Can Quattro Make A 4,600 Pound Long-Wheelbase Diesel Luxury Sedan A Rally God?

There’s no way that a 4,500 pound long-wheelbase diesel-powered luxury sedan from a decade ago could be any good at rallying, right? It’d be too big and heavy, plodding around the rally stage like a depressed elephant, though maybe its aluminum-intensive construction will give it an edge? 

Would you be surprised if I told you that this 2014 Audi A8 L TDI–a car with the same 3-liter diesel found in my Porsche Cayenne–was faster on stage than a Porsche Cayman S, a Toyota GR Corolla, or a 700-horsepower Ram TRX? Prepare to be surprised, and watch the video below from Team O’Neil for all the goods. 

As it turns out, the old-school Quattro mechanical all-wheel drive and Torsen differentials in this monster, paired with a good set of grippy winter tires, make all the difference. 

We didn’t get the more powerful diesel V8s that Europe enjoyed, with its 346 horsepower and an impressive 590 lb-ft, but the so-called Clean Diesel Quattros got the North America-approved 3.0-liter TDI V6 which made a not-insubstantial 247 horsepower and 406 lb-ft of torque. That’s enough to shift the big sedan from 0-60 on dry ground in just 6.2 seconds, so it may be a large machine, but it’ll still get a little boogie on.

Part of this car’s speed comes down to Team O’Neil’s driving instructor and the guy with the rally chops, Wyatt Knox. He might have been able to stretch even a little bit more speed out of it if he had been paddle shifting the car and anticipating the lag a little better. Might it have been able to beat a Tuthill-built rally-spec Porsche? Maybe if Wyatt ever changed out of his hiking boots. 

“Turbo lag is a real thing. It is often hunting between gears and that kind of stuff,” Knox said. “But considering it was never really designed with snow rally racing in mind I’d say it did just fine.”