Piech's Parting Gift - a Historical & Technical Appraisal of the Audi B4 RS2 Avant
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BACKGROUND
Before heading to Volkswagen in 1993, Ferdinand Piech (head of Audi’s board) commissioned a joint venture with Porsche to produce the fastest Audi road car ever built.
A grandson of Ferdinand Porsche, Piech had been one of the key figures behind the original Quattro, the car that had almost single-handedly transformed Audi from dowdy auto maker to direct BMW and Mercedes-Benz rival.
With its brawny appearance, superb build quality and the kind of all-condition driving dynamics that had every other manufacturer looking on enviously, the Quattro redefined what could be expected from a mid-sized sporting Coupe. In addition, its exploits on the special stages, where the Quattro most notably delivered a combined four Driver and Manufacturer World Championships between 1982 and ‘84, helped sprinkle a little stardust on the rest of the Audi range.
Although not a like-for-like replacement, this latest premium priced high performance Audi was to be just as unconventional as the mould-breaking Quattro.
Rather than go head-to-head with BMW’s M3 line or one of AMG’s Mercedes products, what Piech ordered was a supercar-rivalling four-wheel drive estate based on the existing Audi 80 platform.
Despite having no motor sport pretensions, the resultant RS2 Avant was one of the 1990’s craziest creations and began a line of RS-badged Audis that continues today.
The production process saw specially prepared bodyshells shipped from Audi’s Ingolstadt factory to Porsche’s Rossle-Bau plant in Zuffenhausen. This was the same location where assembly of the Mercedes-Benz 500E took place and earlier, the Porsche 959. Upon arrival, each car was equipped with an uprated engine and gearbox plus much-improved brakes and suspension. Porsche wheels were also installed along with several other high performance components, the end result having been a machine quite unlike anything else available at the time.
CHASSIS
Audi’s B4 platform featured a pressed steel monocoque with a 2597mm wheelbase.
Porsche-designed braking and suspension systems replaced those found in the standard Audi 80.
Front suspension was via a MacPherson strut arrangement with a lower wishbone on each side while double wishbones were installed at the rear.
Thanks to uprated springs and dampers, ride height was 40mm lower than the standard 80 Avant. Thicker anti-roll bars were added at either end to improve stability.
Although the standard Bosch ABS system was retained, Porsche fitted bigger discs and four-piston Brembo calipers to each corner. Compared to the standard 276mm discs installed on the Audi S2, the RS2 items measured 304mm at the front and 299mm at the rear.
Handsome 7 x 17-inch Porsche Cup Design 1 wheels were shod with Dunlop 245/40 ZR17 tyres. These were the same width as the 16-inch rims fitted to the S2, but track was now 3mm wider at the front and 33mm wider at the back.
A 64-litre fuel tank imported from the stock B4 was installed above the rear axle.
ENGINE / TRANSMISSION
Starting point for the RS2’s engine was the Type ABY unit used in the S2.
A dual overhead camshaft inline five cylinder motor with cast iron block and light alloy 20 valve cylinder head, it displaced 2226cc thanks to a bore and stroke of 81mm and 86.4mm respectively. Peak output was 230bhp at 5900rpm and 258lb-ft at 1950rpm.
Porsche were given the target of a 30% power increase.
The resultant Type ADU engine fitted to the RS2 bristled with high performance modifications.
The standard KKK K24 turbo was switched to a K24-7200 unit running at 1.4 bar instead of 1.1. There was also a heavy-duty intercooler plus higher flow fuel injectors, uprated camshafts, more efficient induction system and a low pressure exhaust system with free flow manifolds.
The custom-mapped URS4/URS6 engine control unit was supplied by Bosch.
Although the compression ratio was unchanged at 9.0:1, Porsche more than satisfied Audi’s horsepower requirement. Peak output was 315bhp at 6500rpm (a near 37% increase) and Audi quoted a torque rating of 302lb-ft available at 3000rpm which represented another considerable gain.
All RS2s came with a reworked six-speed manual gearbox and Torsen-based Quattro permanent four-wheel drive system: front and rear final drive units contained a conventional open differential with a 4.111 ratio while the back end also had a manually activated diff lock.
BODYWORK
Cosmetically, the RS2 was enhanced with a new front bumper that featured Porsche lights and a trio of enormous intakes for the brakes and radiator.
The back bumper was also new and housed a recess for the number plate which had been moved down from the tailgate.
A distinctive red reflective central panel was installed between the tail lights (where the number plate was located on the rest of the Audi 80 range).
Porsche Cup mirrors were body coloured as were the sills and bumpers.
RS2 emblems inscribed with Porsche text were mounted on the tailgate and front grille.
Further Porsche branding could be found on the red brake calipers.
Aside from its moulded thermoplastic bumpers, sills and mirrors casings, the RS2’s body panels were fashioned exclusively from steel.
INTERIOR
Figure-hugging Recaro seats were the most notable change inside as the rest of the RS2’s major cockpit architecture was imported from the S2.
Three and four-spoke steering wheels were variously fitted behind which was an instrument binnacle that housed black-on-white gauges for engine and road speed. In between was a bank of warning lights while supplementary read outs for oil temperature, oil pressure and battery voltage were located at the base of the centre console.
Positioned above this trio of dials were controls for the ventilation system and stereo.
Standard equipment included electric windows, electric mirrors, an electric sunroof, an on-board computer and electric front seats.
OPTIONS
Audi offered the RS2 in a variety of paint colours to include Amethyst Grey Pearl, Brilliant Blue, Brilliant Black, Emerald Pearl, Indigo Pearl, Laser Red, Pearl White Metallic, Polar Silver Metallic, Ragusa Green Metallic, RS Blue Pearl (sometimes referred to as Nogaro Blue), Ruby Red Pearl and Volcano Black Pearl. However, not all colours were available in all markets. For example, UK buyers were only officially able to choose from Laser Red, Polar Silver Metallic, Ragusa Green Metallic, RS Blue Pearl and Volcano Black Pearl.
For the 1995 model year, Brilliant Blue was replaced with Blue Pearl.
Inside, customers could choose from either wood veneer or carbonfibre inlays.
The standard upholstery configuration comprised Anthracite leather with either Silver or Blue alcantara inlays for the seats and doors.
Full Anthracite Nappa leather was available as an optional extra.
Other upgrades offered by Audi at extra cost were heated seats and climate control. There was also a brake upgrade package that consisted of 322mm front discs and high performance pads all round.
WEIGHT / PERFORMANCE
The RS2 proved considerably quicker then the S2 Avant despite a 35kg weight gain which took it to 1595kg.
Top speed rose from 147mph to 166mph.
The 0-62mph time dropped from 5.9 seconds to 4.8 seconds.
The RS2 was also supposedly the fastest accelerating road car in the world from 0-30mph which took an astonishing 1.5 seconds.
PRODUCTION
The RS2 was launched at the Geneva Motor Show in March 1994 and produced until July 1995.
Audi originally commissioned a run of 2200 cars but 2891 were eventually assembled. 180 of these were were right-hand drive.
Although officially only available as an estate, four RS2s were built as saloons.
Once production ended, the RS moniker was subsequently applied to all of Audi’s flagship high performance variants. However, the next model to be released (the B5-based RS4) did not enter production until the year 2000.
Text copyright: Supercar Nostalgia
Photo copyright: Audi - https://www.Audi.com
