Audi RS6 v Mercedes CLS 63 AMG Shooting Brake: Super Wagons. - /CHRIS HARRIS ON CARS

[CAR ENGINE] For a while now, Audi has owned the fast estate marketplace. Yes, Merc sold the odd E55 wagon, and BMW occasionally lobbed us an M5 Touring, but they never sold the way RS4's and RS6's sold. In many ways, the success of the RS6 perfectly describes the dichotomy between a road test assessment of a car and what people actually want to live with. In the magazine test, four-wheel drive means stars deducted for understeer. In the real world, it means safety and traction in the wet. Turbocharging means a hammering for poor throttle response from your average journalist-- that's me-- but massive power gains for the owner, if they bend the rules. Objectively, the last RS6 was blunt, effective, very fast, and not really enjoyable. But the people who owned them loved them. Audi reckons the new one is quite different, that it actually handles. It will need to be to beat this lump of Stuttgart heavy artillery, the Mercedes CLS63 AMG Shooting Brake. Why not an E class, you cry? Because this is just as big as the RS6 inside, and it looks bloody wonderful. Oh, Audi, Audi, Audi, you do confuse me so. I've always thought the RS6 was the car that I shouldn't buy from you. It was just a bit too big, a bit too heavy. Yes, it could pulverize stuff in a straight line. And if you gave it to the right man, he could extract a million horsepower from it. But to drive, it was always a bit nothing. In fact, it was the worst car you made. Why, then, is the new RS6 one of the best cars you make? For starters, it handles. This car is not on air suspension. I was led to believe that the RS6 had to be on air suspension to work. But this is on the normal springs with the fancy, adjustable dampers. And in comfort, it's lovely. It's a really, really supple car. It's got wheel travel. It rolls a bit. It's just pleasant to be in. Not once have I cursed any kind of harshness in this car. For its intended role, going flat out and fast on motorways and demolishing A roads, it's brilliant. Ignore the dynamic mode. If I put it in dynamic mode now, the camera would fall off the windscreen. It's that bad. Ignore the heavy, sporty steering setting as well. What you want to do is put the whole thing in comfort, long throttle, nice and slow, and make sure that you've got the dampers in soft. Then you're just happy, really. You could make the engine a bit noisy if you want to, but that's kind of showing off, isn't it. What else do I like about this car? The powertrain-- twin turbo V8s with this ZF 8-speed gearbox are always going to be a bit handy. But this is just borderline genius. It is lacking some personality, though. It's quite quiet. It seems that things have been ramped back a bit with this generation of Audis. At times, you're not even aware that it's a V8. It starts up with a nice "woofle" as you probably heard. But otherwise, it can be mute. Under full load, it's got a sort of hot, planey, V8, hard blare noise, which is good fun, but nothing that special. Now I just like the package. I love the way it looks. I think it's brutal from the front end. It's got so much presence. I like the cabin. I don't find it as intuitive as the Mercedes. But it's still a great place to sit, and it feels so special. The seats are superb, supportive, comfortable. It's roomy. Not quite as big as the Mercedes, strangely, but still, it's practical. It's just so many things to so many potential buyers, if they have the money. 70-liter fuel tank-- that's a bit mean in my book. It could be a little bit bigger. And fuel economy is not brilliant. On a fast run, I'm doing 17 to the gallon. On a quickish run-- and let's face it, you're never going to travel anything less than quickish in this car-- it's about 19 to 20, whereas the Merc can stretch it up to 25. But do you buy one of these things for fuel economy? No, you probably don't. The RS6 is a great, fast Audi. It is-- leaving the R8 to one side for a minute-- the best car that Audi RS makes. It's miles better than the new RS4 And don't believe anyone who says otherwise. The new RS6 ditches the old V10 motor and uses a 4-liter twin turbo V8 to give 560 horsepower and 516 foot-pounds. At a cruise, it can deactivate four of those cylinders, too. Claimed curb weight is just over 2 tons, which is lighter than before. It also uses ZF's amazing 8-speed auto. And this car is fitted with the dynamic pack, which gives steel springs and adjustable dampers, and raises the top speed to 174 miles an hour. Now let's face it, no one does hard-as-nails wagon styling like Audi-- flared arches, massive, optional 21-inch rims, satin-finished aluminum, and "quattro" stamped on the front grill to scare the 911 in front of you. Yes, you pay extra for that, too. The base price of the RS6 is 75,500 pounds. But even with a light smattering of extras, this test car cost 90,565 quid-- for an estate car. You do get the fancy sport rear-differential for free, though. So that's all right. I make no secret of the fact that I'm living with this CLS for a year. It's not my car, but I use it every single day. So I'm more connected to it. I obviously find its controls a bit more user friendly. I find everything a bit easier. But even if I didn't live with it every day, I'd think the cabin was more logical than the one in the Audi. The dynamics of these cars are very interesting. They really are very similar on paper. Quite how Audi managed to squeeze so much torque from a 4-liter twin-turbo motor, whereas Mercedes needs 5.5 liters to go a little bit further, I don't know. I suspect that this engine could go quite a bit further if they wanted it to. On the road? Well, in terms of torque, this has more of it, and feels gruntier low down. But I'll cut to the chase. The difference between the two cars is in the transmission. Whereas the Mercedes feels it has to wait a little bit longer to find the next gear, or drop one, or go up one, and find where the torque is, the Audi just goes. The Audi just flies. It's insane. It feels faster on the road. And this car already, to me, feels loopy fast. But the Merc has the upper hand in several areas on the road. It feels much more agile. The steering's got a lot more life to it. In fact, the whole powertrain has. If you like music, this makes it. Whereas the Audi in the debate, this thing just sounds like a muscle car. It's a monster. When you start it up, you just giggle. When you leave it in stop-start mode, well, that's fantastic, because it keeps restarting. And you get that incredible ra-ra-ra-ra noise when it gets going. I love driving it. It has its limitations, though, because it's two-wheel drive. This is probably the core problem for people who buy cars like this. Do you go for the crazy [INAUDIBLE] two-wheel drive Mercedes, and do sideways everywhere? Not really applicable in normal driving. Or do you get the Audi, which is going to be just as quick, come rain or shine? It rained for one day when we had these two cars. And frankly, the Mercedes couldn't see where the Audi had gone. But the person driving the Mercedes was smiling more. Now, I could use that argument to, perhaps, create a situation where a sports car might be better because it was two-wheel drive rather than four-wheel drive. But in the world of super estate cars, I struggle with that. I struggle. I know Mercedes are bringing four-wheel drive cars on stream. But at the moment, I can only judge what we've got. I do love driving this thing, though. And it is more direct. It has better steering. It has better brake feel. Everything about it feels that little bit tighter. But it doesn't have the transmission or that kind of eye-opening performance that you get from the Audi. A little bit further ride, when I've got it in comfort, than the Audi. But there's two extra damper settings here. And frankly, they're better judged than the Audi extra damping settings. But for me, I never drive this car in anything other than comfort. The base price of the Shooting Brake is even higher-- over 83 grand. And this one lists at over 97,000. There's no power kit option on this AMG. You get your 557 horsepower and 590 foot-pounds for free. But the locking rear differential, it's 2 and 1/2 grand-- for a diff. But you know what? The CLS feels way more expensive inside. Everything is covered in soft, waxy, expensive smelling leather, where the Audi has dark plastics. You can't ignore the RS6's gorgeous quilted seats, though. And I love the way the dials greet you on a dark morning. The AMG counters with lighting you can change according to your mood. These are both cabins you'd happily spend whole days roaming about a continent in. Big, comfortable, spacious, they are all the car you should ever need. They're not about raw speed, are they? Well, they kind of are now, these are super estates, aren't they? So we need to drag race them. Here, we have over 1,100 horsepower, space for 10 adults and four Labradors. What happens next is a little eye-opening. The Audi, quite understandably, beats the Merc off the line, because it has four driven wheels. But the margin, on paper, isn't as bad as you'd think. Just remember that the car being left behind here hits 60 miles an hour in 4.2 seconds. The Audi does it in a scarcely believable 3.9 seconds. Just imagine what the transmission is going through to make a two-ton, four-wheel drive estate do 60 in 3.9 But this is the bit that blows my mind. The Audi keeps pulling away. From 60 to 100 miles an hour, it pulls another 4/10 from the Merc. There's no traction advantage now. It's nearly 70 foot-pounds down on torque, and it weighs more. And you can thank the transmission for the dominance. The shifts are miles faster. The extra ratio means even better use of the power available. And the RS6 beats the AMG hands down. Only when they get above 100 does the CLS hold station. But by that time, the Audi is gone. [CAR ENGINES] [SCREECHING TIRES] [ENGINES ROARING] I really don't understand Audi RS as a company. Their work is so variable. Last year, I had the disappointment of the RS4. Now I kind of have the ecstasy of this RS6 unit which I think is a fantastic motor car. Objectively, it's better than my beloved CLS. It puts its power on the road better. It's nearly as much fun to drive. And its gearbox is the telling component. That ZF 8-speed is a genius transmission. And it really shows up the old seven speeder in the Merc now. It also looks fantastic. It's great to be in. And on these steel springs and with these special dampers, in comfort mode, it's nice to drive on the road in the UK as well, unexpectedly so. The RS4 used to be the choice of the fast Audi estates for the person that enjoys driving. I think this car completely reverses that. So where does that leave the lovely CLS Shooting Brake? It's a car of immense character, I think more character than this vehicle. It's like a muscle car, but with art deco overtones. I love the style. I love the way it dries. It has a nicer steering. Many things about it are preferable. But objectively, this Audi's the better car. [SCREECHING TIRES]