Can anyone really accuse the Audi RS4 Avant of not looking aggressive enough in its B9-generation form? Then again, the Ingolstadt-based automaker did only recently outdo itself with the newest RS6 and RS7, ramping up the aggression levels even further, so perhaps the smaller RS wagon felt a little left out.
It’s only fitting that, despite the B9-gen RS4 being only a couple of years old, Audi Sport decided to give it a facelift and bring it up to visual parity with its bigger brothers. Enter this 2020 version, puffed up in all the appropriate places and looking for trouble.
The Audi Sport models seem to be taking a less subtle approach to styling than we’re used to seeing, adopting an angrier snarl that’s angular to the point of looking like they've torn a page out of a Gundam comic.
Headlining the list of nose-heavy visual changes are a slimmer pair of headlights with LED daytime running lights arranged at the top, a more integrated Singleframe grille that’s ironically missing a defined frame, flanked by wide inlets on either side that blend in with the pronounced bumper shape.
In profile, however, little has visibly changed over the pre-facelift RS4. Audi Sport-specific touches also remain, such as the carbon-finished wing mirror housings and widened wheel arches. At the rear, the tail lamp arrangement mimics the new DRL design within the same enclosure, but is otherwise unaltered.
Under the bonnet, the RS4 retains the 2.9-litre bi-turbo V6 that generates 335kW and 600Nm which reaches each corner via the company’s signature quattro all-wheel drive system and an 8-speed torque converter automatic transmission, needing just 4.1 seconds to launch it from rest to 100km/h.
Interestingly, where the pre-facelift car also boasted identical acceleration and power/torque figures, Audi has managed to find some extra efficiencies within this six-cylinder engine, delivering a quoted 17 percent improvement in fuel economy on the latest WLTP testing cycle.
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