I’m a person who likes cars, and I spend time on the internet. As such, I’m conditioned to believe this 2025 Audi RS6 GT is unquestionably superior in every which way simply because it’s a wagon.
A fast wagon.
Wagons are a dying breed, but we already knew that. Audi has always been among the few to keep the longroof alive, always having on hand some sort of Avant and/or Allroad — that’s “wagon” and “lifted wagon,” respectively, in Audi-speak. For a few years now, the A6 Allroad and RS6 Avant have taken up this mantle, but it’s the latter that tickles our fancy the most. The RS6 is a very good-looking weapon that can scramble the eggs you just picked up from No Frills in 3.7 seconds.
This particular flavour is the ultra-limited-edition 2025 Audi RS6 Avant GT. It’s pitched as a send-off before the rest of the A6 lineup gets electrified, and what a send-off it is. Audi is only making 660 of these worldwide, and only seven of those are coming to Canada. Each one will look like this, finished in Arkona White and accented with exposed carbon fibre and body graphics that are a call-back to the 1989 Audi 90 GTO’s livery.
This thing turns heads everywhere. The only other car in recent memory to attract this much attention was the Volkswagen ID. Buzz, but that makes sense. The Buzz is a modern-day re-imagination of an icon with inter-generational appeal. The RS6 GT, on the other hand, is a universally recognized definition of f-cking sick across a wide demographic of onlookers young and old, male and female, and literally anything and everyone in between. Like the ID. Buzz, introverts need not apply; you can’t even pick your nose in bumper-to-bumper traffic, let alone fill up in peace. In addition to the striking livery, you get widened fenders, a more pronounced liftgate spoiler, carbon fibre aero bits including a rear diffusor that wouldn’t look out of place on a Civic Si.
And the wheels. The wheels alone are the showstopper. Measuring 22 inches in diameter and wrapped in rubber-band Continental summer tires, this six-spoke design is a modern take on Audi’s famous “Avus” wheel design. The spokes are fatter and there’s no centre cap covering up the lug nuts. It’s especially striking painted white to match the body, though you can play with other finish options overseas. The carbon-ceramic brakes with massive red calipers peeking out from behind mean business, and tie it all together. Just … wow.
The RS6 GT boasts a number of mechanical upgrades, but not to the 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8 lurking under the carbon fibre hood. It packs the same amount of heat as the standard RS6 Performance — 621 hp and 627 lb-ft of torque — and uses the same eight-speed automatic transmission. Audi’s venerable Quattro all-wheel-drive system continues to keep the shiny side up, but the GT is a smidge quicker in a straight line thanks to the lightweighting. Audi says it clocks a zero-to-100 km/h run in 3.3 seconds, some three-tenths quicker than the standard RS6.
Audi more so tweaked how the RS6 GT puts the power down. Like the regular RS6, the centre diff splits the power 40/60 front/rear. When it detects slip, it sends up to 70 per cent of that power to the front axle, or up to 85 per cent to the rear. Audi retuned the RS6 GT’s rear diff to be more responsive, and it gets 30-per-cent stiffer anti-sway bars up front and 80-per-cent stiffer bars out back. That’s actually kind of wild.
Even wilder is the RS6 GT features a coilover suspension setup from the factory. For real. It sits 10 millimetres lower than the standard RS6, and you can manually adjust the coilovers as long as you don’t lose the special tool that comes with the car. It’s a novel concept, reminiscent of the Volvo V60 Polestar and its trick Ohlins setup. For those who value convenience, Audi offers an optional air suspension setup.
It’s inevitable that the RS6 appears in the same breath as the 2025 BMW M5 Touring lately. I wasn’t sure what to make of the more practical Mister Five a few months ago, but the RS6 GT lent some much-needed context. In the realm of modern super-wagons, the RS6 is the default choice, but for a damn good reason: it does it all. When it isn’t tatted-up with an old-school-cool race livery, the RS6 is enough of a sleeper to blend into traffic. At the same time, those hip to the whole scene will pick it out among a sea of CR-Vs, F-150s, and Civics and think, “yo, sick RS6.”
It’s also friggin’ fast. Nobody ever accused 591 horsepower of being not enough, but as part of a refresh to the RS6 last year, Audi found an extra 30 ponies. The GT launches with the ferocity you expect, charging ahead unrelentingly yet effortlessly until you chicken out and back off. It fills the cabin with a subdued snarl that grows into a muffled roar as you explore the upper reaches of its rev range, before you tug the upshift paddle and do it all over again. The eight-speed automatic kicks down in a heartbeat and is almost as telepathic as one of Porsche’s PDK ‘boxes — but for all this fierce performance, the GT settles down just as agreeably as a daily driver as the standard car.
Perhaps that’s part of the problem. Like almost every other Audi, the RS6 GT is almost too tame for its own good. This is a car that costs at least $100,000 on top of the standard RS6; you’re looking at $249,700 as-tested for this particular example, but GTs are trading for much more on the “used” market. As much of a missile as this thing is in a straight line, there’s little else in the way of extra drama, sound, feel, feedback — you name it. It’s a little louder and rides a little firmer, sure, but still feels largely the same as the standard car. Heck, even the RS Q8 Performance felt as though it had more fizz, and that’s a friggin’ SUV.
You can paint the M5 Touring with the same brush. Put everything aside about the weight, it’s as much of a missile as the RS6, but it knows how to have fun. As much as we’re inclined to roll our eyes at BMW’s overly complicated drive mode selections, it’s amazing that you can dial back the M5 to rear-drive mode at the touch of a button, hang out the ear end in a sweet drift, and pop it back into “normal” mode like nothing happened. Moreover, we’ve seen what BMW can do with their CS cars: it’s possible to imbue a modern sporty car with a legitimate sense of feedback and engagement.
Maybe that’s what I expected for the significant price premium the 2025 Audi RS6 GT commands. The standard car is a pretty good deal, but between the extra stickers, conservative chassis tweaks, and admittedly very cool wheels, the math just doesn’t make sense. And yet, as a person who likes cars and spends time on the internet, it’s hard to ignore the head-turning gravitas of the RS6 GT. Besides, car people on the internet never put their money where their mouths are, anyway.
