Audi-Porsche RS2 Avant and Porsche 911 Turbo: Rebels

23 March 2018 Redazione News, Vintage, Your Cars

Words: Alessandro Marrone

Photography: Giorgia Rossi – Alessandro Marrone

REBELS.

A blessing for those who hate half measures. Now tell me something better than the mother of all the super-Avant and a Porsche that wants to make your parents cry of anxiety every time you take the keys and go for a drive. Thanks to two readers – Matteo and Daniele – we find ourselves on the elegant and silent shores of Lake Orta with two cars so apparently different from each other, but that are actually close relatives and not only because they share a tough character and that does not accept compromises, but because daughters of two projects with a common purpose, entertainment. They scare a little, no doubt, but they’re always ready to draw a smile from ear to ear on your face.

Whether they are placed side by side, facing each other or in any other way your imagination can figure, a profane will never understand what binds these two sports cars: the RS2 Avant is an estate that features numerous stylistic bits (and not only), but that intends to maintain a subdued look, despite the brilliance of that unmistakable RS blue. On the other hand, the 964 series 911 Turbo is like having a bipolar girlfriend with a pierced face at the first dinner with your parents. Unpredictable, low, wide, with a dark (midnight blue metallic) paint that seduces with reflections and games of light that blend in a warm early winter sun, and you always end up looking at the rear, that huge spoiler that overhangs a tail that makes the butt of a normal 911 a distant memory that you will not even be able to focus. Each speech will always end up praising the aerodynamic exasperation in favor of cornering and at the time the 964 entered the market, was certainly not as surgically precise as that of the 911 we have today. Woe to underestimate THE Turbo, especially if you have family and do not plan to abandon it to go check the roots of the trees. The well-known turbo lag then represents that blow in the back that brings you almost thirty years in the past, where to drive this type of car you needed two XXL size attributes.

MEET THE HEROES.

It was the early 90s and Audi was carrying on the P1 project, what would later become RS2 and completed with Porsche. It is basically an 80 Avant that borrows small but important details from the Porsche catalog, such as rear-view mirrors, the lower optics groups sunk in the front bumper, 17-inch Carrera Cup wheels and brake calipers. But what differentiates an RS2 Avant from a simple 80 Avant lies under the bonnet, a 2,2cc turbocharged 5-cylinder, capable of delivering 316 horses and 410Nm of torque, of course on both axles, driven by the now iconic four-wheel drive Quattro system through a 6-speed manual transmission. The Audi engine was heavily revised by Porsche, with the replacement of the KKK turbo with a larger one, the use of a Bosch electronic control unit and other interventions that were able to radically transform the essence of the heart and soul of this machine. Here, having overcome the first moments of contemplation and admiration, I begin to mentally point out the aesthetic details that these two cars have in common. The 911 is the purest Porsche Turbo you will ever find: analog and completely dedicated to making you physically ill if you only thought of putting it to the test, it must be respected and approached with caution. The 6-cylinder hanging behind the rear axle is a 3.3 with 320-hp and an immense turbo. The car weighs nearly a ton and a half with the driver on board, and everything else depends only on how much pressure is exerted on the throttle. Once the self-preservation threshold has been left behind, the fun begins, a mad race against everything that is rational and that surrounds us today, especially in the sports car segment. There is no way to train it, the almighty Turbo is the evil and more secret side of any true self-respecting hero. The RS2 Avant has kicked off a generation of high-performance wagons, culminated today with the new RS4 and RS6, authentic instruments of destruction perfectly able to adapt to daily living and bring your family on every sort of holiday in the mountains. Even 25 years ago there was room for five people, for lots of luggage and the desire to enrich the interior with leather and carbon fiber. The feeling is that of an old-school car, with a well-finished three-spoke steering wheel, but without superfluous buttons, a slim and long-stroke gear lever, three pedals with reduced dimensions and vertical air vents. There is everything you need for justifying the purchase to your wife, so relax.

ROAD TO MOTTARONE.

After the classic photos a few steps from the lake, finally it comes the moment that I was waiting for, to start the engines and head towards a road that is able to enhance the dynamic qualities of these rebel hearts. We leave Orta San Giulio pointing for the Mottarone, a tangle of curves wide enough to promise shameful testosterone doses. After all, both were created with the primary objective of satisfying those who hold the steering wheel in their hands. Not a moment of uncertainty to follow the look of complicity between Matteo and Daniele, which begins the climb of the first kilometers, those where you press the throttle to the floor, but without even fumbling with the gearbox, almost to maintain a clean conscience for a few minutes more. Just the time to have the perfect certainty that the liquids are hot enough and the road widens, on the long sides walls of trees alternate with blond fields that offer perfect visibility towards the exit of every corners. The RS2 Avant is angry, it is not hard to bring it up to speed, but the real fun comes when the turbo really comes into play and seems having pressed a magic button that makes you splash against the seat. The gas pedal travels a bit too much and you have to get used to it, as happens also for an amazing behavior when you approach a tight corner faster than you wanted to and without excessive understeer. The 316-hp are not comparable to the more than 500 we are accustomed today with the grandchildren from the same brand, but torque is always generous and the reduced weight helps to make the driving experience spasmodic as you ever imagined. Even brakes are powerful and after getting a little ‘familiar with the situation, you really realize that this blue estate is more Porsche than Audi. The 911 Turbo is a different pair of hands, it does not allow distractions and does not let you relax until you turn off the engine and get out of the car, but the best part is just that, because there will be no day without learning something new . Even its 6-cylinder suffers from a logical delay in delivery, and in this case you’ll be tinkering with the gears more frequently than you do with the RS2, perhaps because you’re practically sitting on the ground, or maybe because you can’t trust your hearing, but learn to change by taking a look at the revs counter and so you realize that the real fun begins halfway to the top.

They’re not two exhibitionists looking for glances, but at about 1,492 meters, anyone approaching asks intrigued what is the link between a Porsche and an almost 30 years old Audi. I smile and try to explain in a nutshell that we are dealing with the experience and heritage preserved and evolved according to the rules imposed by modern automotive industry. It’s not easy to explain that sitting behind the wheel, or just on the side of the road – maybe crouched in the grass – at every curve is like seeing your superhero signing autographs. Each movement is special and embodies a set of meanings that unite the instant classics enthusiast with the modern sports cars passionate. And because shivers always spring for a good reason, the phenomenal numbers that define their performance are the right closure of the circle compared to a total involvement. The RS2 Avant takes just half a second more on the 0-100 (5.4 seconds instead of the 5 of the Turbo), while top speed is for both above 250 kph (262 for the Avant and 272 for the 911).

ETERNAL GLORY.

Time to cool the brakes and blanch our spirits, with such toys it is easy to get carried away and do damage. If you are lucky enough to drive one and you are getting comfortable with its mechanical nature, just pause. Thinking of knowing the limits of these two would be the biggest mistake you could make. But at the end of the day, entering the garage and covering them with a cloth will give you the same complacency that a parachute jump could do – you risked and you came home, all in one piece. And the mysteries of the human being that lead you to live something extreme, just to feel alive, will be the same that will ensure that the next weekend you will be back among the hairpins, busy running on that border that divides the common mortals from the heroes. Both represent the beginning and the end of an era, the one made up of analog sports cars, imperfect but exceptionally alive and which gave the world very fast cars suitable to carry the whole family in the first case, evolving the timeless shape of one of the most successful models of all time for the second, pushing its crazy performance further. Who knows if thirty years ago people looked at them the same way, what I am sure is that now these two heroes are jealously cuddled and by this I mean that are lived on the right roads, those that smell of adventure.