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After trying for a few months to shift this RS4 over $40,000 back in the Spring, this awesome original Avus Pearl Audi RS4 is back on the market at a discount. The seller’s highest auction bidding reached $26,000 but failed to hit the reserve. Now it’s back up for sale at $36,000. For our friends in the Great White North, this car offers a lot of future collectability but for U.S. fans, you’ll have to go through some Federalization work to get it here. The good news is that others have already done this, so it is possible to bring this Euro-only wunderwagon stateside. While $36,000 sounds like a lot, the hand-built, exclusive nature of the RS4 coupled with performance that is still not far from cutting edge the best part of two decades later seems like a deal. However, since no one has snapped this one up it would seem to indicate the lack of appreciation for the RS4 at this current time – surprising, since we’ve seen replica RS-inspired models in the U.S. come close to the asking price. Is it just that it hasn’t been brought to the U.S. yet?
The below post originally appeared on our site February 3, 2016:
Although Audi had launched the idea of the super wagon with the RS2, by the late 1990s they didn’t have anything near as impressive. Sure, the S4 Avant was quick, but with 250 horsepower it was substantially less powerful than the 315 horsepower RS2 and the 322 horsepower S6 Plus. Something needed to be done to live up to the reputation of quattro GmbH, and that something involved Cosworth. Taking the basic twin turbocharged V6 from the B5 S4, Cosworth Technologies thoroughly rebuilt the motor. Now dubbed the ASJ (later AZR), the power went up 50% to 375 horsepower with an equally impressive 325 lb.ft of torque. To match the performance of the motor, quattro GmbH introduced new bodywork that channeled some of the trends set by the RS2; larger vents on the front bumper, wider sills, and larger brakes and wheels. The result was a package that lived up to the “RS” moniker with sub 5-second 0-60 runs, a 160 m.p.h. top speed, but also the brakes and grip to compete with contemporary sports cars. It may not have had the mystique of the RS2 without the name Porsche, but it was a package that was just as desirable then as it is today:
