Audi RS6 vs Mercedes-AMG E63

What's the difference?

When I say this is a rare review, I’m talking about the kind of rare that means you can’t even buy the car you’re reading about.

The 2026 Audi RS6 Avant GT you’re looking at in the pictures around this story is number 248 of 660. That’s six-hundred and sixty worldwide.

In Australia, there are only 22 RS6 GTs, and they’re all sold - at exorbitant prices, mind you, but we’ll get to that.

The RS6 GT is essentially a production version of the Audi RS6 GTO concept, built in 2020 and inspired by the Audi 90 quattro IMSA GTO race car, which means the RS6 GT carries a lot of ‘90 GTO’ in the way it looks. More on that shortly.

Aside from its extremely limited availability and its design package, there are some mechanical changes to increase the appeal of the RS6 GT, though whether any of its owners will put the on-road (or on-track) ability of this special wagon from Ingolstadt to the test remains to be seen.

A couple of days to live with one of the few RS6 GTs in Australia should reveal how special this car feels, and result in at least one example of the rarity being driven good and proper.

Feels like lately all the Mercedes-AMG buzz has been at the smaller end of the scale.

Most recently, the screaming GLA 45 S has arrived in Australia, pumping out more kilowatts and newton-metres than any compact SUV has a right to.

But here, we're doubling the cylinder count to eight, arranging them in a vee, and lighting the wick on AMG's powerhouse mid-size sedan, the recently upgraded E 63 S.

While the ferocious twin-turbo V8 and the rest of this beast's powertrain are unchanged, the car has been brought up to speed with some aero-focused styling tweaks, Merc's latest 'Widescreen' digital cockpit, as well as the MBUX multimedia system, and a tricky new multi-function sports steering wheel.