Compared to many of those cars, the Audi RS 4 Avant almost seems like a sensible choice (it is a station wagon, after all). One of these über-wagons recently joined the Lake Illawarra Local Area Command (LAC) of the New South Wales Police Force in Australia.
The RS 4 Avant will be used by the police for a year, on a unique assignment. It will be used to highlight the police’s involvement in community and youth engagement programs, and to generally give the service a more friendly, approachable air. The car’s livery was even designed through a poll on Facebook.
Officials hope the car will “encourage people of all ages to introduce themselves to local police,” and help “start a conversation,” Superintendent Wayne Starling, Commander of the Lake Illawarra LAC, said in a statement.
That means Australian speed freaks can rest easy, because this particular performance car won’t be used for pursuit duty. With a 4.2-liter V8 producing 459 horsepower and 317 pound-feet of torque, the RS 4 Avant would probably be pretty good at that. Audi says it can do 0 to 60 mph in 4.7 seconds, and reach a top speed of 174 mph.
This version of the RS 4 isn’t long for this world. Audi is planning a new version based on the redesigned 2016 A4 that should debut sometime after that model. While there have been rumors that the RS 4 will ditch its naturally-aspirated V8 for a smaller turbocharged engine, nothing has been confirmed yet.
The next RS 4 Avant could also be the first version of the wagon sold in the U.S. Audi previously offered the RS 4 here, but only as a sedan.
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