The biggest car news and reviews, no BS. Our free daily newsletter sends the stories that really matter directly to you, every weekday. The 2027 Audi RS5 redefines driving fun with its over-engineered tech and thrilling performance, despite some imperfections.
Growing up, I had the B5 RS4 and C5 RS6 plastered on my walls. Now, the 2027 Audi RS5 aims not only to stand on the shoulders of such icons but also to make true believers of skeptics with a turbocharged plug-in hybrid powertrain and a wild all-wheel-drive system—all wrapped in a flared widebody that weighs 5,192 pounds.
In an era when quickest lap times and horsepower figures are the de facto bragging rights for automakers, Audi seems to be aiming for a different target: fast, over-engineered fun. I’m here for it. When the car launched, everything I just said had me squinting at the specs—especially that weight. Then I drove the car on city streets, Austrian Alps mountain roads, and on the race track. It’s eye-opening, magical, shockingly fun, and also flawed.
View Price on AmazonThe new RS5 is the hotter, more powerful iteration of the A5 and S5 that launched in 2024. It’s been tinkered with by the engineers inside the Audi Sport team, kicking off an entirely new era of cars and technology for the division, which, for now, until the RS6 Avant and other potential RS models arrive, will sit atop the U.S. sports car lineup when it arrives sometime in 2027.
Enthusiasts will know what they are looking at with those widened fenders, 1.57 inches wider than a standard A5. The center-mounted oval exhaust finishers, split by a racing-inspired low-mounted vertical center reflector, are dead RS giveaways. But the average person probably isn’t going to realize that it’s as expensive or as powerful as it is.
I dig the A5’s proportions with the longer front and shorter, stubby rear. The wide stance of the RS model and the small, raised-lip spoiler with a flow-through, motorsport-derived design are understated and attractive. The three-dimensional mesh grille slathered in shiny piano black plastic feels a bit much for my taste, and I’m really not into the available “crushed carbon” mirror caps or rear diffuser finish.
The triple-screen dashboard setup, void of buttons aside from a volume knob, ports over from the A5. The center console is slathered in shiny piano-black plastic or the optional crushed carbon I mentioned above. The single panel on the driver’s door that contains mirror controls, headlight controls, door locks, and seat memory functions, all on a single piece of plastic, lives here as it does in the A6 E-Tron. It’s bad. That said, the RS-specific squircle steering wheel is very good.
The RS-specific digital screens range from a G-force meter, tire temps, and powertrain temperatures, with drive modes buried in menus one or two clicks away. For the first time ever, I found the front passenger display useful for messing with the navigation system independently of the main screen.
The highback sport bucket front seats are heated, cooled, and feature a massage function, which is noticeably something the $160,390 2026 RS6 Avant Performance I recently tested lacked. The rear seats are sport buckets and comfortable enough for a 6-foot-5 person to sit behind my 5-foot-10 frame for a short trip.
The RS5’s powertrain is like teenage love: complicated. There’s a turbocharged 2.9-liter V6 with an electric motor mounted at the rear, which then feeds into a ZF-sourced 8-speed automatic transmission. The result is 444 horsepower and 442 lb-ft of torque.
Source: thedrive.com
