In one of his most recent interviews Audi of America president Scott Keogh said his favorite German machine is the RS6, a model which he can’t own or sell to other customers in the US. That’s high praise from a top official, so when we noticed an RS6 facelift model on show in Paris, we knew we had to take a second look.

In one of his most recent interviews Audi of America president Scott Keogh said his favorite German machine is the RS6, a model which he can’t own or sell to other customers in the US. That’s high praise from a top official, so when we noticed an RS6 facelift model on show in Paris, we knew we had to take a second look.

The RS6 is a performance flagship of the A6 range and boasts similar acceleration numbers to an R8 V10. Just like the rest of A6 family, it has received cosmetic updates for the 2015 model year which affect mainly the headlights and taillights of the vehicle.

The biggest change is at the front, where the wave pattern in the headlight unit is replaced by double white lines. The famous Matrix LED technology from the A8 has been adapted for use in the RS6. It works by dimming individual light beams in order not to blind oncoming traffic while giving you maximum visibility.

If we were to be all metaphorical about it, what Audi has done is to take its heavy hammer and add a bit of end to make it into a halberd. Perhaps that’s a stretch of the imagination on our part, but then so is a wagon like this.

In the absence of the much-rumored RS6 Plus model, the output of the 4.0 TFSI engine remains limited to “only” 560 horsepower. Available only with n eight-speed auto and quattro all-wheel drive, this propels the car from 0 to 100 km/h in 3.9 seconds and on to a top speed of 305 km/h (189.5 mph) on models that have been unrestricted.

The only major change brought about under the bonnet is that fuel consumption has been lowered from 9.8 liters per 100 kilometers down to just 9.6 seconds, this being partly due to the new EU6 regulations that are coming into affect.

Prices in Germany start at €108,900, making this one of the most expensive Audis you can buy. However, the equivalent Mercedes-Benz E 63 AMG with 4Matic starts at €121,380, so the RS6 isn’t that bad.

The beautiful Misano Red Pearl RS6 we saw in Paris is by no means standard. In fact Audi has thrown a couple of tens of thousands of euros in options, including a variety of carbon fiber spoilers, skirts and diffusers. Expensive, but stunning!

[via Autoevolution.com]