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01/02/2025
Ranking the 10 Best Audi Sport Models of All Time
Horch simply translated his family name into Latin, with Audi establishing itself as a force to be reckoned with at the International Austrian Alpine Rally. Come 1932, Audi merged with Horch, Wanderer, and DKW to form Auto Union. The resulting company blessed us car enthusiasts with the absolutely insane racing cars in the 1930s, boasting supercharged V16 and V12 engines.
In the aftermath of World War II, the German automaker didn’t offer too much in the way of sporty machines. The 100 Coupe and 100 Coupe S are two fine examples, but Audi wouldn’t get properly sporty until the 1980s with the Quattro’s rollout and founding of quattro GmbH.
Renamed Audi Sport GmbH in late 2016, the high-performance arm from Neckarsulm gave us a great number of iconic machines over the years. It was exceptionally hard to choose 10 for this ranking, which kicks off with a vehicle that many peeps don’t know that it was developed by the mad professors at Audi Sport.
Arguably the most leftfield series-production automobile of the 10 that we’re picked for this feature, the Q7 V12 TDI quattro also happens to pack the largest engine of the bunch. It’s also the torquiest, as expected of a 5.9-liter turbo diesel V12. The badge on the liftgate may read 6.0, but it actually displaces 5,934 cubic centimeters.
Loosely inspired by the diesel engine technology proven in endurance racing by the R10 TDI racecar, the twin-turbo mill was originally rated at 500 ps (make that 493 horsepower) and a mammoth 1,000 Nm (738 pound-feet) of torque. By comparison, the 48V-assisted V8 turbo diesel in the SQ7 TDI is good for up to 435 ps (429 horsepower) and 900 Nm (664 pound-feet) fully stock.
The world’s only series-production passenger vehicle to flaunt a V12 diesel needs a scant 5.5 seconds from a standstill to 100 kilometers per hour (62 miles per hour) according to Audi, which had to revise the Q7’s suspension and brakes for this powerplant. Audi inte
