- 7/8/2025
It’s super station wagon versus super station wagon in this battle of Bavarian heavyweights
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00:00Hi there, I'm Jonny Lieberman, you're watching Motor Trend and welcome to the wonderful world
00:06of wagons.
00:16Heavyweight, high performance German station wagons to be exact.
00:26On my left, we have a 2025 Audi RS6 Performance Avant, and on my right, and for the first time
00:33ever in the United States of America, a BMW M5 Touring, or as I like to call them, station
00:39wagons.
00:40Under the hood of the Audi sits a 4-liter twin-turbo V8.
00:45In performance, guys, it makes 621 horsepower, 627 pound-feet of torque.
00:51The BMW has a 4.4-liter twin-turbo V8 and a plug-in hybrid system, which means the total
00:58system output is 717 horsepower and 738 pound-feet of torque.
01:05Both have 8-speed automatic transmissions.
01:06Both have all-wheel drive.
01:08Both have rear steer, and both have huge carbon ceramic brake rotors.
01:12They also both start life at about $130,000.
01:16However, as it sits, the BMW is $1.40, and the Audi is priced at $167,000.
01:22Yeah, you could get it for less, but it wouldn't have things like the carbon ceramic rotors,
01:28which for our comparison test, you want.
01:30Elephant in the room is the BMW because it weighs over 5,400 pounds.
01:34However, I should point out that the Audi, despite not being able to drive 25 miles in
01:39pure electric mode, it weighs 4,800 pounds, so it's not like it's light.
01:44You got to think of these two as offensive linemen, right?
01:46One weighs 295 pounds.
01:48The other is 320.
01:50They're both humongous.
01:53Several questions jump to mind.
01:54The first one being, is the Audi worth the $27,000 hike up from the BMW?
02:00The second question is, is there another German wagon which might be a better alternative?
02:06But the real question is, which one of these station wagons should you buy?
02:10That's what we're going to find out.
02:14Before we start driving, I thought we'd take a moment and talk about design because when
02:20the RS6 came out, it was as much of a design statement as anything else, and it's still
02:24a very good-looking automobile.
02:27And if you're like me, you just watched Tom Hardy's bad dude character drive one around
02:31London in that show, Mobland, where it just looked absolutely fantastic.
02:35This one might look even better in Ascari blue.
02:38Up front, it's a giant Audi grill.
02:40They pioneered it.
02:41They're sticking with it.
02:42It's starting to look a bit stale, mate, but okay.
02:45Very good-looking.
02:46I just, my only problem is this here D-pillar, and it's like, it's too raked.
02:52It's too coupe-like, you know, I'm seeing like Q8s, I'm seeing Cayenne coupe, I'm seeing,
02:59dare I say, Toyota Venza.
03:01Whereas the M5, well, this is like a good station wagon shape.
03:05You know what I mean?
03:06This looks the part.
03:07And from the side, it's a very handsome car.
03:11That said, from the front, especially when you push into the details, BMW, I don't know
03:15why, but they've lost the ability to design a handsome face, and take it from somebody
03:21who knows a lot about unhandsome faces, you know, the Audi, while kind of stale, kind
03:26of old school, it's a better mug.
03:29And I think we can all agree the Audi is a prettier car, but I feel the BMW M5 Touring
03:34works better as a wagon.
03:36Do you like Audis?
03:41Because let me tell you something, this drives like an Audi, RS6 Avant.
03:46A couple of years ago, we did a comparison test.
03:49We had the Porsche Panamera wagon, we had the Mercedes AMG E63 wagon, and we had the RS6 Avant
03:56wagon.
03:58And I got to be very blunt with you, and you can go back and look at the tape, but RS6 was
04:03last place with a bullet.
04:05We just couldn't keep up.
04:06I mean, literally, whoever was driving in the Audi could not keep up with the other two.
04:10We had three very good drivers, but it was just all over the place.
04:15Sort of the same old Audi story, at least for their gasoline-powered cars.
04:21As much as I hate to still say it all these years later, it's front-wheel-drive based.
04:26The big V8 is in front of the front axle, and so when you get past, like, eight tenths,
04:32you just get into understeer.
04:34It's the same old story.
04:36I will say, though, with the RS6's performance, it seems that, I don't know, they changed something
04:41up where it's not doing it quite as much, which is nice.
04:44I think maybe the rear steering helps mitigate understeer a bit.
04:48As far as how it drives, I'm in full dynamic mode.
04:54It's a pretty chop-chop-chop ride.
04:56Not brutal or anything, but it's a busy ride.
04:59Steering is weighted very nicely.
05:01I really like the steering feel of the Audi, especially compared to the feel of the BMW, but
05:07I will say the damping, the body control in the RS6, it leaves something to be desired,
05:13especially, again, we'll look at that M5 in a second.
05:17You will hit bumps, and you're just dealing with it more than you are in the other car,
05:22but more importantly, when you go around a sharp corner, it just gives some, like, secondary,
05:28kind of, I don't know, dolphin-y movement.
05:31You move around a lot in the car.
05:33Also, the seats, I will say, first thing, the seats in this car look fantastic, gorgeous-looking
05:40seats.
05:41The BMW seats, though, they are a level up.
05:44These just have, I don't know, they feel a price category down, if that makes sense.
05:50Yeah, there's just something kind of lackadaisical about the shifts, and it's just not as snappy
05:56as I felt in this transmission being, I mean, I felt it in, like, the S8, it's a snappier
06:01iteration of this transmission, so, you know, I believe the BMW and the Audi, it's the same
06:06transmission, just that the Bavarians, actually, they're both Bavarian, but BMW has done a better
06:12job of programming the transmission than Audi has.
06:17All right, so what's it like to drive the Audi RS6?
06:21Well, it's a little busy.
06:23It gets kind of tossed around quite a bit, as we established, it's a heavy car, it's not
06:30on air suspension or anything like that, and, yeah, the damping is just, I don't know,
06:35it lets the car get thrown a bit.
06:37Not so much even the bumps, but it's more like when you enter a turn, it kind of, like,
06:42leans and leans and leans back, and so you kind of have these, like, secondary, tertiary
06:46movements where, you know, instead of just being able to concentrate on the turn, you're
06:50just like, whoa, whoa, whoa, you know, that sort of thing.
06:54Not bad, per se, just get out, we'll make a comparison test here, and the M5 does not
07:00do that.
07:01Now, the M5 also doesn't ride as harsh as this, it's a bit of a choppy ride.
07:06In dynamic mode, I do like what they've done with the steering feel, it feels great, however,
07:11as I've been saying for way too many years, most Audis, the one that's powered by gasoline,
07:16at least, the engines are too far forward.
07:19They're in front of the front axle, that means they're in front of the wheels doing the steering,
07:24that means that they fight polar inertia, they don't want to go left or right naturally.
07:30They've done a great job masking it, the rear steer does help, I think it's better here
07:35in the performance than the regular RS6, but you get past eight tenths and it still wants
07:42to understeer, and it's just something that the M5 doesn't do.
07:46Then the price, $167,000 for the car that I'm driving.
07:51That's a lot, oof, would I pay that for this Audi?
07:56So to sum up the Audi RS6 Performance Avant, big improvement over the original RS6 that we
08:04got here in the States five or six years ago.
08:06This one drives much better.
08:08A lot of what I've complained traditionally about Audis and plowing the nose through corners
08:14is fixed by the rear steer, power's great, handling's pretty damn good, it's fun.
08:20So yeah, I'm into it, but that said, let's go see what that BMW M5 Touring is all about.
08:27We're going to start with this one.
08:38I think what we need to understand about the M5 Touring is that BMW really erred on the side
08:46of luxury.
08:48This is a luxury machine that happens to perform really, really well.
08:53It's very comfortable, I like the interior of the Audi, although it's a bit dated.
08:58I really prefer the interior of the BMW, one exception.
09:04The screen, I don't want to talk about how it works or anything like that, just the integration,
09:08like yeah, it's a curved screen, which was exciting a few years ago, but it's just sort
09:13of glued onto the dash.
09:15There is a better way to integrate it, Rivian.
09:19That's the only thing.
09:20Other than that, I really dig this interior.
09:22I love high contrast leather like this.
09:25And again, just the comfort levels, the ride quality, just it rides wonderfully.
09:31And then straight line, not only doesn't make more power than RS6, but because of the hybrid
09:40motor, you just floor it any time you want, any gear you want, and just go, no relay, it's
09:47rapid, it's instant.
09:49Look, I'm sure the turbo's got a spool, and I'm sure the transmission's got a kick down a
09:54gear or two, but you'd never know it from behind the wheel.
09:57It just motors ahead, which is awesome.
10:00And then in terms of handling, it's really good.
10:05And remember something, I want to just take a moment and point this out.
10:09This is the M5.
10:12There will be an M5 competition.
10:14There will be an M5 CS.
10:15Sort of know how these manufacturers think these days.
10:19So this is going to be the softer, least sporty of the big sporty M5 models, but this is just
10:25tremendous.
10:26And again, I'm going to stress the luxury part because again, they are luxury cars.
10:31The A6, the 5 Series, they're premium luxury cars.
10:35And this one, like it's crazy.
10:37It's got a really squeaky seat for some reason.
10:40I would take it to the dealer and say, make it stop squeaking.
10:42However, at 100 miles an hour, I can still hear this squeaking because it's just calm and
10:48quiet in the air.
10:49From the driver's seat, it feels quicker than the Audi is, especially in real world situations,
10:54not in long situations because you're just able to hammer down and you got the electric
10:59motor.
11:00Definitely prefer the way this thing goes around corners to the Audi.
11:03I like the ride quality of this better.
11:05I think it sounds better.
11:06Brakes work better.
11:09Amazing, but true.
11:11This is an athlete, a big athlete, but an athlete.
11:16Wow.
11:17Yeah.
11:18The real difference if you do drive your cars and again, you know, is everyone going to
11:23pound their performance wagons and canyons like this?
11:26I doubt it.
11:28But if you do, not a lick, not a hint of understeer, the M5 just figures it out.
11:35It just loves to go around corners.
11:39This is a pretty cruddy road in terms of bumps.
11:44Funny, on flat pavement where we initially reviewed the vehicles, this was moving around less
11:51in the corners than the Audi was.
11:53However, on a bumpier road like this, it again, I think it's just because it's a more luxurious
12:00tune.
12:01How do I put this?
12:03It's a more severe move.
12:05It's dealt with quicker.
12:06The event is done faster than the Audi, but this is feeling the bumps a little bit more.
12:12So point for the Audi, maybe.
12:16Other cool thing about the M5 Touring is if you want, you can switch to rear drive.
12:23You don't have to stay in all wheel drive.
12:27And again, that's one of the many advantages of basing your car on a rear drive platform
12:32instead of a front drive platform.
12:34You're able to do that.
12:36Let's just tally this up a little bit.
12:38Okay.
12:39We know the BMW costs much less in this case, you know, $27,000 less.
12:44It's a better luxury vehicle with a much better seat.
12:48It's a better quartering vehicle.
12:50It's a better car in terms of acceleration in the real world.
12:54You launch full of these, Audi's got a launch mode.
12:57They're about the same in a straight line, but in the real world, you just hammer down on
13:01the same thing and you're going because of the electric motor.
13:04Even if you look at what the Brits call the boot, the back, right?
13:07The hatch.
13:08When you lift that up, you can just see that the BMW is wider.
13:12It's got a more useful luggage compartment.
13:14So, you know, again, I think the RS6 is a big improvement over what came before, but this M5 Touring is really good.
13:26And therefore, and this comes as something of a surprise to me, but the winner of this particular
13:33MotoTrain comparison test is the 2025 BMW M5 Touring.
13:41What a wonderful wagon.
13:45Hey, so if you made it this far, yay, that's great because you love wagons just like we do.
13:51And if you remember, when we started this video, there was a third German sporty wagon.
13:57That's right, the Porsche.
13:59And why'd we have it?
14:00Well, you know, it's a MotoTrain.
14:02We do a lot of testing.
14:03And how can we do the same week as the Audi and the BMW?
14:06And we said, well, the more wagons, the better.
14:09Now, it's not a direct competitor.
14:11It is all electric.
14:13However, we said, you know what?
14:15Let's just throw it on camera, see what's what.
14:17So here's a little clip to show you how it compares against the RS6 and the M5 Touring.
14:26Ooh.
14:28Okay.
14:29I'm in the 2025 Porsche Taycan Cross Turismo Turbo S.
14:36Looks like a thousand horsepower and it can go off road.
14:40Is this the ultimate high-performance driven wagon?
14:43No.
14:44No, it's not.
14:46First things first, they got rid of the Sport Turismo, which was the normal Taycan wagon.
14:52Now, it's only the Cross Turismo.
14:54And that's a bummer.
14:55It's just not.
14:56Now, look, for a lot of people, they're sort of like never EV folks under any circumstances.
15:01I am not that person.
15:03But as good as this is, and it's good, no, I would totally have the BMW over this.
15:08RS6 need to drive them back to back more.
15:12But yeah, you know, I've just never been the world's biggest Taycan fan.
15:15And while the refresh is great and the range has improved and the power's up and all that,
15:20I'm just still not the biggest Taycan fan.
15:23I am, however, a massive, as I mentioned, RS e-tron GT fan.
15:27And if Audi could figure out a wagon version of that.
15:34Thanks for watching, everybody.
15:36Like, share, subscribe, and we'll catch you on the next one.
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