2026 Best Wagon: Audi RS6 Avant
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Sports cars can be divisive entities, even amongst die-hard automotive enthusiasts. V8s or V10s; turbos or superchargers; mid-engine versus front engine; there are so many factors at play that can make a driver prefer one format while dismissing others. But if there’s one car that seems to hold universal appeal – nay, infatuation – it’s the Audi RS6 Avant.
It’s understandable why it has smitten every red-blooded driver out there, not to mention our collective of more than 20 automotive experts that vote on the AutoTrader Awards. First off, it’s absolutely stunning with its gaping grille ready to inhale lesser machines that get in the way, while the fenders seem stretched over the 21-inch wheel-and-tire package. The proportions are utterly perfect for what has to be the most badass-looking wagon of all time.
When contributor Peter Bleakney spent a week with the ultra-rare RS6 Avant GT, he couldn’t get away from people relentlessly snapping photos of the car, claiming, “aside from a Lamborghini Aventador perhaps, this wagon has spun more heads than any other test car that has graced my driveway.”
The Avant is also all business inside, too, with a driver’s cockpit that features fine materials and finishes, and a trio of digital screens, plus well-bolstered seating to accommodate up to five occupants. There’s a new A6 coming for 2026 with an even nicer interior and a set of simpler controls with fewer screens, but it won’t migrate to the RS6 just yet.
Behind the split-folding rear seat, the 850 L of cargo is enough for the family to get away for a weekend in style, and with serious pace. The RS6 Avant Performance has a monstrous 4.0L twin-turbo V8 that dispenses 621 hp and 627 lb-ft of torque, which is enough to rocket the wagon to 100 km/h in 3.4 seconds, despite weighing in at more than 2,000 kg. Keep the throttle flattened and the RS6 will carry on to 305 km/h where it’ll strain against the limiter.
Far from just a drag-strip, one-trick-pony, the RS6 Avant’s air suspension is tuned and ready for track duty (helped by sticky tires and optional fade-free carbon ceramic brakes). The centre differential can apportion a front-biased 70/30 power split, or as much as 85 per cent to the rear wheels, should a driver wish to ignite those rear tires in a cloud of burnt rubber while slinging the big wagon sideways. Yeehaw! Even the steering is dialled in to be not only quick in its reactions, but communicative of what the front tires are doing. The rear-wheel steering makes the Avant’s reactions livelier, and shrinks the mid-size wagon to feel like something much smaller.
The RS6 Avant is complete and utter overkill in almost every respect, especially as a daily-driven road car, and yet the suspension takes the nastiness out of road imperfections, making the Audi ideally suited for the task. It’s so good that AutoTrader Road Test Editor Dan Ilika pondered if the RS6 Performance “might just be the perfect car. It’s opulent like a proper luxury offering, delivers all kinds of interior space thanks to its practical proportions, and has the otherworldly ability to blast off into the stratosphere about as quickly as any of its supercar contemporaries or carve up twisting tarmac like something much smaller.”
Add the RS6 Avant’s styling with all the softness and subtlety of Darth Vader in a mood, and it’s understandable why Audi’s uberwagen is the one high-performance car that seems to be on every enthusiast’s wish list. It’s also why we at AutoTrader would not only recommend the RS6 Avant to family and friends, but we’d love to have one in our own garage. No wonder it’s once again our pick for Best Wagon.
