Audi to launch hot 420-HP V8 RS4 at Geneva

Every Previous Compact Sports Sedan is Merely Child's Play

BMW M3, meet your match... and then some. The all-new 2006 Audi RS4 has arrived. This is the latest RS-badged machine, little

Watch out world, the all-new 2006 Audi RS4 has arrived. (Photo: Audi of America)

brother to the almighty RS6 and the successor to the devastatingly quick RS4 Avant of 2001.

Built from the ground-up as the ultimate compact luxury sedan, the RS4 returns for yet another generation with the confidence inspiring grip of all-wheel drive, nothing new for Audi of course. But the new model also presents new technologies which make this rendition one of the most advanced sports sedans to date.

The biggest change that developer Quattro GmbH implemented with the new RS4 is the switch from turbo to natural aspiration; that's right, this is a first for Audi's RS series. Instead, the RS4 will feature FSI direct-injection, the same power-optimizing technology that helped the brand's R8 racer achieve four wins at the 24 hours of Le Mans. Aside from the W12-powered A8, the RS4 is the most powerful Audi currently in production: its 4,163 cc V8 powerplant produces a total output of

The RS4 has been built from the ground up as the ultimate compact luxury sedan. (Photo: Audi of America)

420-horsepower and 317 lb-ft of torque. Though the motor is capable of revving to 8,250 rpm, low-end torque hasn't been sacrificed to do so with 90 percent of its maximum pulling power available between 2,250 and 7,600 rpm.

Routed to a short-throw six-speed manual gearbox and driven through Audi's five-star quattro all-wheel drive system, the new FSI V8 is capable of catapulting the compact sedan to 60 mph in a hair-raising 4.7 seconds. The 125 mph mark is reached just a short while later, taking a mere 16+ seconds. While Audi voluntarily limited the RS4's top speed to 155 mph, in theory the car could reach speeds approaching 185 mph!