Driven: 2021 Audi RS 5 Sportback

They say combustion cars will soon be dead. But the 444bhp Audi RS 5 Sportback is very much alive, even in the US where buyers clamour for SUVs and carmakers are dropping saloons from their lineups for lack of interest. With its sleek silhouette and four-door practicality, the RS 5 shines as a rare exception on the road.

Using Audi’s formula for its performance models, the RS5 Sportback is derived from the A5 of the same body style, with more aggressive design cues and sportier cockpit, with a unique colour and materials palette. Audi skipped the 2020 model year and returns for 2021 with a refresh that includes a stretched and flattened version of its signature singleframe grille with a new honeycomb pattern that looks both more aggressive and elegant.

This familiar face will remain an anchor for the brand as Audi gets ready to debut three electric, autonomous cars. As Audi’s head of exterior design, Philipp Roemers recently told us, “Audi’s distinct face is the singleframe grille. And we want to keep going with it, and take it further.”

Running horizontally across the top of the grille are three thin air vents, a nod to Audi’s Sport quattro racecar from 1984. On either side, new matrix-LED headlights with available laser light show off Audi’s prowess for beautiful and innovative lighting design. New, round fog lights are integrated into the redesigned lower air intakes.

On the body side, there’s the pronounced fender skirts and bulging “blisters” above the rear fender, another hint at the all-wheel-drive Quattro drivetrain beneath. Our test car is finished in Ascari Blue, one of only 100 produced for the US. It includes an “Alu-optic” package that gilds the car with two-tone aluminium trim along the side sills and black side mirror housings. Wheels are a 20-inch “five-arm-flag” design in a matte aluminium with blue brake calipers.

Chrome trim running around the DLO ties the package together nicely, steering the car toward a luxurious look without straying too much from its sporty character. At the rear, a slight lip spoiler sits above an RS-specific diffuser and large oval exhaust pipes.

Of course, many buyers like the RS 5 menacing and blacked out, and that remains an option as well with a “Black Optic” edition, limited to 325 units in the US.

In the cabin, there’s carbon fibre trim and honeycomb quilted Nappa leather on the sport seats with contrast stitching that echoes the pattern on the front grille. A flat-bottomed steering wheel is reminiscent of motorsports. Unlike Audi’s larger models and SUVs which use a dual central display, the RS 5 Sportback gets a single, 10.1-inch touchscreen that sits atop the IP. Controls beneath are simple and straightforward, emphasising the car’s meant-to-be-driven vibe.

And about that drive. Yes, a 2.9-litre Biturbo V6 engine may be an endangered species. But rev it up on a stretch of open highway, and no driver can deny the joy of gut-rumbling acceleration and a melodious exhaust, a visceral experience that has defined driving for more than a century and which may not exist in coming years. However, the RS 5 Sportback is anything but a work of nostalgia. It achieves a level of performance and technology on par with, if not better than, its competitors. With 444bhp and a 0-60 mph time of just 3.8 seconds, the car is plenty fast, but it’s also highly versatile.

While we’d prefer to drive it in sport mode all day with its high-rev shifts and tight-as-a-drum adaptive suspension, it also makes a fine long distance cruiser in comfort mode, with its four doors accommodating family or friends and the hatchback body style fitting more luggage than its coupe counterpart. When one’s had enough zipping around corners or slogging down highways, Audi’s adaptive cruise control and active lane assist can help ease the mental and physical burdens of a long – or slow – drive.

Soon we’ll see what Audi has in store for the future when it debuts show cars at Pebble Beach in August and the IAA in Munich in September, along with a new vision for an SUV early next year. Industry-wide, it’s clear that electrified powertrains and increased levels of autonomous driving are on the horizon, but spending a week in the Audi RS 5 Sportback makes us want to plead: not just yet.