vocal group who wants it. That's what Audi is wrestling with now. Is that group enough? Just because they're vocal doesn't mean enough cars will move. And, with RS 7 in bound this year, you can write off those who want latest greatest. As you mention, the NA V8 is old news to some really inside baseball. The 4.0 TFSI is more exciting to many who've never driven any of these cars and that will hurt the RS 4 Avants case because some of those sales (hard to measure) will go to RS 7.
Just to be clear, we're talking apples and oranges between RS 4 Avant and RS 6 Avant. With RS 4, body is sold in USA and engine/drivetrain are homologated. These are HUGE savings should they choose to bring it. Not only is RS 6 already very expensive, but the A6 Avant is NOT in market and thus would push this car MUCH higher than RS 7 in price. Given they're functionally and dynamically pretty much identical cars, what's the point then? Yes, they're stylistically different, but would you buy an RS 6 over an RS 7 that is $10-$20K (purely guessing) cheaper? I think most wouldn't. Looking at the numbers on the E-Class wagon and thus AMG, I've been told Audi is pretty convinced MB is losing money on that endeavour. Audi would rather do a car like RS 7 with a wider audience and a solid business case.
In the case of allroad, I'd offer you this. A4 Avant was already homologated but in EVERY example of wagons selling next to sport utility wagons (Outback, V70/XC70, etc.) the sport utility wagon outsells wagon by a large margin. Audi kept the body style in market by changing it to allroad product and has left options open for RS 4 as a result. Again, BMW and Mercedes have larger volumes in America with which they can retain these models more readily.
4.0 TFSI doesn't fit B-chassis. I wish it did. That'd be awesome. Their engine manager for that engine told me first hand that it doesn't fit. They even have to drop an intake in order to make it fit the C-chassis. A biturbo V6 was considered back in the B7 development but they went with 4.2 high-rev and likely that's for two reasons. First, it helps volumes for engine also used in R8. Second, it offers torque and sound befitting an RS. 3.0 supercharged is not suitable for quattro GmbH power delivery.
I've spent time in all of these cars. A chipped S-car will walk a stock RS car as Chris Harris demonstrated. Even still, the experience is different. The 3.0 TFSI will never touch the 4.2 FSI high-rev in sound. Stock for stock, it's also not as powerful and when you start chipping then you can possibly run into warranty issues. To me the 4.2 high-rev RS-cars are for the people who want to buy a car and just enjoy it… or have the budget for a big build like an APR supercharger. The 3.0 TFSI S-cars and the like are more the B5 S4 crowd - people who want a performance bargain. They're two different customers.
Two things here. First, they couldn't do Avants for just S-models because they'd need the volume of the A-cars to make a new bodystyle work… or pricing would go much higher. Already my take on the A6 allroad is that it would price in at S6 sedan or above money with a lesser engine… say 3.0 TDI (US Spec, not Bi-TDI because it's not homologated) or 3.0 TFSI. How many Audi customers then go, "Well hell, I can get the S6 sedan cheaper than the allroad. I'm getting S6!" This is the reality they face.
Sorry for the long-winded responses guys. I want to be thorough. I haven't read all of this thread, but I've read enough that I wanted to make sure an un-represented perspective was communicated.