Range Rover Sport vs Audi RS6

What's the difference?

The Range Rover Sport P460e Dynamic HSE is a cool and classy premium five-seat SUV. It’s comfortable, refined, powerful and efficient with excellent safety and thoughtful practicality.

If you’re in the market for a luxurious SUV and your budget sits just under $200K this car should be on your shopping list but we’d recommend careful assessment of its value proposition across standard features and cost-of-ownership relative to its highly credentialled rivals. 

You’ll notice a number out of 10 on this review, you should ignore it.

Not only is it irrelevant because you can’t buy one, but the RS6 Avant GT isn’t a ‘brain’ car, it’s a ‘heart’ car. As much as a five-seat wagon can be, anyway.

Whether you think it’s overkill, overpriced, or overhyped, the GT is a celebration of a car that’s become such an icon for petrolheads. It’s also probably a marker for the end of an era, because we don’t see many V8 family cars getting about anymore.

Well done to Audi, the accounting team in particular, and if anyone who owns an Avant GT is willing to let me have another drive, my in-box is open. 

Or I’ll just keep an eye out.

Gerry McGovern may have left his role as Jaguar Land Rover Chief Creative Officer (under mysterious circumstances) late last year but his design fingerprints are all over the current Range Rover Sport.

A clean, confident and tightly wrapped exterior reflects his focus for SUVs on large, relatively unadorned surfaces, a high waistline and a curved, sloping nose. 

A coefficient of drag (Cd) of just 0.29 also supports his team’s consistent focus on aero efficiency.

The interior treatment gives off a clearly discernible echo of Land Rovers and Range Rovers past with a compact angular hood sitting over the compact digital instrument display and the flat lower dash section enhancing a feeling of simplicity.

Perforated semi-analine leather seat trim (in Ebony on our test car) dials up the luxury feel, as does the sleek 13.1-inch media screen and soft-touch materials across the dashtop as well as in and around the doors.

Worth noting piano black surfaces across the front centre console might look slick in the showroom but in day-to-day life they attract fingerprints like Chopper Read before a police interview.

“It looks like a toy car you’d get in a Kinder Surprise” was the first comment from my housemate upon seeing the $400K collector's item on wheels.

Harsh, but to anyone unfamiliar with the Audi 90 quattro IMSA GTO racer, there’s arguably too much going on with the RS6 Avant GT.

The red, grey and black decals, the chunky white 22-inch wheels, the flared and vented front fenders and the wing over the rear window… all of it is a lot to take in, but it’s very faithful to the IMSA car.

As pictured, the 90 quattro IMSA has the red around the bottom lip of the car, on the bonnet, and even its rear wind, the same as the red on the rear of the Avant GT.

Some of the black at the front of the car, where the bonnet and fenders are, is just exposed carbon-fibre rather than a black decal.

Short of the sponsors and racing numbers, the Avant GT does a fabulous job of paying homage to the 1989 race car. It just means you’re going to be the centre of attention anywhere you drive. Or park.

On that note, an alternative paint and graphic scheme in 'Mythos Black' (this car is 'Arkona White') was available to customers and is decidedly more ‘under the radar’. You have to wonder, though, if you opted for the subtle version of a car that pays homage to a fire-breathing IMSA car, would you feel like you took the coward's option?

Besides, you’re either keeping this car in some kind of temperature-controlled bubble, or (hopefully) spending most of your time around it in the driver’s seat. From there, you don’t have to grapple with the question of garishness.

The interior is, while elevated past standard RS6 vibes, a lot more subtle. Dark materials of microfibre, carbon, leather and the smudge-prone piano black (an Audi favourite) are joined by a relatively restrained serving of red in the contrast stitching and seatbelts.

At just shy of 5.0m long, more than 2.2m wide and a bit over 1.8m tall with a 2997mm wheelbase the current Range Rover Sport is a large five-seater. 

Its wide-track, high-roof stance and the dash’s away slope means there’s lots of room up front  and storage aplenty.

A deep box between the seats is covered by a padded lid and a dual cupholder unit in front of it is able to slide away to reveal another handy space. A wireless charging pad sits in front of the gearshifter.

The top of the centre console forms a flying buttress which leaves another useful storage area underneath.

Generous bins in the doors (neatly outlined by bright metal trims) are big enough to hold large bottles and there are two (upper and lower) glove boxes on the passenger side.

There are also individual front centre armrests swinging down from the inner edge of the front seats, their angle adjusted via a twisting rotary dial.

We’re not convinced by the multimedia package with a relatively complex line-up of screens and functions proving at times a struggle to navigate. 

Physical controls for the ventilation system, rather than in-screen adjustment would be a good start.

But what we loved was the heated windscreen which is part of the Cold Climate Pack fitted to the test car. A cold winter morning’s foggy windscreen cleared in an instant is a huge safety plus.

Move to the back, as you’d expect for a car measuring close to three metres between its axles, there’s lots of room.

Sitting behind the driver’s seat set to my 183cm position I have plenty of head, leg and shoulder room. 

The rear seat’s breadth means three adults can slide in there quite easily. But the centre position isn’t sculpted and padded like the outer two and a driveline hump in the centre of the floor limits footroom, however power recline functionality (with controls in the doors) adds extra flexibility.

The reason for the non-sculpting in the centre spot is a hefty fold-down centre console housing a lidded storage compartment and a pair of flip-out cupholders.

The door bins are generous, there are hard-shell map pockets on the front seatbacks and adjustable ventilation control at the back of the front centre console sits above the seat heating dials. Nice. 

The boot swallows no less than 647 litres with the 40/20/40 split-folding rear seat upright which grows to a healthy 1491L with it folded and there are numerous helpful additions back there including hooks, lighting, a netted pocket, storage cubby and 12-volt power socket. Boot-mounted buttons to release the rear seats are handy, too.

The same control panel contains a height adjustment feature for the electronic air suspension to make loading and unloading easier and Land Rover also deserves a medal for including a full-size spare wheel rather than a space-saver or inflator kit.

In this case that means a monster 23-inch alloy rim shod with the same tyres as the rubber doing the work under the car. Bravo!   

Power and connectivity options include two USB-C sockets, a 12-volt outlet and a wireless phone charging pad in the front, another two USB-Cs in the back and a second 12V plug in the boot. So no problems with charging capacity for phones and other devices.

Braked trailer capacity is 3.0 tonnes (750kg unbraked) and one of the Range Rover’s party tricks is the ability to swing the tow bar into place or back out of the way at the touch of a (you guessed it) boot-mounted button. Exposed shins everywhere are grateful.

You’ve bought a $400K collectible sports car capable of effortlessly deleting kilometres of highway with your family and enough luggage for a week. Usually a special edition driver's car at this price point is doing well if it has a place to put a phone and a water bottle, let alone phones and water bottles for four people - five if you really need.

Yes, in the performance car world, the Audi RS6 Avant has long been king of the convenience game and the GT holds onto that. 

The seating position and ergonomics remains comfortable, the driver’s seat being manually adjustable means it can sit even lower, there’s decent storage in the door cards, cupholders are able to be hidden, the phone charger is under the armrest, there’s a spot for small items like keys, change or glasses and the rear seats have mostly the same alongside their own individual climate controls and heated seats.

Behind those, a 548-litre boot puts most performance cars to shame, but its 1658L space when the rear seats are folded down is unbelievable for something that you’d want to take to a race circuit.

I’ve been told I’m not allowed to swear in CarsGuide reviews, so add your own expletive when I say, at $399,000, before on-road costs, the RS6 GT is expensive.

A ‘standard’ Audi RS6 Avant Performance costs $252,600, so you would really, really hope that warm feeling you get from owning one of only 22 GTs in the country is worth around $146,400. It’s very hard to imagine the physical changes to the car amount to that much money.

Of course, there’s plenty of kit in the RS6, anyway. But unique to the Avant GT is a carbon bonnet, carbon wing mirrors and carbon front fenders, a restyled spoiler, tailgate, and rear diffuser, 22-inch Audi Sport six-arm ‘Avus’-inspired alloy wheels (in white or black), RS ceramic brakes and black badging.

Inside, there are RS front bucket seats trimmed in leather, synthetic suede and carbon, contrast stitching in red, red seatbelts, black synthetic leather along the dashboard with open-pore carbon, rear window sunshades and a Bang & Olufsen 3D sound system from the 'Sensory Package' as standard.

There’s also ‘RS6 GT’ scuff plates, floor mats, puddle lighting and the individual number for each of the 660 cars on the centre console. 

There’s also manually adjustable coil-over suspension and a GT-specifically-tuned quattro sport differential.

It’s cool, but is it an extra $146K cool?

For the price, you’re almost in Ferrari territory, or you’re ticking some options boxes on your Porsche 911 Carrera T. Suppose neither of those can comfortably take a family of four on a holiday to the snow and even feel safe driving on icy roads, though.

It does happen to be about the same price as the Mercedes-AMG GT63 S 4 Door, though whether that looks as good as the RS6 is debatable.

The Range Rover Sport Dynamic HSE P460e is powered by a 3.0-litre, turbo-petrol, inline six-cylinder engine sending drive to all four wheels via an eight-speed automatic transmission and four-wheel-drive system including a two-speed transfer box for high- and low-range running off-road.

A permanent magnet synchronous electric motor, positioned between the engine and transmission, is powered by a 38.2kWh lithium-ion battery located under the rear floor.

The motor’s roughly 160kW of peak power contributes to overall outputs of 338kW and 660Nm, the 2.7-tonne SUV claimed to sprint from 0-100km/h in a spritely 5.5 seconds.

Audi’s venerable 4.0-litre, twin-turbo V8 engine remains at the heart of the RS6, though in the GT there’s no more power than the RS6 Avant Performance.

That means 463kW of power and 850Nm of torque delivered to all four wheels via an eight-speed torque converter automatic and Audi’s ‘quattro’ all-wheel drive system, making the RS6 Avant GT capable of a 3.3-second sprint to 100km/h, according to Audi. Top speed is a blistering 305km/h.

All this in a car I took to Coles.

Claimed combined cycle (urban/extra-urban) fuel economy for the Range Rover Sport Dynamic HSE P460e is a miserly 1.6L/100km, the 3.0L inline six emitting just 38g/km of CO2 in the process.

It’s important to note that the official number is predicated on the car’s battery being charged consistently.   

Land Rover says pure-EV range on the combined WLTP cycle is 118km, noting a real world number of “up to 96km” is more realistic. Maximum electric-only speed is a lofty 140km/h.

Maximum DC charge rate is 50kW which Land Rover says will deliver an 80 per cent charge in 40 minutes. A 7.0kW AC wallbox will take you to 100 per cent in five hours and a 2.3kW domestic socket will have you waiting 15 hours for a full charge. Home and public charging cables are included.

We recharged at a 150kW pylon and as expected the peak rate went to around 45 kW and it took 30 minutes to half fill the battery. Using the supplied home charging cable on a three-pin outlet for a roughly nine-hour stint delivered a 50 per cent battery top-up. 

Over around 300km of city, suburban and highway running we spent most of the time in Hybrid mode which leaves it to the powertrain’s brain to switch between pure-electric and internal combustion power, rather than the dedicated EV setting. 

Overall result was 6.1L/100km, which is pretty great for a full-size, 2.7-tonne SUV.

A 71.5-litre fuel tank (which requires a minimum 95 RON premium unleaded inside it) equates to a real-world range of around 1170km using our on-test consumption figure.

Do you care about this section of the review if you’ve bought one? Surely not. 

Anyway, Audi claims 11.8L/100km in terms of fuel consumption and you’d better believe it’s 98 RON minimum. 

It’s got a 72-litre fuel tank, which was depleted rather rapidly on test. While driving conditions weren’t ‘fair’ in terms of the test given the content demands of a short-term loan, there’s probably a realistic figure somewhere between the claim and the 17.9L/100km I achieved over a few days.

Applying a Sport badge to a 5.0-metre long, roughly 2.7-tonne SUV is a brave call. But there’s no doubt the Range Rover Sport Dynamic HSE P460e is rapid in a straight line. 

Zero to 100km/h in 5.5 seconds is quick for a car of this size, and just so you know, it has the ability to storm on to a maximum velocity of 225km/h. It will even hit 140km/h in EV-only mode.

The 3.0-litre, turbo-petrol six feels and sounds suitably brawny without upsetting what is an impressively refined drive.

Throttle response is as smooth as it is urgent, the eight-speed auto is slick as butter and the option of manual shifts via wheel-mounted paddles is welcome when you want to get more involved.

The front seats manage to combine long-distance comfort with firm location and the continuously variable adaptive suspension smooths out imperfections with uncanny ease.

The layout is double wishbones at the front with multi-links at the rear and the Sport’s calibration keeps in planted and balanced in corners despite its high-riding SUV form.

Noise from the enormous 23-inch rims, shod with 285/40 Pirelli Scorpion MS rubber is minimal and we didn’t come close to challenging their grip strength. Road feel through the steering is pretty good, too.  

Brakes are big ventilated discs all around (400mm fr / 370mm rr) and they’re well up to the task with regen braking in support at slower speeds.

This test was on-road only, but for the record this car’s approach angle is a maximum 33 degrees, breakover is 24.5 and departure is 30, with a handy wading depth of 900mm.

Despite its substantial footprint the Range Rover Sport is surprisingly easy to park, with sensors, multiple cameras and screens helping to keep things low-stress.

And it's worth noting none of the Range Rover’s advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) functions intrude beyond their intended purpose in day-to-day driving, which is always welcome. 

There’s something unfortunate about how good the Audi RS6 Avant GT is from behind the wheel. That’s knowing how few people will properly get to enjoy it.

Not just because only 660 were built, but also because the majority of those 660 owners will be too worried about how much they’ve just spent on an automotive rarity to properly take it for a burn on a road, or even a track.

The RS6 was always an icon of Germany's penchant for subtle-looking cars that just happen to be capable of embarrassing much more brash vehicles, but the GT does away with the pretence and sharpens its teeth a little.

The specifically tuned rear differential makes for a more rear-biased driving experience in Dynamic mode, which means more agile cornering and a more natural balance compared to the way the RS6 sometimes feels - like a family wagon.

Its rival, the BMW M5 Touring, can go full rear-drive, but the Audi doesn’t need that as an option. It feels more capable and composed; ready to obey commands without fuss. A set of Continental SportContact 7 tyres (285/30) help there on the grip front.

The suspension underneath, adjustable coil-overs with three settings, is unique to the GT and lowers the ride height by 10 millimeters. It’s stiffer, 30 per cent at the front and 80 at the rear, and you notice it.

There’s more control and much less body roll, but the trade-off is the RS6 Avant GT is a little less comfortable on Australia’s particularly rough roads. Its 22-inch wheels don’t help.

It’s not, however, crashy or rattly. The suspension still does a fine job of stopping the driver being jostled around, but there’s a decidedly firmer response to the surface underneath. Again, still very composed.

With the new suspension, steering the GT feels easier than memory would suggest and the baseline was already good. There’s no unnecessary weight, but there’s still decent feedback from the front wheels and accuracy is bang-on.

Throttle adjustment in the corners, too, is easier with the rear differential, and it means anyone who still had reservations about Audi and understeer can be proven wrong.

The drivetrain remains unchanged from the Performance, which is a good thing. The effortless acceleration, even in the more aggressive 'Dynamic' setting with the transmission set to 'Sport' is smooth but seemingly unending.

Fortunately, the 4.0-litre V8 under the carbon bonnet sounds delightfully burbly, so getting to the speed limit or overtaking is a little treat every time. While the steering wheel paddles are there if you really need to drive in anger, the eight-speed is fine left to its own devices.

A 2.0-tonne family wagon with a V8 up front, easy communicative steering, and sporty suspension that settles well over bumps but allows enthusiastic corner attacks?

The RS6 Avant GT is in limited company.

There’s no current rating from ANCAP for the A6 in general, let alone this specific RS6, but there’s a decent suite of safety equipment and tech to keep you worry-free in the GT.

Eight airbags and more than 30 driver assistance systems from the RS6 are of course present in the GT, including adaptive cruise control, lane-keep and warning, emergency brake assist and cross-traffic alert.

Audi’s also got surround view cameras for parking, which also includes warnings for approaching vehicles or objects, plus there are preemptive measures the car can take in an impact like tightening the seatbelts or braking to avoid a second collision.

The second row also has three top tethers and ISOFIX anchor points on the outboard seats for mounting child seats. 

Land Rover covers the Range Rover Sport with a five-year/unlimited kilometre warranty, which is in line with premium competitors like Audi, BMW, Lexus and Mercedes but lags the mainstream market with an increasing number of brands at seven, eight and up to 10 years conditional. The warranty for the hybrid battery is six years/100,000km.

Roadside assistance is included for five years, service is recommended every 12 months/20,000km and a five-year service plan will set you back $3900.

That’s a solid average of $780 per workshop visit, which is marginally more expensive than a BMW X5 M60i ($714) over the same period, but substantially cheaper than the Audi SQ7 ($920) or Porsche Cayenne S ($1135) and less than half the cost of the Merc-AMG GLE53 ($1684).

Land Rover has a long-standing network of 74 dealers across the country including all state and territory capitals as well as key rural and regional centres.

Audi’s five-year/unlimited kilometre warranty is below industry par, though most premium brands are in the same boat.

Twelve years of bodywork warranty against corrosion is also included, as is a five-year run of free Audi roadside assistance.

Five-year service plans can be purchased, or customers can buy back-to-back two-year extensions for the warranty, servicing and roadside assistance.