SMOKE SCREEN

The new 630bhp, V6 hybrid Audi RS5 has arrived... but can torque and smoking tyres really mask a 2.3-tonne weight?

- JASON BARLOW

Three years of German at school and all I can remember is, “Enschuldigung, meine spiegelei ist nicht dahr.” Excuse me, my fried egg isn't there. But here's a new term: drift winkel. New for me, new for Audi (unless you cast your mind back 45 years to Michèle Mouton in a Group B Quattro). It means 'drift angle', and the new RS5 has such a trick rear axle that it can get serious winkels on.

Indeed, TG is standing in a dusty street circuit on the outskirts of Marrakesh watching as RS vehicle dynamics wizard Roland Waschkau slaloms the car through cones, before donutting it back round in a cloud of tortured hydrocarbons.

Then it's our turn. The RS5, yours from £90,220, instantly feels gym honed and as hard as nails. Getting slidey still takes technique, though. The trick is to maintain momentum as the yaw increase, then give it the full send at the end. And it works: in RS 'torque rear' mode, it does a very accurate impression of a WRC car, Audi Sport boss Rolf Michl insists that this part of the car's armoury is purely for fun, and that it's unlikely many owners will bonfire their rear tyres like this. But there's a dashcam and onboard telemetry, so it's fun you can share if you're so minded.

We also get some laps on the track. It's tight and unforgiving, not the sort of place you'd bring a lardbucket of a car plagued with body control or understeer issues. Turns out that the RS5 will sit quite naturally on the edge of adhesion, allowing you to keep things nicely balanced on the throttle. The steering's 13:1 ratio means it's significantly faster than a standard A5, and it feels it. There's linearity and accuracy, a real sense of how hard the tyres are working. It's a car you can really work with, that's clear about its mission as the physical forces load up. Quite the makeover.