DRC
Dynamic Ride Control allows you to set up the suspension according to the task in hand, at the press of a button. There’s Comfort mode for motorway cruising, Dynamic mode for twisting lanes or, should you want to take the car to a circuit, select Sport and the suspension tightens, reducing body roll even further. All this fine-tuning of the ride makes the RS 5 taut, agile, sporty and precise.
SPORT DIFFERENTIAL
Sport differential – all-round driving improvement
The sport differential, for a performance addition to quattro which is standard on RS 5, is designed to make driving obviously smoother, more agile and more satisfying – and not just when you’re pushing the car towards its limits.
Safe, accurate turning
The sports differential enables the quattro system to not only transfer torque between the front and rear axles to counter traction losses, but also between the rear wheels. When cornering, power is redirected to the outside rear wheel, literally pushing the car through the corner. The driver benefits from feeling more in control and the need to make small steering corrections, so familiar in an ordinary car, become a thing of the past.
Why react when you can predict?
Conventional stability management systems detect errors, then correct them. We think that’s a little late. The sport differential’s technology has such a short reaction time - less than 100 milliseconds – that any instability is sensed and dealt with before it has any effect. Almost like it never happened.
You're still in control
The sport differential has been designed to work in tandem with Audi drive select. This enables the possibility to change the characteristics of the engine, transmission, steering, shock absorbers and the active sport differential to suit your mood and the demands of the road.
AUDI DRIVE SELECT
Not all driving situations are the same. The Audi drive select system on the Audi RS 5 changes handling and response at the touch of a button to suit how you want to drive. There are four modes: comfort, dynamic, auto and individual.
For long-distances, Comfort adjusts your set-up to create a more relaxing ride. Dynamic changes the settings for a sportier driving experience, adjusting steering and throttle response. The Auto mode adapts the system depending on the current driving situation while individual, which is available in conjunction with a Satellite Navigation system, allows you to configure the dynamics of the car to your own preferences depending on what special equipment is fitted.
BRAKE SYSTEM
The 18-inch high-performance braking system is able to safely harness the formidable power of the Audi RS 5.
- 8-piston fixed callipers at the front wheels plus single-piston sliding callipers at the rear.
- Brake callipers painted in high-gloss black.
- Brake discs internally ventilated, perforated and with a floating mounting.
- Brake disc diameter of 365mm at the front, and 324mm at the rear.
- Aluminium tandem brake booster with a ratio specific to the RS 5.
- Optional front Ceramic brakes with 380mm diameter and 6-piston calipers panited in Dark grey with Audi Ceramics signiture
MODULAR LONGITUDINAL PLATFORM
The RS 5 is built on Audi’s modular longitudinal platform. This innovative chassis enables the engine to mount behind the front axle instead of over it which helps to achieve a more even weight distribution between the front and rear wheels. The result is a car that corners with confidence and handles superbly.
S Tronic
The RS 5 comes with a 7-speed S tronic gearbox. This innovative dual-clutch transmission enables gearshifts to be executed in a few hundredths of a second with virtually no interruption in power flow.
This is the first time that this gearbox has been fitted in conjunction with a high-revving engine giving the performance and the acoustics that you would expect from an RS model.
The revolutionary S tronic transmission combines the responsiveness of a manual gearbox with the convenience of an automatic. Thanks to innovative dual-clutch technology, S tronic can make a gear change in just 0.2 of a second, with no interruption to the power flow, allowing you to benefit as fully as possible from the engine’s output at all times. Depending on how you wish to drive, you can either allow gear-changes to take place automatically or, for a sportier driving style, operate the S tronic system using the gearshift or steering wheel shift-paddles.
NEW QUATTRO
A car such as the Audi RS 5 needs special treatment to put its power to the road. Enter quattro, Audi’s renowned four-wheel-drive technology. And with the RS 5 comes the latest edition of the four-wheel drive system with self-locking centre differential and torque vectoring.
With quattro, optimal drive delivery to each wheel is managed automatically and continuously, for superior handling and phenomenal grip – even in less than perfect driving conditions.
In 1980, the Audi quattro was the first permanent four-wheel drive production car. So while the technology is thoroughly tried and tested, it has also been enhanced and evolved ever since it was first introduced. Today, ultra-modern quattro technology is available on every Audi, right across the range.
RS 5 with quattro
In the RS 5, the power to the front and back wheels is split in a 40:60 ratio – giving the car a sporty, rear-focused driving style that guarantees maximum agility and driving enjoyment.
quattro®: what it does and how it works
Front-wheel or rear-wheel drive has certainly improved thanks to innovations such as electronic stability programmes, anti-lock brakes and traction control. But two-wheel drive cars will, particularly in extreme circumstances, sometimes exhibit certain (and usually undesirable) characteristics.
Due to the weight of the engine and other assemblies resting on the front axle, front-wheel drive cars tend to be slightly superior to rear-wheel drive cars in the amount of grip they can transmit to the road during wet conditions.
But in a front-wheel drive car, hard cornering or cornering on a slippery road surface can cause understeer: where the car continues forwards even though the wheels are turned.
Conversely, rear-wheel drive cars can suffer from oversteer: the driving wheels deliver more power than the road surface can handle, causing the rear end to slide and the car to travel sideways. This can be quite difficult for you to control and traction aid systems and electronic stability programmes will engage quite early.
Slippery surfaces
With quattro, drive is distributed to all four wheels permanently in varying amounts, depending on the road conditions and how the car’s being driven; it’s constantly ‘feeling’ how much grip there is for each wheel. If a wheel loses grip, drive is diverted away to wheels that have better contact with the road. All his happens imperceptibly, but it results in a feeling of exceptional composure and control, even in what would ordinarily be potentially dangerous driving conditions.
Cornering
With front-wheel or rear-wheel drive the car is effectively being either pulled or pushed round a bend. Instead, with quattro four-wheel drive, all four wheels work together and drive is delivered to where it’s needed and regulated where it isn’t. This means greater stability, more assured road-holding, enhanced agility and improved steering precision.
How it works: the Self Locking Centre Differential
The Self Locking crown-gear centre differential is at the heart of quattro® on the Audi RS 5.
Operating entirely mechanically, it continuously reacts to road conditions and responds to any differences in the rotational speeds between the axles. This ensures more power is always transmitted to the wheels with a better grip.
Working in tandem, the Electronic Differential Lock (EDL) can act when needed to prevent the wheels from spinning. Excess power at one wheel is diverted to the other wheels that have more grip, maintaining traction in virtually every situation.
Asymmetric torque distribution
The latest version of new and enhanced generation of quattro features asymmetric and dynamic torque distribution with a 40:60 split, favouring the rear wheels, and it reacts to road conditions even more responsively.
As a result, steering, handling and grip are massively improved and the whole driving experience is made more exhilarating than ever.
Think more impressive engine then the one in Mclaren MP4-12C...
