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From YourSITE.com Reviews & Road Tests San Francisco, CA - Driving north along California’s legendary Highway 1, the scenery changes dramatically. The dry desert landscape of the southern and central coasts gives way to lush greenery and tall redwoods, especially once you’ve crossed the Golden Gate Bridge and head north from San Francisco. Take a diversion inland from these coastal roads, and you will soon forget you are so close to the Pacific Ocean as you navigate narrow highways that meander between vineyard after vineyard. It’s easy to imagine that you have somehow taken a wrong turn and ended up in Europe.
Building on the success of the last A6, Audi set several new objectives for the C6 version. Naturally, the new model would be expected to deliver a high level of both active and passive safety, while at the same time providing exceptional agility and an engaging driving experience. This new A6 was also expected to reinforce Audi’s position as the benchmark for materials and quality. And, perhaps most importantly, the new design would have to be highly emotional. The folks in Ingolstadt were served a tall order for the C6, but the end result is remarkable. The new A6 accomplishes everything its designers and engineers set out to. The car could be nothing but an Audi, delivering on all of the brand’s core values: sporty, sophisticated, and progressive. Dynamic by Design The look of the new A6 is clearly an evolution of its most recent predecessor. But the new model has a distinct edge to it that the last model lacked. It is bolder and more aggressive from nearly every angle. Its surfaces are tighter, with more detail than before. Overall, the new A6 simply looks more focused, more sculpted, more “cut” than the outgoing model. A large part of this more assertive design is the face of the car. As with people, a car’s face conveys emotion. It helps establish the personality of a car, and it helps identify it as a member of a certain family. The large, deep grille (more on that in a minute) and sweeping headlights distinguish the A6 as part of the new generation of Audi cars. Achim Badstubner, design team leader for the new A6, explained that this type of immediate identification is important for drivers of high-performance cars, amounting to what can best be called “overtaking prestige” on the Autobahn. When viewed from directly from the front, such as in a rear-view mirror of a car it might be overtaking, the A6 has several key features that conspire to give it a powerful, menacing face, encouraging slower traffic to move to the right. The top of the hood is arched, creating a “power dome,” as Badstubner describes it. From there, the edges of the hood give way to the sculpted fenders, lending a sense of muscularity, or shoulders, to the car. The headlights, as the eyes of the car, slant slightly downward as they move to center, the effect resembling a disapproving scowl to left lane-cloggers.
The most controversial element of the new front end has got to be the enormous trapezoidal grille, which extends from the edge of the hood almost to the ground in one continuous sweep. Audi prepared us for this look initially by surrounding the lower center openings of past A6 and A8 models with chrome to match the hood grilles. When the A8L W12 appeared last January, it wore the new large-opening single grille, broken up only by a separate number plate bracket. This design feature will be seen on all new Audis, as evidenced by the new A3 Sportback and the face-lifted A4. Although this new grille appears somewhat large and garish in pictures, it actually works in harmony with all of the other styling details to make for a very strong, cohesive design in person. Doubters should take a firsthand look before passing judgment. But there is far more to the new A6 than just an updated face. The silhouette is familiar, but with new details. Audi decided to retain the “four-door-coupe” roofline to emphasize the sporty character of the big sedan. Out past the roofline, though, the decklid no longer takes a curvy downturn, instead ending with an upswept edge from the integrated lip spoiler. The rocker panels form an up-sweeping dynamic line that continues visually to the rear bumper. When combined with a down-sweeping character line just beneath the greenhouse, the effect reduces the visual weight of the rear, giving the car the appearance of speed and motion, even when standing dead still. From the rear, the A6 has a cleaner appearance than its predecessor. For starters, the shutline of the trunk has a slight “V” shape, adding interest to the back end. Gone is the black plastic license plate surround containing the rear foglights. All lighting functions are now integrated into the wider, shorter rear lamps. The new proportions and shapes make the car appear wider and lower in the back, reinforcing the sports sedan theme. Dual exhaust tips are visible on all models now, exiting through a blacked-out lower valence panel, adding to the sex appeal. It is hard to believe the new model is larger than the old, but the numbers don’t lie. The wheelbase is longer by 3.25 inches, and the overall length has grown by nearly five inches. The front and rear track have been widened as well, by 2.8 and 2.2 inches, respectively. All that tricky design work, along with larger wheels and tires on all models, has done an excellent job of making the new A6 look like a much leaner car than it actually is. But despite its larger dimensions, the C6 is both stronger and lighter than the previous generation, thanks in part to its aluminum hood and front fenders. The progressive styling carries to the interior of the car as well. The biggest change inside is the new driver-oriented cockpit design, dominated by the large MMI display screen in the center. The grille motif is echoed in the center of the steering wheel, a not so subtle reminder to the driver that this is an all-new Audi. Then again, one look around the cabin will confirm this fact as well, since the new A6 continues to offer one of the best-appointed interiors in the industry. The smell of leather fills the air. Judicious use of fine woods, now edged in aluminum, add visual warmth to the dashboard, console, and door panels. Even the plastic has a quality look and feel. The culmination of all these elements is a handsome, elegant cabin that looks thoroughly modern and undoubtedly German. A Technological Masterpiece Following the old company motto of “Vorsprung durch Technik,” literally leading through technology, the new A6 is packed with the latest from the science labs. The equipment list reads like a NASA blueprint: adaptive bi-xenon headlamps, LED taillights, standard Bluetooth, available voice controlled functions, optional Smart Key, advanced MMI driver interface, and on and on.
The feature likely to get the most use is the MMI, or Multi Media Interface. MMI is the gateway to most of the new A6’s controls, including climate control, audio system, navigation, even the seat heaters. Beyond controlling the everyday functions, the MMI also allows the owner to set his own vehicle preferences; would he prefer daytime running lights or not, for instance. Not all of the advanced technology is in the interior; some of it resides under the hood. The standard engine for North America is the all-new 3.2-liter V6 with FSI (Fuel Stratified Injection). In other words, it’s a direct-injection gasoline engine, the first such offering in America. The FSI engine injects fuel directly into the combustion chamber, rather than mixing with air in the cylinder head. The result is greater torque and power from less fuel because the intake mixture is actually cooler and denser, allowing for a higher compression ratio. In fact the 3.2 (which is actually only 3123 cc) runs 12.5:1 compression, compared to the previous 3.0 engine’s 10.5:1 ratio. Despite a displacement increase of only 5%, torque is up by 10% (243 vs. 221 lb-ft) and power is greater by 16% (255 vs. 220 hp). Audi is so committed to FSI technology that by the end of 2006 all of its cars will be so equipped. Both the standard V6 and the optional 4.2-liter V8 push their power to the axles through an all-new six-speed Tiptronic transmission. By adding an extra gear to the mix, there is less gap between them, providing smoother shifting, especially in automatic mode, where the shifts are nearly undetectable. Operate the car in either manual or sport mode, however, and the shifts become more pronounced, delivering a more engaging experience for the enthusiastic driver. Better yet, the added sophistication of the six-speed comes without the expected weight penalty, instead weighing in some 31 pounds lighter than the old five-speed. On the Road All this high-tech stuff sounds great, but the real test is how well it all works together on the road. I left San Francisco in a new A6 4.2, loaded up with a Sport Package, Cold Weather Package, Parktronic, Navigation, and Advanced Key, and returned from Sonoma in a 3.2 without most of these. The 200 or so miles in between were an excellent primer to the wonders of this new sedan. Starting in the 4.2 model may have been a little unfair. I’ve loved this engine in everything in which I've driven it, from the new S4 to the VW Touareg. It is quite simply an impressive engine that is just as happy cruising the highway as it is blasting through canyons. The fact that it is so athletic does not detract from its refinement, and vice-versa. Needless to say, it did not disappoint in the new A6 either.
The 4.2 V8 seems even better when connected to the new Tiptronic gearbox from ZF. The torque characteristics of the engine are ideally suited to the gear ratios of the transmission in one of the best pairings since cabernet and filet. The powertrain engineers deserve a toast for all their work on the Tiptronic programming as well. In normal Drive Mode, the shifting was so smooth I hardly noticed it happening beneath me. Only the tachometer hinted at what was going on as I watched the needle step back in a gradual retreat. I moved the shifter to the right gate to play with the manual shift function and was rewarded with more immediate and decisive shifting than in previous Tiptronic ‘boxes. Still, every time I drive a Tip’ I quickly find myself switching back to automatic mode; the process of moving a lever forward and back is just not the same as shifting gears directly. On the fast, twisty sections of two-lane road between the 101 and the coast in Marin County, I found the Sport Mode the most entertaining of the three shifting options. This mode is definitely not for casual cruising; it requires a serious commitment by the driver - in this case, me. I was blown away by how well the transmission held lower gears for better acceleration, almost refusing to upshift until redline. Downshifts were also timed quite well for slower corners, all without my direct input into the process. Even the shifting actions themselves were more noticeable through the controls. I’m not quite willing to give up manual shifting altogether for this new Tiptronic (maybe for a DSG), but in a large sedan like the A6, it seems like a natural fit. The three different modes suit the different personalities this car is capable of revealing. And this new A6 is indeed a big car, on paper at least. From the driver’s seat though, its athletic abilities effectively mask its bulk. Perhaps it’s the fact that so much attention was paid to reducing weight while adding more features, space, and safety, but the new model comes in within a hundred pounds of the outgoing model. In this two-ton car, an extra hundred pounds went unnoticed, but the structural improvements in the chassis most certainly did not. The chassis is more than willing to play along with the powertrain. Managing a fast pace on the narrow broken surfaces that lace between the redwoods, the A6 felt more like an amusement park roller coaster than a luxury sedan. The responsiveness of the brakes, the tires, the suspension all worked so well together. My roller coaster ride magically changed to the log ride when the skies opened up – providing a driving November rain. In any other car, this might have put a damper on the driving experience, but not with Audi’s famous quattro all-wheel-drive system. The off-and-on showers were unable to dilute the fun. In reality, the rain actually enhanced my experience, encouraging me to trust the car in situations that would have been hair-raising in most other vehicles.
Not every road in California is twisted, so in between the curves I had a chance to take in some of the features. The MMI system was very intuitive, from the control wheel that was right where my hand falls on the center console, to the easy-to-navigate menus. Audi even had the forethought to provide buttons for each of the major functions for quick jumping from feature to feature. The rain-sensing wipers proved valuable, especially with the changing rain patterns. I never had to break my concentration on the road to adjust wiper speed, it just happened for me. Audi seemed especially proud of the quieter ventilation system, made possible by relocating the blower motor outside the cabin rather than under the dashboard. I would agree that they have succeeded in their attempt, as I was barely aware the fan was even operating. Every new A6 arrives fully prepped for satellite radio service from either XM or Sirius. Having owned both XM and Sirius in my personal cars, I know what a blessing this can be, especially on cross-country trips. There are so many listening options from either service that you’ll never be forced to put up with a limited selection of “regional” tastes (We got both kindsa music: country and western), no matter where you end up. Naturally the controls for satellite radio are integrated into the rest of the sound system. I don’t know if it was the weather, the tall trees or perhaps the factory antenna, but the satellite reception was inconsistent on my drive, something I’ve not experienced in my own cars. Before long my time in the V8 was up and I would have the opportunity to try out the V6 version. Audi expects nearly 80% of the A6s it sells here to be powered by the V6. My test car was equipped with the most common options- Premium Package (sunroof, bi-xenon headlights, Bose sound system, and wood trim), Cold Weather Package, and 17-inch wheels, with a list price of $46,270. That puts the A6 3.2 quattro at a significant advantage over its two biggest rivals, the Mercedes E320 4-Matic ($61,120) and BMW’s 530i ($53,170, rwd only) when similarly equipped. Even the fully-loaded A6 4.2 looks like a bargain at just $58,870 Back in the driver’s seat, the 3.2 is ideal as the standard engine. It’s easy to imagine most buyers feeling completely satisfied by its output. The difference in fuel economy over the thirstier V8 (19/26 vs. 17/23) will likely influence sales as well. The V6 is mated to the same six-speed Tiptronic as the V8, though the combination is not as brilliant with the smaller engine. I had to abort a couple of passing maneuvers in the 3.2 when the gearbox became indecisive on its downshifts. I suspect this has to do with the different torque characteristics of the six versus the eight, but it may also be a transmission programming issue. Either way, I quickly learned that aggressive passing would require a little more planning.
Despite the occasionally neurotic transmission, the engine proved to be a willing companion for the spirited drive along the Russian River Valley roads. The rain continued to taunt me, but the combination of all-season tires and quattro coped with the wet just fine. Driving toward the Pacific Coast Highway, the clouds eventually gave way to blue sky and sunshine. As mentioned earlier, the coastal roads are among the most entertaining you’ll likely encounter Stateside. The non-sport suspension dealt amazingly well with the undulating surfaces, holding its line through twist after turn. My braking was not as smooth in the V6; there seemed to be more “grabbiness” on initial application, making small speed adjustments awkward. The standard seats of the non-sport model provided less lateral support, as expected, but they also seemed a little less supportive in the lumbar region. Regardless of engine choice, the sport package should be a no-brainer for anyone who enjoys serious driving. The twisties were fun, but my day was drawing to a close and I had to get back to San Francisco. I made my way east from Bodega Bay back to the interstate. Back on 101, I set the cruise control and marveled at how quiet everything was at 80 mph. Of course, 80 is nothing on the autobahn, but the absence of wind and road noise still impressed me. The only sounds came from the suspension on the occasional pavement seam, but never anything obtrusive. By the time I had returned to my hotel, the new A6 had impressed me. From its clean, distinctive styling (arguably the best-looking new German car in years) to its refined engines and chassis, there is little fault to be found. Audi expects to sell around 22,500 of these in the next year. My guess is they will have no problem doing that.
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