There are a lot of interesting engines in production right now, but the weirdest has got to be Audi’s turbocharged inline five-cylinder. The 2.5-liter, odd-cylinder-count engine makes nearly 400 horsepower and a unique sound you won’t find anywhere else on the market.
Stateside, you can find the engine, codenamed the EA855, in the RS3 sedan, and overseas in the RS3 hatchback. Most recently, it was also used in cars like the TT RS and the Europe-only RS Q3 crossover. Audi has a long history with the inline-five, having first introduced it 50 years ago in the 100 sedan.
Earlier this week, news broke that Audi would be ending production of its iconic five-cylinder engine for good in mid-2027, as it couldn’t be brought up to the Euro 7 emissions standards set to take effect next year. This report coincides with a similar report we wrote about last year, which said the same thing about the engine bowing out due to Euro 7 regs.
Now, though, there’s a new report saying the engine will live on in countries that aren’t Europe, which means the impending death of the Audi inline-five has been greatly exaggerated.
I Sure Hope The Inline Five Makes It
Let me walk you through a timeline. Back in September, the chief executive of Audi told Australian media outlet Drive that the inline-five’s end was “probably” near. He didn’t go as far as to confirm it, but the statement was pretty cut and dry. Here it is, in case you don’t want to click away:
“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.
While it was sad to hear that one of the last truly strange engines would finally be exiting production, it didn’t come as much of a surprise at the time. With emissions regulations tightening worldwide and Euro 7 bearing down on German companies to produce more highly efficient powertrains, it would’ve been too large an investment for Audi to reengineer the engine to meet those new European standards. The company’s falling sales, especially in China, aren’t helping things, either.
Fast-forward to three days ago, when Automotive News published a story that it confirmed with an Audi spokesperson that Euro 7 would mean the death of the inline-five. From that article:
Audi is axing the engine from the region because it fails to comply with the European Union’s upcoming Euro 7 emissions standards to reduce air pollution, a company spokesperson said. The standards take effect for new cars from the end of 2026.
Production of the Audi RS 3, the last model in Europe to feature the unit, will end at Audi’s plant in Gyor, Hungary, by mid-2027.
Makes sense so far, right? Autonews cited the cost of all the hardware changes Audi would’ve had to make to get the engine compliant with Europe’s modern regulations as the reason for its axing, saying the company is prioritizing that spending on EVs.
Here’s where things get interesting. An article published today by Motor1 claims the inline-five won’t die after all, with a spokesperson telling the outlet that it’ll live on for markets outside of Europe:
In a statement to Motor1, A3 model series spokesperson Julia Winkler confirmed the RS3 won’t disappear entirely. Although the luxury brand must call time on the 2.5 TFSI in Europe due to upcoming Euro 7 emissions regulations, Audi will keep the high-performance compact car on sale in non-European markets beyond mid-next year.
While I feel bad for Europeans who love strange engine setups, this is great news for us here in America. It’s unclear whether Audi always planned to keep the inline-five around in select markets or changed its mind at some point—I’ve reached out to a spokesperson for some clarification. It’s also unclear at this time which markets will retain the five-cylinder, and which will lose it, though, seeing as how emissions laws in America are being dismantled left and right, it’s very likely the U.S. is one of the lucky markets.
Either way, it sounds like the inline-five will live on for at least a little bit longer than originally expected. For weirdos like me, that means at least a few more years of worshipping that 1-2-4-5-3 firing order until it goes away forever.
Top graphic images: Audi; Tri-Star Pictures
I would say the old VR5, which was a VR6 with one cylinder less, was even more weird than the EA855.
Ah 5 Cylinder engines. The power of a 4, with the efficiency of a 6.
I joke but I did love my Volvo 5 bangers.
Wait.. wait. RS3 LIMO? I’m assuming its an extended wheelbase model for China, but we should get that too.
limousine is the word for “sedan” in german
an RS3 stretch limo would rule though
well thats far less exciting. Since it said Limousine/Sedan I thought those were the body style options. I could see a LWB version existing for China.
PUT IT IN A GOLF YOU COWARDS
“why can’t we sell these $58,00 DSG-only Golf-Rs?” – VW leaders in 3 years.
They’d sell one to me, goddammit!
Me too! That’s two (potential) sales orders so far.
As a long time Audi driver, I would love to see the 5 live on in the RS3 and other things. It’s just a cool engine — sounds good, goes fast, isn’t crazy fuel thirsty all the time unless you stomp on it constantly. VAG should really consider putting the 5 in the Golf R as an option. The R is pretty fun as it is but adding a cylinder can only make it funner, right? Hot hatch 400hp fun for under $60k might push me to trade my old ass S4 that just keeps on truckin.
Why not in the A5? Or A6?
Also exaggerated (or just plain false) is the news that VW is going to put the Audi turbo-I5 in the Golf R. I seriously, seriously doubt it.
“Number 5…is ALIVE!”
“No disassemble!”
Watch for it to come to the US market – at least until we get some sanity back in DC.
Best I can do is offer you a Hemi to pair with $5/gal gas.
In my heart I will always be disappointed no one ever made a 5-valved 5-cylinder engine, just for the sheer curiosity of an engine with an odd total number of valves.
Actually Audi did, but only for racing. The Talladega Audi 200/5000 run by Bobby Unser and possibly some late Sport Quattro s1 rally cars had them. Probably fewer than a handful ever in existence.
I did not know that! Thank you Audi for fulfilling my lunatic engine dreams.
Given the topshot, I was really hoping that an Audi had been struck by lightning and gained sentience. Clearly still needs to save the city, since it’s not gold-plated yet.
I guess keeping that engine is cool, too.
I posit that the I-5 is not the weirdest engine out there. I mean, if GM had their own, how weird could it be?
Mazda has a not-unreasonable claim on weirdest with the spinning Dorito, the Wankel. I don’t think they have any Wankel-powered offerings currently available however, unless you want to consider one of the incredibly rare PHEVs with the little single-rotor REX unit under the hood. And even that is no longer offered so I guess that’s out of the running.
VW had a doozy with the V5. V6 I get; V5, that’s different. You gotta wonder at the balancing on that.
Ford is currently offering an I-3 in the Bronco Sport, not too strange since we’ve seen those before, but you know…Ford. Not widely recognized for being wildeyed dreamers once you’re talking about actual products, Ford doing anything not right down the middle of the mainstream is noteworthy.
A two-cylinder car would be interesting and there’s even one currently on the market I can think of: I think the Fiat 500 is still available with the tiny 1.0 I-2.
That V5 was a VR5 which was also half of the W10 which is also super weird
Weirder still, about the W10, the test-mule was an E39 M5, which Ferdinand Piëch reportedly used as a daily driver.
Give me just a sec…
V10. No. W10.
Okay. My head is broken. But the VR5 used a single cylinder head, so your W10 would look like a V…That’s nutty stuff.
I remember reading about a W9 back int the day, a one-off that looked extremely cool. And that gets me thinking about a W6, so you’d have a wide, low, short 6-banger that moved more of the mass to the middle of the car. Three heads though…That suggests a name:
Cerberus.
Honda’s had some fun racing engines with the NR500’s oval-piston V4, and the RC212V’s V5.
But it’s Honda’s gear-driven V4 in the VFR stands out as a wonderful sound to my ear when I hear one drive by. We need more V4 engines.
Yeah, I can’t come up with anything weirder than the oval pistons… So damn weird looking.
I think it’s gotta be the weirdest because they’re they only ones to ever do it and even they failed pretty hard.
I grew up in the back seat of, and learned to drive in the front seat of a SAAB 96 with the V4. Other kids got automatic transmissions, me? I got four on the tree and a freewheeling lever.
The character of the V4 in the SAAB is way different than the screamin Honda. It sounded way bigger than it was, with an amiable, surprisingly low toned burble.
Absolutely magical sound, and handling for the time. Sounded especially good while driving. Drove mine 19 years before the plastic could no longer be repaired with fibreglass from the back & new panels were brittle as hell.
A five sounds so much better than a four, even as proletarian low-tech 170hp VW version.
Shame this is behind such a massive paywall, a detuned 275hp version would be so much nicer than the EA888 in mainline Audi and upper trim VW products.
The proletariat’s engine was a mighty fine tractor.
Porsche Volkschlepper.
I wish they would have developed it for longitudinal use instead of developing the 3.0T. An S5 with an inline 5 would have been way cooler. Many reasons why it would cost a fortune or wouldn’t work, but I can dream.
Audi really fucked up by not offering the RS Q3 here
Audi really fucked up by not offering the <insert numerous models> here.
Audi really fucked up by not offering <insert numerous many things> here.
VAG really fucked up by not offering <insert numerous many things> here.
Pun intended?
It is pretty clever isn’t it?
Yes, you’ve earned your sticker today.
The bright green RS 3 hatchback (pictured above) being sold south of the border is quite attractive.
They already get all the coolest cars. It’s about time we get to have something fun. I just wish they offered the hatch here, oof.