To call this car a “wagon” just seems wrong. Sure, it has the shape of an Audi RS6 wagon, but with the amount of power and torque it has, I am declaring this something more. When a 10 year old takes karate, his hands are called, hands. If you study it for 30 years, your hands are lethal weapons. A 9mm Glock, that shoots a bullet, is called a gun. But when the NAVY builds something that shoots 3,000lb. shells up to 26 miles, it’s called artillery. The Essing Diesel Tuning RS6 is just that; a 5-door, AWD piece of artillery.
Let me start by saying Essing Diesel Tuning is not the usual German tuner that has been stuffing big power into four-ringed grills since man learned he could pee standing up. They’re in the Netherlands; land of bikes, clogs, windmills, tulips…a bit different than Germany, no? They are are also known for their tolerance, a class Germany has to re-take. A shop building this in the Netherlands is like 2 guys in an apartment in San Francisco building the world’s biggest monster truck.
Essing is a partner in the Diesel Power Tuning network; a network of companies in Europe that sell plug-in ECUs to primarily improve your diesel car’s mileage and (seemingly by accident) get a little more power. Before that, they built kart and Formula 3000 engines. They now develop technology for Formula 1 teams like Ferrari and Honda. This type of engineering ability puts them at the highest level of technical ability, so tuning as RS6 would be a cake-walk. It caught owner Wim Essging’s eye, and he decided to do, “an extreme project.” Cool boss.
It started life as a simple (ha!) Audi RS6 Avant, but that ended quickly. Turbos have been on diesel engines since 1906, and with Essing’s racing-caliber ingenuity, the potential was huge. Essing pulled the engine and put on bigger turbos and ported the heads (among other tweaks). With a racing exhaust it produced 950hp and 711lb ft. of torque. 125mph is passed in 9.15s, and the estimate top speed is north of 236mph. It’s so powerful if they’re facing East when they floor it, Holland will be ripped away from continental Europe. When it shifts the waste-gate sounds like a mortar being launched. I think the wagon shape suits the power; it has the force of a missile, so why not look like one. Even if your first name is “BRABUS” the Essing Diesel Tuning RS6 will raise your eyebrows…when it passes you. Who knew there was this artillery under all those tulips.
