Audi RS5 Cabriolet 2013

This year will see a swathe of RS cars arrive on UK roads. And leading the attack is the devastatingly quick and noisy RS5 cabriolet

Audi RS5 Cabriolet 2013

In 2013, to celebrate 30 years of quattro, Audi will introduce no fewer than four RS cars. We'll see the twin-turbo 560bhp RS6 Avant, followed by a mechanically identical RS7 (see p29) and then Audi's first truly hot SUV, the 355 bhp Rs Q3. But first comes this, the Audi RS5 cabrio: a four-wheel-drive drop-top capable of 0-62mph in 4.9 seconds and 174mph flat out. This, then, is an RS spearhead. As spearheads go, though, it's not the pointiest. In fact, it's more of a spear mallet. Audi RS5 cab weighs in at a beefy 1,930kg, some 200kg, some 200kg heavier than the coupe, which should give you some idea how much bracing is required to stop a 444bhp brute from twisting like a piece of fusilli in the corners

Audi RS5 Cabriolet 2013

Despite sporting a flyweight canvas roof instead of a folding tin-top, it's actually a fraction heavier than the BMW M3 cabriolet. Such mass can be explained in part by the vast array of quattro gubbins on board. Like the coupe, Audi RS5 cab pipes power from its naturally aspirated V8 thought a crown-center differential that splits torque up to 85 per cent to the rear or 70 per cent to the front, with a sports diff across the rear axle working in tandem with torque-vectoring and optional adaptive damping on diagonally opposed wheels. It's complicated clever stuff that adds up to phenomenally sure-footed car

Audi RS5 Cabriolet 2013

If you drive the RS5 like an absolute idiot, you can provoke it into moving around a fraction as it shifts its torque about in search of grip, but mainly this thing just serves up lashings and lashings of immutable traction. Which means, as with most of the RS stable, it's not the most hands-on thing to drive. Idiot-proof, yes. Fingertip-satisfying, no. That said, the cabrio does seems more compliant that the RS5 coupe. Maybe it was the smooth tarmac of our test route. Maybe likely, it's that, with your face under assault from the local insect population and your ears under assault from the Audi RS5's exhaust, you're distracted from any judders transmitted through the chassis. Either way, the cabrio felt less lumpy than the coupe. So should you buy one? Rationally, we should point out that the S5 cabriolet, with its 328bhp supercharged V6, offers all the 4WD fastness you'll ever require from an Audi cabrio and for a mere 46,310 Euro. But if it's gotta be V8, the RS5 cab is more engaging proposition than the coupe, overcoming Audi's slightly po faced driving dynamics through sheer sensory drama and a prog-rock soundtrack. Because that really is what the Audi RS5 cab is all about: an assault on your eardrums as the V8 engine reaches for its 8,500rpm read line. And with no roof, all that noise is piped into your happy, gunning face, Audi RS5 cab might be the end of the line for naturally aspirated RS cars. If so, they're going out in a blaze of decibels