![]() ![]() And as fans of the E34 will know, the straight-six S38 motor was bumped from a 3.6L to a 3.8L in most markets (the US models of course retained the smaller motor throughout their brief run in part for emissions, and now Trump talks about the idea of clean coal, so go figure I guess). The E34 M5 began as a sedan, but as the Europeans love their wagons, MPVs, and really just about anything with a glass hatch instead of a metal trunk, the M5 line added its first wagon in 1992. That’s a lame pun, but not an inappropriate one. What Audi calls an Avant, BMW names a Touring, and this one was a tour de force. At the very least, this was Audi pulling up a chair the Sport Quattro was kind of a one-off, homologation special, but there was no “need” for the RS2, and that makes it important, in the wagon and the wider world.Ī few model years before the Audi above though, BMW’s M was also glued to the first wagon in their lineage. ![]() BMW had M cars before this, but I still think the RS2 can comfortably sit at the table of the forebears of the trifecta of M, AMG, and RS. And while there’s no lack of potency, of course ‘90s high-performance doesn’t stack up to today’s, and so the real lasting provenance-creating mark on history written by the RS2 is of the early and more blatant, distinctive days of the modern German hot rod. This took the form of things like helping Mercedes with the 500E, and of course, Audi with their RS2.Ī more fleshed-out writeup on this partnership’s creation can be found in the previously mentioned article-including photography of the car in its element in the Swiss Alps which could easily be mistaken for promotional material-so instead of talking again about which Carrera its wheels come from, I’ll skip the stat sheet. Of course even today’s diesel 5-Series Touring is pretty quick, but barring a few exceptions like the Audi RS and Mercedes AMG wagons, there aren’t many of these types of cars left on the road, but I suppose that only makes each sighting more exciting, if we’re going to put a positive spin on things.Ī few months back we featured a very clean example of Audi’s first go at RS’ing, and while that badge adorns all shapes and sizes now, its maiden voyage saw it slapped on the back of a station wagon, or as Audi alliterates, an “Avant.” As anyone who knows RS2s is already aware, this ‘roided rectangle wasn’t all Audi’s doing, as their pals from Porsche were going through a financial doldrum in the early/mid-‘90s, and so had begun farming out their talent to their fellow Germans. Sadly, I think the halcyon days of these kinds of cars are behind us (yes, I do in fact know about the RS6 and its ilk), and even those times were fleeting, as there was nothing truly quick until the early ‘90s (big blocks in earlier American road barges were more or less good for burnouts and not much else, let’s be honest). ![]() You can’t put baby seats in your typical “weekend toy,” but you can take the whole family to redline in a CTS V Sport Wagon, and sitting here writing this on the plane with a crying kid to my right and another kicking my seat from behind, the appeal of flooring one of these beasts and sending the brats flying into the trunk is even more appealing. The fact that the big car-producing continents-USA, Japan, and Europe-all have their own sports slabs is evidence of the universal appeal of combination over compromise, because packing big motors and substantial suspension into shapes designed for shopping is, in a way, a more genuine pairing of form and function than any traditionally pretty sports car. And on that note, rather than being upset that your favorite was “forgotten,” why not instead share why it tops your personal charts? Exclusions are not indictments. But only the high performance variants-while cars like the P1800ES are pretty, they can’t keep up with this list. Avants, Tourings, station wagons, estates, bricks: if it has a rear gate and the trailing three-quarters of the profile are more or less rectangular, it’s valid here. ![]()
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