NEW REGAL AUDI A6 IS HERE!

Audi’s all-new, brand out of the box A6 sedan is now at your nearest Audi dealership. The A6 is one of two cars Audi of South Africa really needs to work, the other being the A8. Without convincing sales in their segments, Audi cannot claim legitimate leadership in the premium sector. What you want to know is, is it as good as the previous model? Better yet, is it as good as the BMW 5 Series and Mercedes-Benz E-Class?

The last question is probably now a matter of personal taste. Audi is considered a leader in the premium segment, meaning anyone who buys Audis deems them luxury executive cars, and therefore probably considers the other two as well in their purchasing decisions. As such, the A6 has to be good. And it is. Actually it is very good, borders on brilliant in fact.

One of the car’s many strengths is its lightweight body construction which burnt off 80kg of the car’s weight, compared to the old one. While aluminium spaceframe technology is what underpins the A8, the A6 has opted to shun this expensive option in favour of a mix bag of chips, including steel and aluminium.

In terms of what it measures, length is the most noticeable at 4.9 metres, although overall the car is shorter than its predecessor. It also stands lower with a wheelbase of 2.9m and body width of 1.87m. That means interior space, which was already quite ample, is now even more so. The design is simple, conservative. Some make jibes about the A6 being a smaller A8, which itself is a bigger A4. Indeed Audi’s latest design philosophy seems to subscribe to the one-design-fits-all way of thinking.

LED daytime running lights have become what people on the street call “Audi lights” or some sort of unique ID character, although just about anyone building new cars these days, has them fitted. It takes a lot of creativity to get them to look different for all your models, but Audi has managed to do just that. Shorter overhangs are partly the reason why it is shorter overall, but also more athletic-looking. The side mirrors also feature LEDs.

Standard wheels are 17-inches with 225/55 R17 rubber, but there are 19-inches available at a price. We drove an S-Line model with those very 19s and they looked quite proper. Of the three models being brought into the country, we first sampled powerful 3.0 T with a class-standard 220kW of power and 440Nm of torque between 2900rpm and 4500rpm. Fronting a supercharger beneath the V6 engine, the car delivers all power and torque to all four wheels via the quattro system and a 7-speed S tronic gearbox. Acceleration from standstill to 100km/h is said to be in 5.5 seconds, with top speed electronically limited to 250km/h.

At the free air coastal city of George (ok, city is probably a slight overstatement) I ramped up this powerplant to my heart’s content, and discovered that it’s quite a happy performer. Willing, always ready and up to the task at hand. Handling is a little on the disappointing side because of its steering neutrality. Frankly we had more fun driving the A8 than this car, although I do concede most owners will not be driving it the way we do/did. These people will most probably ask about average consumption quicker than average top speed, which happens to be 8.2 litres per 100km (190 g/km C02 emissions).

I got even less joy from the first 3.0 TDI, the quattro one. That 180kW, 500Nm motor pulls generously, especially up hills and steeps, despite it being short on torque when pitted against its main rivals. But it feels a little short of breath when push really comes to shove. What I mean is, while its delivery is highly measured, I felt a little shortchanged; it just felt like the old car to be honest, as if Audi hadn’t taken a step forward. On paper the numbers are hardly eye-popping. Remember its predecessor also had a 3.0 TDI, but with 176kW (only 4kW short) and the same 500Nm. So for me at least, this engine is no revelation and it certainly didn’t feel like one, in spite of improved fuel consumption claims of 6 litres per 100km and a sprint time of 6.1 seconds.

Impressive was the current baby of the range, the front-wheel-drive 3.0 TDI Multitronic with only 150kW and 400Nm. I was quite pleased with its meshing of CVT technology with the engine. CVTs are by their nature, not conducive to blood-heating car performance since the car always feels like it’s in one gear, which technically it is. Because there were paddles behind the steering wheel I could change gears semi-manually. The upside is the ride smoothness, as well as better handling.

Audi’s interiors are renowned as being some of the finest in the business, and the new A6 follows this example neatly. The car shares pretty much the same interior bits and pieces as the A7 Sportback. That means technologies like MMI with the popup screen, satellite navigation and others. The sound system accepts CDs and SD cards, but can also record music from these two media straight into the car’s hard drive so that one doesn’t have to carry bags of music all the time. It goes without saying that most of these are electronically operated, like the side mirrors, steering wheel and so on. Other items included in the list price are Milano interior leather, an interior lighting package, cruise control, Bluetooth connectivity and park distance control. This is the first Audi in SA to offer head-up display, even if it is optional.

Audi’s A6 sedan is a true accomplishment, technically very savvy and highly competent in its pricing. Engines are also not as powerful as we expected them to be, but still they perform admirably all-round. Where things might get a little tricky for A6 is in the looks department. The car’s designers may have held back a little bit too much on the exterior (S-Line packages look so sweet though), preferring to keep things neat and tidy. Looking at the competition one would argue this new car is aimed at an older market, much against company targets. Hopefully for Audi’s sake, this doesn’t turn out the case.

2011 Audi A6 Pricing

3.0 TDI Multitronic (R520 500)

3.0 TDI Quattro S tronic (R645 000)

3.0T FSI Quattro S tronic (R655 000)