The A6 is a beautiful luxury car. Audi designed it with the style and elegance of a coupe. It's instantly
recognizable as a member of the Audi family. Headlights, hood and bumpers blend to reveal a familiar face
while advanced lighting technology, visible behind polycarbonate lenses, add sparkle and style. Curvaceous
lines caress the eyes. The wind glides across the gracefully flowing hood, up and over the sweeping roof
line and down the smooth rear deck lid, slipping through the wind with a low 0.28 drag coefficient.
One of the most significant details is something you don't really see at first. The A6 comes together
in seamless form, with body gaps kept to less than 3 millimeters.
Car design is a question of trade-offs, and all too often a stylish exterior means a compromised interior.
But not so with the A6. It's a roomy car, offering more than an inch of additional headroom over the previous
model (now 39.3 inches or 38.5 as tested with sunroof). Rear-seat passengers will enjoy an additional two inches
of legroom.
Dynamically, the A6 is as good as it looks. A6 engineers took lessons from Audi's all-aluminum A8 high-performance
luxury sedan. Pound-for-pound, aluminum is significantly stronger than steel and the A6 makes extensive use of
it. The aluminum hood is 36 percent lighter than the hood on last year's model, yet it's 20 percent more rigid.
Door frames, side-impact beams and bumper mounts are made of aluminum. Overall, the body of the A6 has 50 percent
greater torsional rigidity even though it is 30 percent lighter. That translates into less shimmy and shake on
rough roads and helps isolate noise. A rigid chassis also provides the basis for precise suspension tuning,
contributing to the A6's excellent handling and ride.
Audi's objective was to design a world class car with a world class interior. The passenger compartment offers
a full six cubic feet of additional volume over last year's model. And, at 17.1 cubic feet, the trunk is one of
the largest in its class, with enough room to store a week's worth of luggage and a couple of sets of golf clubs.
The rear seat folds down to provide room for skis or long packages.
German automakers are justifiably well known for their ergonomic interiors and Audi offers exquisite attention
to detail on the A6. Switches are easy to reach and operate. Gauges are easy to see and read. Best of all, Audi
has gone for a warmer, friendlier feel where BMW and Mercedes-Benz products tend to be Teutonically cold and
efficient. At night, the glowing orange-red lights and indicators are calmly reassuring.
Echoing Audi's extensive use of aluminum for structural applications, the gear shift bezel is made of aluminum
buffed to a high gloss. It's a visually exciting, high-tech look. That look is balanced by the warmth of lots of
real wood that looks like real wood, not over-polished plastic.
Audi now offers three distinct interior styles or "Atmospheres" that come in an extensive range of colors and
tones. Each atmosphere surrounds its occupants with a distinctly different character distinguished by the texture
and appearance of the seat upholstery and the color and type of wood and aluminum trim. The classic touring sedan
look is found in "Ambition," which features rich, dark woods with classic, deep-colored leather tones. Lighter
wood and bolder color combinations are seen in a Mediterranean style called "Ambiente" with fine, supple materials.
A high-tech, monotone look is found in "Advance." Each atmosphere is available in at least two color choices and
a choice of leatherette, leather or, in the Advance atmosphere, a Jacquard cloth. They all come matched with
choice of rich and vibrant exterior hues.
The A6 comes with a high level of standard equipment, including dual automatic climate control with pollen
filter, power mirrors, windows and door locks, eight-way power driver's seat, keyless remote entry, rear heat
duct, tilt/telescoping leather wrapped steering wheel and cast alloy wheels. The AM/FM cassette sound system
boasts 120 watts of power and a subwoofer.
Two options packages should be considered: The cold weather package comes with heated seats and a heated
steering wheel. The warm weather package includes infrared-reflective glass and a solar sunroof that generates
power to run a cooling fan without draining the battery. This helps keep the interior cool in the summer.
Safety is a big issue for Audi and the A6 comes with dual airbags up front as well as dual front side-impact
airbags. All five seat belts have pretensioners. In the event of an accident, they cinch the belts as tight as
possible to minimize injuries.
Under the hood, there's a 2.8-liter, 30-valve V6. The five valve-per-cylinder design lets this engine breathe
deeply, and on the open road it loves to wind out. Its 200 hp is delivered almost silently, though at full
acceleration there's a reassuring roar. It's more powerful than previous Audi powertrains, though it isn't quite
as quick off the line as some comparably priced sedans.
The V6 is mated to a 5-speed Tiptronic transmission based on a design from Porsche. It can be operated either
as a silky-smooth automatic or switched to manual mode. Moved into a special gate, the driver upshifts or
downshifts for enhanced control. It's entertaining and particularly useful on winding roads and in the mountains.
A6 buyers have a choice of the front-wheel-drive configuration or Audi's legendary Quattro all-wheel-drive
system. A few years back, you had to have a big bank account to drive a Quattro, but since Audi reduced the price
on the basic Quattro package, we'd say it's a must. Quattro is a full-time all-wheel-drive system that is
constantly at work putting power to the pavement through all four wheels. It brings a sense of control and security
to the driver like nothing else.
Audi calls its Quattro system an "enabling" technology, referring to traction control systems on two-wheel-drive
cars as "disabling" technology because they work by reducing engine power until wheel spin is under control.
Now in the fourth generation of the Quattro system, Audi is way ahead of other companies in all-wheel-drive
technology. The key to Quattro has always been the use of three differentials that vary power distribution to all
four wheels, all of the time, at any speed. The latest system uses an electronic differential lock that operates on
both the front and rear differentials. This feature detects and limits wheel spin and redistributes drive torque
from side to side to take advantage of any available traction. This operates with the Torsen center differential
that distributes up to 65 percent of the traction to whichever axle has the most traction.
Quattro comes with a double-wishbone rear suspension, while front-wheel-drive A6s are equipped with a torsion-beam
rear suspension. The front-wheel-drive (non-Quattro) A6 models use Audi's FrontTrak traction control system, which
operates at all speeds to reduce wheel spin.