2018 Audi RS4 Avant takes on the Nordschleife – video
Alright, so it's not a record breaker, but RS4 still makes for good viewing around the Green Hell.
The SUV craze has diminished the public's appetite for wagons, but a few holdouts still offer properly hot load-luggers. BMW has axed the M3 Estate, but Audi has carried on its tradition for practical performance with the latest RS4.
Power comes from a twin-turbo 2.9-litre V6 pumping out 331kW and 600Nm, hooked up to a quattro all-wheel drive system. It'll hit 100km/h in a claimed 4.1 seconds, and keeps pulling through to 280km/h with the right options boxes ticked. Not slow by any measure.
German magazine Sport Auto was clearly keen to see how those number translate on the Green Hell, and sent Christian Gebhardt out (accompanied by a proper data tracker and a handful of cameras) to see what the RS4 could do.
The result was a 7:58.52 lap. It's not going to break any records, then: the Alfa Romeo Giulia QV almost cracked 7:30 on the sedan front, while the Mercedes-AMG E63 S Estate and its 7:45.19 time are the marker for wagons.
Even so, kick back and enjoy the sound and sights of a fast car going, well, fast around a track.