The amazing sideways pleasure of the 450-hp Audi RS4 Avant beneath the Northern Lights is now available to everyone

Car aficionados always want to drive a quick, attractive, and appealing vehicle, so we were thrilled to get to test drive the Audi RS4 Avant recently. The location of the drive—Finland—turned out to be what really made the trip once in a lifetime. We recently discovered during the Audi Ice Drive in Lapland, close to the Swedish border, that a frozen lake and a frigid, white, and snow-covered Finland made the ideal playground for a performance-oriented car like the RS4.

If being more than 200 miles north of the Arctic Circle doesn’t sound remarkable, then something is definitely wrong!
Although we enjoyed driving on the roads, it wasn’t the main reason we were there. The actual cause was that we spent three days in a row drifting the RS4 Avant on a frozen lake! Our Audi instructors had made several courses for us on the ice lake with the assistance of several enormous tractors. These varied from simple ovals to lengthy, intricate courses that demanded peak performance from the driver and the vehicle to complete. If you’re wondering what happens if one of us screws up or thinks they’re a rally driver, the ice banks were made to withstand impact and guarantee that the car’s bodywork sustains as little damage as possible. Naturally, entering the snowbank meant that, in most instances, the automobile was beached. To get out of this situation, we had to call our buddy Yuka, who would arrive with his tractor and rescue us. However, calling him would have resulted in a punch to our name cards, and therefore, nobody wanted to be first on that list.
Ice Drive by Audi
When we drove out into the frozen lake for the first time, we saw right away that the automobile wanted to slide sideways, even at speeds as low as 60 kmph, thanks to frequent feedback from the instructors on the layout of the course. That’s how slick the hard ice was, and none of us could have gone anywhere except into the snow if it weren’t for the winter tyres with metal studs.

After driving for about an hour, we were able to comprehend the grip and were becoming used to sliding sideways through almost every bend, which made the vehicle feel much better. We were able to expand our skill set by constantly moving between various tracks, and by the end of the day, things were beginning to look rather decent. By this point, our blue RS4 Avant was barely making straight lines on the brief connecting straightaways; we were also drifting sideways around every bend. The excellent grip and control provided by the Quattro greatly helped. Additionally, since the system works so faultlessly and reliably, it is simple to comprehend and attempt to anticipate what the vehicle will do next rather than fixing what has already been done.
Ice Drive by Audi
We soon learned that all journalists would be submitting timed laps, and the best three would get both a podium and some awesome Audi goods. Each of us had an hour of practice as well as one go at fixing the time. The lap would be useless with the slightest mistake. Under pressure, we set out to record our time, and everything went well until about halfway down the track. At that point, the car’s urge for speed got the better of it, and it approached a bend too quickly, hitting the snowbank and sending a shower of snow flying. We lost time even though, happily, we weren’t stranded and didn’t need to stop for more than a second. Even though we finished in seventh place, the enjoyment factor was more important than the outcome. Well, all the people that ended up outside the podium would probably say as much!
We drove to the hotel, finding ourselves again on snow-covered roads as the cloudy sky began to darken as early as 4 p.m. Once again, the Quattro and tyres’ grip allowed us to drive at the speed limit of 100 kmph in the middle of a persistent snowstorm without ever feeling like we were beyond of our comfort zone.
The 2.9-litre Twin-Turbo TFSI engine powers the RS4 Avant, producing 450 horsepower and a maximum torque of 600 Nm, in case you were wondering. We never felt the need to utilise all this power on the ice, but the power unit’s driveability was so excellent that we often hit the rev limits during drifts, which our German instructors disapproved of and caused some irritated radio communications.
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Unless we had to confront or use the camera, we opted to spend most of our time in the warm and cosy vehicle cabin at the frozen lake, where temperatures ranged from minus seven degrees on the first day to negative twenty-five degrees on the final day. Speaking of the cabin, everything of the technology inside is functional and contributes to a consistently enjoyable stay. Additionally, the RS4’s ability to discover ideal driving posture makes it possible to comprehend the dynamics of the vehicle better, which improves control.
Over the course of the next two days, we saw the deployment of several track configurations and the hourly improvement and speed of each driver. We found ourselves riding sideways through much of the circuit and were much faster thanks to the instructors’ continual coaching. That was the most significant lesson we learned from the Ice Drive, which not only provided for an amazing event but also improved our driving abilities on all types of roads. We say this because driving on ice is more difficult than on most other surfaces, but if you master it here, it becomes simpler to drive on other surfaces.
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We were lucky enough to see the Northern Lights, or Aurora Borealis, beyond driving on a slanted path over a blanket of white. The Ice Drive was made even more memorable by the fantastic snowmobile ride we had on a another frozen lake. We also have to mention how friendly the people from Audi and the locals in Finland were, and the surrounding environment was ideal for creating a wallpaper or postcard. If you’re fortunate enough to have clear skies on a day when the Northern Lights are visible, you could even get a glimpse of them while travelling to or from the lake in the early morning.
We have some fantastic news in case reading this inspires you to seek the same thing. The Ice Drive experience may be purchased by any Audi client for around Rs four lakh. We were joined on the drive by Balbir Singh Dhillon, Head of Audi India, who said that owners of pre-owned cars could also participate in the Ice Experience in addition to those purchasing new Audi automobiles. But, he said, non-Audi consumers are not permitted at this moment. This sum does not cover the cost of the airfare or the visa, but even if it did, you would still have an amazing experience that would make you grin for the rest of your life. Above all, you’ll become a safer and quicker driver when you return!