Audi RS6 vs Range Rover Sport

What's the difference?

To me at least, the RS6 is pretty much the ultimate fast and practical car. One which is just as comfortable plodding around town as it is tearing it up on the track. Keep in mind, too, this may be one of your last chances to have a car which looks like this, equipped with a V8 engine. So, have I convinced you? Would you consider one of these over a performance SUV? Tell us what you think in the comments below.

Note: CarsGuide attended this event as a guest of the manufacturer, with travel, accommodation and meals provided.

Range Rover proudly calls it its “most dynamic” model ever, and based on our first experience that’s most definitely true. Its ability to be genuinely exciting to drive on a race track is nothing short of remarkable for a brand whose history is all about off-road prowess.

On the road it shines just as brightly, with its potent engine and state-of-the-art suspension system working in unison to make for a stunningly dynamic large and luxurious SUV. And then, if you need to cut across a field or scramble up a slippery hill, it will do that too.

Range Rover’s claims of ‘breadth of capability’ is apt but arguably an understatement. I’d stop short of calling the Sport SV the obvious class-leader in the high-end, high-performance SUV market because it’s up against some seriously impressive rivals, but the Range Rover offers a broader range of ability than any of its competitors.

Note: CarsGuide attended this event as a guest of the manufacturer, with travel, accommodation and meals provided.

At a distance the RS6 is just an unassuming station wagon, but the closer you get, the more apparent it becomes how mean it is. It’s wide, it’s chiselled, it’s not just good looking, it’s iconically Audi.

The stance is so wide, its ride height so low, and its wheels are so massive that any keen eye will be able to spot where the difference is between this and any old family hauler.

Wagons may not be trendy, but there’s something undeniably cool about having the hauling capacity of an SUV at the ride height of a sedan.

Of course, if you want to look even more svelte and don’t need the boot space, the RS7 is always lurking around at a slight price premium.

Inside, the RS6 has all the modern amenities of the Audi range. Expect the usual sharp screens, lovely sports seats, and a tasteful application of textures throughout.

There’s a blend of carbon-look finishes, chrome, leather and gloss black. Perhaps a little too much gloss black to keep clean, but the aesthetic is suitably upmarket. 

You can go to town on customisation, and the car we primarily tested had stitching and colour in the carbon patterns to match its 'Ascari Blue' exterior, but you can pick whatever shade or combination of colours your budget allows.

Audi’s software is pretty good these days, with an attractive theme and fast hardware to back it, and the brand’s ‘Virtual Cockpit’ is still one of the most aesthetically pleasing and customisable digital instrument systems on the market, despite being one of the first.

Range Rover is a brand synonymous with big, imposing and off-road capable SUVs, not dynamic and sporty vehicles. But in recent years the Evoque and Velar have added a new layer of style and a sleekness to the brand’s reputation.

The latest generation Sport is still a big and imposing two-tonne SUV, but it’s also definitely sportier to look at and the SV changes only add to that.

It only takes a moment looking at it and it’s clear this is an SUV that means business. The 23-inch wheels fill out the guards, the air-suspension can lower the body to the ground and the aerodynamic package, including the front splitter, make for a purposeful look.

The carbon-fibre bonnet can be finished with the centre section exposed, showing off the weave of the fibres, which is a nice touch, although fake vents on the bonnet and front fenders are a bit disappointing.

Okay, I promised a car with the practicality of an equivalent SUV, but it’s not quite there. The trade-off is still worth it, I promise, but there are a few areas where the RS6 isn’t as practical as you think it’s going to be, particularly for front occupants.

Yes, it’s a big wide car, with large but supportive seats and plenty of headroom, but the issue for those travelling in the front two seats is the surprisingly limited amount of storage.

Yes, there are two bottle holders in the centre console with a folding tray lid to hide them away, but they aren’t huge. Bigger bottles would have to go in the door bins, but even then they’re a bit height-constrained.

There’s a decent glove box on the passenger side, but even the centre console box is very shallow, with more than half of it taken up by a wireless phone charger.

The touch panel for the climate unit looks impressive but still can’t match having physical dials. It has clicky haptic feedback to your individual presses, and all the functions are permanently accessible instead of hidden in sub-menus, so if you’re going to make climate a touch-based interface, it doesn’t get much better than this.

Where the RS6 shines is in the back seat. Despite those big bucket front seats, I had heaps of room behind my own seating position (at 182cm tall), with lots of headroom and sufficient width in the cabin to spread out.

You sink into the rear seats, which are heavily contoured so riding in the back is a pretty good experience even on the track.

Rear passengers get four adjustable air vents in both the B pillars and in the centre, as well as their own touch panel for the rear climate zone.

USB power outlets are also available, and there are netted pockets on the front of both back seats, with a further two bottle holders in the drop-down armrest.

The centre seat is probably only good for kids, because there’s a very tall raise in the centre required for the driveshaft, eating all the legroom.

The boot is fairly large at 548 litres which is in mid-size SUV territory, although I will admit some performance SUV rivals offer closer to 600L.

Space expands to 1658L with the second row folded flat.

There are two stand-out features in the cabin, beyond the standard high-level of luxury you expect from a Range Rover Sport. 

The first is the SV-specific steering wheel with illuminated paddles, which feels solid in your hands. But the second is by far the most interesting, the so-called Body and Soul Seats (BASS), which Range Rover has developed in conjunction with Coventry University.

Available with either genuine leather or ‘ultra fabric’ and a 3D-print knit trim, the seats look great on the outside but it’s what’s inside them that’s special.

There are four audio transducers integrated into the seat back which can vibrate to the beat of whatever audio track you’re listening to. The system uses AI to detect the lower frequencies and then work out which beats to transmit.

This is technology used by musicians, Coldplay’s Chris Martin reportedly wears transducers integrated into a vest when he performs, but Range Rover is confident it will add to the ownership experience.

It’s certainly an interesting technology and a demonstration across different music genres highlights the way the system adapts to individual songs, but it’s hard not to feel like this is more of a gimmick than something an owner will use every day. 

If you don’t like listening to music with it, the Body and Soul Seats also work with a ‘Wellness’ setting that features six audio pieces (designed by Coventry University musicians) - calm, soothe, serene, cool, tonic and invigorate.

It’s probably what you need to help settle your heart rate after you unleash the full performance potential of the Sport SV.

In the back seat there’s none of this technology but they do feature heating and ventilation as well as power recline functions. There’s also four-zone climate control, so every occupant can be comfortable.

To be blunt, the Range Rover Sport SV is one of those vehicles that if you have to ask, you can’t afford. Particularly in this case, as the model has launched in a single specification level, the Sport SV Edition One, which is priced from $360,800, plus on-road costs.

That puts it into the same financial category as the likes of the Aston Martin DBX ($356,512), Porsche Cayenne Turbo GT Coupe ($364,700) and Lamborghini Urus ($409,744) - especially when we discuss some of the pricier options.

For that price the Sport SV Edition One comes with exclusive branding on the front splitter, centre console, treadplates and puddle lamps as well as a raft of standard features likely to carry-over to the 2025 model year version.

These include carbon-fibre badges, forged 23-inch alloy wheels, digital LED headlights, a carbon-fibre bonnet, 16-way electronically adjustable front seats, Meridian 'Signature' sound system, 13.1-inch multimedia touchscreen, Apple CarPlay and Android Auto and newly developed ‘Body and Soul Seats’ (more on those later).

But if you’re feeling really sporty, you can upgrade your Sport SV with lightweight carbon fibre wheels and carbon ceramic brakes.

These will cost you a staggering $16,130 and $13,500, respectively, but the wheels measure 23-inches and are the largest fitted to a production car (and are also Australian-made by Carbon Revolution in Geelong).

Unfortunately, for now at least, this is all a moot point because Range Rover Australia has already invited and sold all examples of the Sport SV Edition One, so you'll need to be patient and wait until at least 2025 to have the option to buy one.

The RS6 is still packing eight cylinders in 2023, producing a massive 463kW/850Nm, somehow an increase (+22kW/50Nm) over the previous iteration.

Audi’s signature ‘Quattro’ all-wheel drive system is present alongside a limited-slip differential and four-wheel steering.

Air suspension and performance brakes and exhaust also feature, alongside an aggressive Continental SportContact 7 tyre package.

The 0-100km/h sprint time is now just 3.4 seconds, allowing you to show up even some electric cars, and the RS6 features 48-volt mild hybrid technology with a cylinder-on-demand system which can shut half the block down for more efficient coasting.

The transmission is an eight-speed torque converter unit which is smooth and effortless.

Sadly the wonderfully evocative supercharged V8 engine from the previous generation Range Rover Sport SVR is gone.

But, thankfully, in its place is a more powerful engine that’s exclusive to the Sport SV in the Jaguar Land Rover family.

It’s a 4.4-litre twin-turbo V8 petrol engine with mild-hybrid assistance, which is actually built by BMW and based on the same powertrain as you’ll find in the M5, albeit with some specific Range Rover elements for more off-road capability.

It’s also more powerful than the old supercharged V8, making an impressive 467kW of power and 750Nm of torque, which is a 44kW and 50Nm improvement over the old engine.

It’s paired to an eight-speed automatic transmission, again with a specific SV calibration for improved performance. 

And, of course, being a Land Rover, it’s also got a four-wheel drive system with full off-road systems as well as an active locking differential.

Officially, the RS6 and its eight cylinders drink a combined 11.8L/100km, although even with its fancy hybrid system and cylinder deactivation, my time with the car saw 15.0L/100km. The RS6 has a 72-litre fuel tank and takes only the finest 98RON unleaded fuel.

Despite all the extra power, thanks to the mild-hybrid system it’s more fuel efficient and produces less emissions than the old 5.0-litre V8.

Still, it’s all relative, and as you’d expect from a twin-turbo V8 SUV it’s still thirsty and uses 11.7-12.5-litres per 100km, based on European specifications.

The mild hybrid system uses a crank-integrated starter generator instead of a conventional alternator, providing a boost of up to 20kW and 175Nm of electrical power when needed, with the energy captured during braking and stored in a 48-volt lithium-ion battery.

As you might have guessed from its impressive engine and performance equipment, the RS6 is a certified weapon on road and track.

On the road you can expect a quiet, refined cabin, superbly balanced steering for low and high speeds and a gentle ride quality courtesy of the pricey air set-up.

It’s as noisy or as quiet as you want it to be, with the cylinder deactivation toning things down at low speeds, and the engine roaring to life under heavy acceleration, or when the 'Dynamic' drive mode is selected.

It can at times be alarming how much the RS6 leaps to life, as it feels so cushy in a city, its width and cabin giving the feel of a luxury car rather than a performance one.

Make no mistake, though, the RS6 is properly quick, and when you give it a kick, it’s the roaring, aggressive machine the spec sheet suggests.

The best place for this? The track, of course. The big V8 and the capability of the all-wheel drive system are truly best explored at velocities impossible to legally achieve on the road.

Once you get past the bark and snarl of this wagon’s eight-cylinders at full force, and the lightning-fast shifts of its eight-speed automatic, you’ll have a moment to appreciate the way it simply holds to the tarmac when you tilt it into the corners, providing a balance when loaded up which only air suspension can provide.

The steering is awesome, communicating the texture of the road nicely to the driver, and requiring just the right amount of force to keep the car pointing where it needs to go.

The grip level is astounding with the huge tyres and the four-wheel steer system lets this hefty wagon take corners at a tighter angle than your brain initially allows.

Thankfully, the four-wheel steer system isn’t weird, either. While it can have a strange effect on some cars, in the RS6 it only bends your mind slightly when you tip it into a hairpin. Otherwise it feels pretty normal.

When everything is warmed up, it can let its guard down slightly and allows the driver to eke out a slide at the rear here and there for extra fun-factor

Jeez. What a machine. I guess this is what a quarter of a million dollars buys. A car that can do it all. Take the kids to the school in comfort and tear it up on the track like few other passenger cars on the same day.

There’s a caveat, though. A small one which looks like it will turn into a big one for cars like this in the near future.

I had the opportunity to drive the RS e-tron GT around the same circuit and it was better. Much better.

It was faster, more accurate, more composed. It was so effortless, I didn’t realise exactly how much quicker than the RS6 it was until I drove them back-to-back.

It’s a good sign for the future, but also a reminder a V8 like this isn’t the performance pinnacle it once was.

Before driving the Sport SV you need to understand its highly complex suspension system that allows it to be so dynamically capable. Range Rover calls it a '6D Dynamic' system, because it can control the car left and right, up and down and corner to corner. 

To achieve this the system uses a combination of hydraulic interlinked dampers, height-adjustable air springs and pitch control, which makes it a semi-active suspension set-up similar to the set-up Formula 1 race cars used to boast. 

This allows the Sport SV to sit between 10-25mm lower than the other Sport models and with its clever suspension can actually sit flatter in the corner with less pitch and roll - which is the traditional enemy of high-riding SUVs when it comes to handling.

But the suspension is only part of the story, with the intelligent all-wheel drive, rear-wheel steering, torque vectoring and the active locking rear diff all combining to produce an SUV with incredibly impressive dynamic capability.

Put simply, there’s never been a Range Rover that deserved to be driven on a racetrack. The Sport SV changes that, and thankfully the company let us loose on the challenging Portimao circuit in Portugal to put the SV through its paces.

Range Rover management was quick to stress it doesn’t expect the Sport SV to be a race track regular for its owners, but driving it on track did highlight the extreme potential it offers. 

With such a powerful engine it should come as no surprise that the Sport SV hauled down the straight, hitting 233km/h at the end of the long front straight, but with speed still rising which suggests its 290km/h claimed top speed is accurate.

Even from those speeds and with 2560kg of SUV to slow down, with the carbon ceramic brakes it was no trouble whatsoever. Instead the braking was strong and consistent across multiple laps. 

The steering is the particular highlight, with the rear-wheel steering helping to turn the Sport SV sharper and more quickly than a big SUV like this should. 

But while it impressed on the circuit, we also experienced it on some great winding rural roads across Portugal and this is where it shone even more brightly.

This is an SUV that you’ll genuinely enjoy driving with its ability to carve through corners and blast down anything resembling straight road.

But to ensure it lives up to the Land Rover badge on the front, we also drove it off-road. Nothing too serious at first, just muddy ruts, across some water and over some rocks.

But then we were guided through a course that showed off its articulation potential, which is far greater than the average owner will ever need. 

However, to achieve this Range Rover removed the carbon-fibre front splitter, so it’s not the most off-road friendly model the brand offers.

The Sport SV comes generously equipped with safety gear, as you’d expect at this price point. There’s all the usual passive safety, including airbag coverage for all occupants, and plenty of active safety including adaptive cruise control with steering assist, remote park assist and 3D surround cameras - which are used for off-roading as well as parking.

As with the rest of the Range Rover Sport range, it has been awarded a maximum five-star rating from safety agency, ANCAP.

Five years and unlimited kilometres is the warranty length, and Audi’s ownership program includes invites to events like the one we were able to experience for the launch of this car. A track-test of the RS6 and the RS e-tron GT.

If you own one, I recommend them, you’ll learn a thing or two about the car and possibly yourself while you’re at it.

Servicing is required once every 12 months or 15,000km, and a service pack covering the first five years or 75,000km can be purchased alongside the car at a cost of $4360.

It works out at $872 per year, which isn't economy car cheap, but with such a complex drivetrain, what did you expect?

If you’re worrying about servicing costs, you’re probably shopping at the wrong end of the market, but as with the range-topping Range Rover model the price of the car is expected to include servicing for the first five years and roadside assistance for the same period.

It’s also covered by a five-year, unlimited kilometre warranty.

As with all Range Rovers the car will tell you when it needs a service depending on driving conditions. For example, if you hit the track or go off-roading it will likely need a visit quicker than if you're just commuting to and from work.