For many, Audi’s RS cars offer the pinnacle of performance from a standard road car, and fans all over the world are excited at the prospect of not one, but four new RS cars being unveiled next year.

RS cars

Currently, only one of them has been properly revealed, which is the RS6 Avant. The first thing to point out is the car’s 0-60 time. It’s a ridiculous 3.9 seconds, making it seven-tenths of a second faster than the outgoing model, and quicker even than BMW’s M5. This truly is a headline grabbing figure, which will no doubt be concerning to the other German marques.

Power comes courtesy of a 4.0 litre twin-turbo V8. The old Lamborghini V10 has been scrapped, and while the new engine does not have the same amount of power, a massive 700Nm of torque and reduced weight means that performance has been increased considerably. While the ‘standard’ RS6 is limited to 155mph, this can be removed with the addition of the Dynamic Plus package, allowing the estate to reach 189mph.

The RS7 will feature the same engine, with similar performance statistics, and the announcement has been extremely well received.

The RS5 Cabriolet has its very own 4.2 litre V8 which produces 444hp. Due to the weaker engine and heavy folding roof, the car is a second slower than the RS6 and 7, but the real bonus is the noise. With the bellow that comes from the engine, few will keep the roof up in anything other than the worst weather. It’s going to face tough competition from the convertible M3 however, which has the bonus of a hard roof.

There will also be a RS version of the Q3, though this hasn’t received quite the same fanfare of the other models. A concept was shown that featured the 2.5-litre engine found in the TTRS, which suggests the crossover will manage the 0-60 sprint in a little over 5 seconds.

You can browse a range of used Audis from Exchange and Mart; while the RS models tend to hold their value exceptionally well, the S models are a steal.