Have you ever noticed how it feels like engine choices are more homogeneous than ever? Just about every automaker under the sun builds a two-liter turbocharged four-cylinder engine, three-liter boosted sixes are common across the board, and thanks to cars like the Corvette Z06 and Mercedes-AMG GT Black Series, flat-plane crank V8s are no longer the domain of Ferrari. At the same time, we’ve lost the V10 entirely, the number of new cars available with V12s is dwindling, and now the five-cylinder engine in the Audi RS 3 is facing potential extinction.
As Australian outlet Drive reports, there’s now a likely end date for the last car to feature a five-cylinder engine, and not only does it fall in line with European emissions regulation changes, it’s been delivered by Audi’s CEO.
“No, right now the five-cylinder will probably end with Euro 7,” Audi global CEO Gernot Dollner told Australian media at the Munich motor show.
Well, that’s a whole lot more decisive than the industry standard of not commenting on future product plans, and it came straight from the guy in charge of the brand. Given that Euro 7 emissions standards for cars already on sale before November 2026 are expected to kick in for November 2027, that may only give us about two years to enjoy the last mass-produced five-cylinder engine on sale. Thankfully, it’s a good one.
As five-cylinder engines are theoretically a happy medium between the packaging of an inline-four and the power of an inline-six, it shouldn’t be surprising to learn that the RS3 is potent. Thanks to forced induction, it draws 394 horsepower out of 2.5 liters of displacement—lower specific output than the four-cylinder Mercedes-AMG CLA 45 S, but with a far broader torque curve. Peak twist of 369 lb.-ft. happens at just 2,250 RPM, and in a truly compact body, the result is a car that flies. We’re talking zero-to-60 MPH in the neighborhood of 3.5 seconds, a top speed as high as 180 MPH with the box for the Dynamic Plus package ticked, and available carbon ceramic brakes to haul everything back down again.
Of course, it helps that Audi’s current five-cylinder engine draws inspiration from the V10 used in the R8 supercar. The cylinder heads between the two engines are substantially similar, and the 92.8 mm stroke is identical. Plus, five-cylinder engines just sound magnificent uncorked. They’re characteristically harmonious owing to the sound interval they produce, closer to a V10 in that aspect than any other engine configuration.
However, if the straight-five in the RS 3 does rev off into heaven come 2027, it’s reportedly not going quietly. Drive reports that a final, special-edition RS 3 is in the works, just to send things over the edge. What about that rumor that a special Volkswagen Golf R will also get the straight-five? I guess we’ll just have to see, won’t we?
Top graphic image: Audi
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