Quicker Audi RS5 Coupe here mid-year

AUDI Australia has confirmed a quicker, more efficient RS5 Coupe will follow next week’s facelifted A5 range on sale here within months.

First revealed in Europe late last year, the upgraded version of Audi’s direct rival to BMW’s manic M3 Coupe will come with the same revisions as the mainstream 2012 A5 Coupe, Cabriolet and Sportback models that will be released here next week.

They include fresh cosmetics, revised lighting, a more efficient electromechanical power steering system and more equipment, but no changes to the RS5 Coupe’s berserk R8 V10-related 4.2-litre direct-injection V8, which continue to punch out some 331kW at a stratospheric 8250rpm and 430Nm between 4000 and 6000rpm.

Despite that, Audi says the new-look RS5 Coupe, which will be joined by the mechanically identical new RS4 Avant here by early next year, sprints to 100km/h one-tenth quicker than before in 4.5 seconds, on its way to a 250km/h top speed – 280km/h if the electronic limiter is unplugged.

The revised RS5 Coupe also carries over its standard seven-speed S-tronic dual-clutch automated manual transmission with steering wheel paddle shifters and an automatic launch control function, and its quattro all-wheel drive system that can distribute up to 70 per cent of engine torque to the front wheels and 85 per cent to the rear, with a rear-biased default setting of 60 per cent.

First deliveries will hit the UK in April, with Australian sales due about two months later, by which time pricing and local equipment details will be revealed. The RS5 Coupe currently costs $175,300 plus on-road costs here.

“The (upgraded) RS5 Coupe will reach Australia around mid-year and we’ll announce pricing and specification closer to its arrival,” said Audi Australia spokesman Shaun Cleary.

Apart from the same fuel-saving electric power steering set-up as the rest of the 2012 A5 range - which reduces average CO2 emissions from the RS5 Coupe by six grams per 100km, from 252 to 246g/km – key changes in the RS5’s midlife makeover include subtle new design changes inside and out.

Styling updates include a new-look front-end comprising shapelier headlights with standard Xenon Plus beams, framed by LED daytime running lights. The single-frame grille now features bevelled upper corners and a high-gloss anthracite-grey honeycomb centre ringed by a matt-aluminium-look frame, while the revised front bumper features larger air inlets, a racy splitter and silver lower ‘wing’.

More heavily flared aluminium front quarter panels bookend a new bonnet with shaper surface ‘spears’, joined by edgier side skirts, matt-aluminium wing mirror scalps and window trims, new-colour LED tail-lights, a reprofiled rear bumper and new oval-shaped exhaust outlets at either side of the rear-end.

Completing the fresh look are new-design 19-inch forged aluminium wheels with 265/35-section tyres as standard in Europe. Larger 20-inch alloys with massive 175/30 tyres will be an option there.

Among a host of interior detail changes is a new leather-clad three-spoke multifunction steering wheel, while – at least overseas - the RS5 now gets Bluetooth, DVD satellite-navigation and an iPod connection as standard.

New European options include a Sport package that comprises Dynamic Ride Control, a sports exhaust, dynamic steering and 20-inch alloys.