popular science

State

of the

Art by ANTHONY FORDHAM

Less Engine,

More Shove

YOU HAVE TO FEEL SORRY FOR FANS OF
the big V8. When government legislators -
especially in Europe - came for their beloved
donks, in the name of reducing emissions
mostly, it was a sad day indeed. But at least
the V8 fan could put on a sad face and mourn
the loss of all that grunt and shove. The world
might be saved, but cars would never go that
hard again. There would be no more monsters.
Engineers, meanwhile, gave the V8 fans a
puzzled look and got on with the job of creat-
ing even more insanely powerful engines with
fewer cylinders and less displacement.
Here’s one of the latest examples: the 2018
Audi RS5. This top-shelf grand tourer used
to have a 4.2LV8, which produced 331kW of

power and 420Nm of torque. Those are big

numbers, even in a $160,000+ car. But two

other numbers ran afoul of the quest to cut

emissions: 10.5 and 24.6. That’s litres of petrol

consumed and kilograms of CO 2 emitted, per

100km, respectively.

So to the horror of V8 fans, Audi replaced

the 4.2L with a 2.9L twin-turbo V6.

Except the V6 still makes 331kW, while a

combination of turbos and computerised fuel

management boost torque to a face-melting

600Nm. That means 0-100 falls from 4.

seconds to 3.9 seconds, and all the shouting

is available much lower in the rev-range too:

peak power at 5700rpm vs 8250, and peak

torque from 1900 vs 4000.

As for emissions, fuel consumption drops to

8.8L/100km and CO 2 to 199g (per kilometre).

So it’s pretty clear that the new V6 is a

more sophisticated piece of technology, a

better engine in every way. Except it doesn’t

sound as cool as a V8. As if that matters.

Indeed, the V8 has been a useful tool:

lots of power from a relatively mechanical-

ly-simple package. But like the straight-eight

before it, for sheer grunt, we just don’t need it

anymore. Let’s allow it to retire, with dignity,

to where all high-capacity high-cylinder-count

engines eventually go: behind the bald spot of

a supercar driver.

Where it can listen to him whinge about

how it’s not a V12. PHOTOGRAPH BY MARK BRAMLEY

Unlike Porsche, Audi does

allow its owners to actually

see the engine of their car

(the plastic cover comes

off). But like Porsche,

attempting to wrench this

wired-with-explosives

supercomputer yourself is

not recommended.

20 POPULAR SCIENCE