RS4 Avant

Landing at Olbia with two children, four suitcases and a full set of beach kit usually means giving up on driving pleasure. The RS4 Avant flips the equation: you load everything into a boot of nearly 500 litres, settle the family across five genuine seats, and keep 450 hp for the road out to Capo Coda Cavallo. Collection happens right at the terminal, with the timings and steps explained in our guide to delivery at Olbia airport.

It is also the right car for those who actually live Sardinia rather than merely photograph it: the Thursday market in San Pantaleo, a day at La Cinta with parasols and paddleboards in the back, dinner in Porto Rotondo that same evening. Discreet in village traffic, razor-sharp once the provincial road empties. Guests based in Gallura will find delivery points and details on our Audi rental in Olbia page.

The RS4's 2.9 V6 has a different character from the RS family's five-cylinders: less theatrical, more torrential. Its two turbochargers nestle inside the vee of the engine, hard against the manifolds, so throttle response is immediate: the thrust arrives low like a rising tide and never lets up, while the soundtrack remains a well-mannered burble that only hardens into a growl past the midpoint of the rev counter.

The eight-speed tiptronic indulges this dual nature: soft and all but invisible in town, quick and emphatic once you select dynamic mode. The 4.1-second 0–100 km/h sprint plays out with the family on board and the luggage in the back, and over the crests of the Olbia–Arzachena road the body stays flat and composed, quattro all-wheel drive stitching one corner to the next without a moment's hesitation.

Audi created the high-performance estate category in the 1990s, and the RS4 Avant is its most rounded heir: not by chance is it built exclusively in this bodystyle today. The estate is not a variant of the model — it is the model. That means a low load sill, split-folding rear seats and rear glass that shades passengers from the Sardinian sun: details that count for as much as horsepower on holiday.

For couples who want more theatre than luggage space, the four-rings range offers alternatives of a very different cut: the full overview of available models is on our Audi rental in Sardinia page, from the compact five-cylinder to the 630 hp super-estate.