Audi RS5

According to Volkswagen Group’s chief designer Walter de’Silva, the Audi RS5 is the most beautiful car he has ever designed: “It’s elegant and powerful, yet free of aggression and arrogance.The latest RS model from Audi, the RS5 coupe, which joins the TTRS and RS6. It uses a new 4.2-litre naturally aspirated V8 with 444bhp and 317lb ft of torque.The motor, which revs to 8500rpm, is nearly 30bhp more powerful than the RS4’s engine and yet produces just 252g/km of CO2 against the old car's 324g/km. A C63 puts out 319g/km.

Audi’s first use of a self-locking crown-gear center differential, and it helps cut nearly seven pounds out of the drivetrain. The new center diff will make its way into other Quattro models as well, and it can direct up to 85 percent of the power to the rear wheels or up to 70 percent to the fronts as grip dictates. Under normal driving, the power distribution is split 40 percent to the front and 60 percent to the rear.

For the first time in an all-wheel-drive car, Audi has added a software-based, wheel-selective pseudo-torque-vectoring system. Based on inputs from the vehicle’s ESP system, it slightly applies the brakes to the inner front wheel during cornering to effectively curb understeer, a behavior long associated with Audis that was mitigated a bit by the more rearward position of the engine in the company’s latest longitudinal modular platform.

 Torque vectoring at the rear is handled mechanically by Audi’s optional sport differential, a heavy piece of hardware that nevertheless makes the car feel more light on its feet, shifting power from left to right in search of more grip and balance.