How the Audi RS 2 Avant Wagon Became a Cult Classic
Audi
The Audi RS 2 Avant wasn’t the first performance station wagon. That designation belongs to the Australian Ford Falcon Grand Sport from the early 1970s or, if we’re talking about something a little more modern, the Volvo 740 Turbo that debuted in the mid-1980s. But, of the latter group, it’s the RS 2 Avant that’s most responsible for the passion that today’s enthusiast has for sporty longroofs.
Audi’s most iconic estate made its debut in 1994. It’s easy to mistake the boxy four-door for just another 80 Avant variant, but thanks to the involvement of Porsche, it was so much more than that. The sports car maker helped develop the vehicle and is responsible for it featuring the most powerful version of the turbocharged inline-five that Audi used during this era. That upgrade, along with Audi’s trademark four-wheel-drive system, is why the RS 2 Avant is as responsible for changing the way people view the brand as the Quattro was in the 1980s.
The RS 2 was also hard to get hold of. Less than 3,000 examples were built during the two years it was in production, and it wasn’t offered in every region. Add all this together, and you have yourself a genuine cult classic.
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The First of Its Kind
Image Credit: Bring a Trailer It may not have been the first performance wagon, but the limited-edition RS 2 Avant was Audi’s first RennSport (RS) model. Audi Sport began building high-performance models in the 1980s thanks to the success of the rally-inspired Quattro. In 1990, the division, which was originally named quattro GmbH after the mid-size hatch, released its first Sport (S) model, the S2 Coupe, which was also heavily upgraded. It was followed four years later by the even more powerful RS 2 Avant.
More than three decades later, RennSport, which translates in English to Racing Sport, models still sit atop the Audi lineup. Like BMW’s M and Mercedes’s AMG cars, these vehicles feature the latest and greatest parts and powertrains that each respective brand offers. It doesn’t matter if a car is gas-, hybrid- or battery-powered; if it’s capable of putting up eye-popping numbers, you can bet it wears the “RS line” badge.
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Only Part of It Hails From Ingolstadt
Image Credit: Audi At the beginning of the 1990s, both Audi and Porsche needed help. The former wanted to produce a vehicle that could compete with the BMW M3, while the latter was looking for more outside engineering projects to bring in money. So, the two German automakers teamed up to create the RS 2 Avant. Audi built the shell and chassis in Ingolstadt, then sent them to Porsche’s Zuffenhausen factory, where another outside project, the Mercedes-Benz 500E had been built a handful of years prior, for final assembly.
Of course, Porsche did more than just put the wagon together. It also made some key upgrades. The 2.2-liter inline-five’s standard KK&K turbocharger was swapped out for an even bigger one, and it was equipped with a heavy-duty intercooler, higher flow fuel injectors, an all-new camshaft, and a more efficient induction system. Porsche-designed braking and suspension systems also replaced those found on the standard Audi 80. There’s a reason why its name appears on vehicle’s badge after all.
“Around 20 per cent of the RS2 stems from Porsche,” Michael Hölscher, who oversaw the project for Porsche, said earlier this decade. “We found it essential to make the Porsche character immediately noticeable and the associations clear.”
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A Estate That Can Really Move
Image Credit: Porsche The modifications Porsche made to Audi’s inline-five didn’t just achieve marginal gains. The upgraded mill was the most powerful version of the company’s turbocharged inline-five to feature in a production vehicle. It produced 311 hp and 302 ft lbs of torque, respectable numbers for any wagon, let alone one that rolled off the line in 1993. That power, in classic Audi fashion, was split between all four wheels via a six-speed manual, the only transmission choice.
The RS 2 Avant’s power figures don’t just look good on paper, though. Thanks to that output, the cult fav could accelerate from zero to 62 mph in just 4.8 seconds. Top speed was just as impressive, with the five-door capable of reaching an electronically limited 163 mph. The latter figure made the RS 2 Avant the world’s fastest wagon at the time of its release, as well as the fastest Audi (it was the first of the brand’s vehicles to break the 250 km/h, or 155.3 mph, barrier).
Only Audi would view a wagon, almost certainly the most sensible class of vehicle, as the key to changing the way people view it. But, as counterintuitive as the move may have seemed at the time, it worked.
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As Rare in 1994 as It Is Today
Image Credit: Bring a Trailer There are two ways for an automaker to ensure that a vehicle will still be coveted years after the last example rolls off the line. The first is to make something special, which the RS 2 Avant is. The second is to keep production limited.
The performance wagon was in production from March 1994 to July 1995. During those 16 months, just 2,891 examples were built, which was more than originally intended. But this wasn’t the only reason the RS 2 Avant was so hard to find back in the day. It wasn’t really sold outside of Europe, except for a limited number of examples that were shipped to Brazil, Hong Kong, New Zealand, and South Africa. You’ll notice that both Canada and the U.S. are missing from that list. As a result, the wagon has only recently made its way to North America, having only become eligible to be imported over the last decade. Because of this, you can expect an example in decent condition to cost as much or more than its original $60,000 sticker price on the rare occasion one hits the open market. And don’t be surprised to see a particularly well-maintained example command a six-figure fee.
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A Legacy That Lives on to This Day
Image Credit: Audi More than three decades have passed since the RS 2 Avant launched and, unsurprisingly, a lot has changed in that time. As revered as it may be, the wagon’s numbers, like that of so many vehicles from before the turn of the century, look downright pokey—especially when compared to today’s Audi wagons. The brand’s sole 2025 sports wagon is the RS 6 Avant Performance, is his powered by a twin-turbocharged 4.0-liter V-8 that makes 621 hp and 617 ft lbs of torque, making it twice as powerful as the RS 2 Avant. Even the less powerful A6 Allroad makes 335 hp.
Of course, were it not for the RS 2 Avant, it’s fully possible neither of those models, nor any other of today’s performance wagons, would even exist.
