In January I had a full test drive of the updated Audi A6, and for the most part my impression of the vehicle hasn’t changed.
Inside
The interior of the A6 has been freshened-up and an eight-inch screen gives the driver access to Audi’s latest software and their MMI navigation system. This is a very comfortable place to be especially when you’re behind the wheel. Audi has also improved the amount of road noise that gets into the car by using “acoustic glazing” – I hadn’t noticed drastic road noise in the outgoing A6 but improvement to any car in this department is always a bonus.
Outside
The eagle eyed of you may notice that the updated A6 is 70mm longer than the outgoing model and the outside remains true to the shape of its predecessors. The bumpers have been redesigned and the grille is slightly wider than before. The exhaust pipes are also surrounded by trapezoidal grilles. Although the changes here are extremely subtle the A6 does look sportier and a little beefier than before.
Despite the slightly beefier appearance the car is actually lighter than before with the manufacturer changing some of the components to lighter-weight aluminium. This means that the new A6 is 15% lighter than before, therefore performance and economy figures of the vehicle has improved.
The A6 comes with updated LED lights and also available as an option is Audi’s very intuitive LED Matrix front and rear lights. I’ve recently been to the Audi factory and we were given full insights into how these lights operate – it’s an article for another day, but it is intriguing stuff.
To Drive
The Audi A6 S Line I was testing had a 2.0 TDI Ultra 190hp engine which gives nice CO2 emission figures (109g/km of CO2, €190 per annum road tax). Audi tells us that this engine can deliver combined fuel economy figures of 4.2 litres per 100km. The engine feels good and as you put the foot down you will feel the 400Nm of torque kicking-in from 1,750rpm. The seven-speed S-Tronic automatic gearbox offers smooth gear shifts, but I did find that it held onto lower gears a little longer than I’m used to.
The A6 is a very long machine (nearly 5 metres) but surprisingly it’s tidy enough driving around towns. Of course this is a much more attractive package when it’s taken out on the motor ways. Take it onto rural roads and the A6 feels like a safe bet. It throws up little body roll but when it comes to steering I felt I wanted for a little bit more feedback from the steering wheel.