Two months on - A6 Avant review

[John Rotaru]

I'm getting close to two months of ownership, wow the time flies!! 2.500 miles of bliss, I can't believe how good this car is

Having said that, on a cold analysis there are a few things to improve, no doubt about it. Let's go through the good, the bad and the ugly.

Looks - I once said I will NEVER get an estate; they all seemed so disproportionate with their "big ***" without a proper ending. All of them! - well.. with the exception of Alfa 156 sportwagon, but hey.. who buys Italian cars eh? ... I've change my mind. One reason being I kind of need the space but the other, the A6 is just beautiful, from any angle IMHO. Very classy, elegant, and awe inspiring. I quite like the dark tint on the rear windows, but I've done them with the local company for £160 (not the £380 Audi wanted). And the S-line dynamic indicators are very fresh. Too bad they're not standard on the front though.





The 2.0 engine - very quiet up to 3500 revs, when it springs to life in sport mode. I've had diesels before but nothing this quiet. And it pulls very well. No sweat pulling a two-tonne boat out of the water.



I can't vouch for the economy yet - in 2.500 miles it went from 28 to 34 mpg in combined mode (50% motorways, 50% short city trips). I've got a maximum of 45 mpg on a long sedated drive. Not bad but I sure hope it's going to creep towards a combined 45 and at least 50 on the motorways!



The driver assist functions are all great in various measures. The most helpful and relaxing is the ACC, especially on a busy motorway or in start-stop traffic. The only bad thing is that it doesn't remain on after a few seconds in start-stop traffic, like the new A4 with traffic mode. But no drama, one flick of the stalk and it's back on. Very good!
Also good and improving safety is the side assist / blind angle indicator; I had a few occasions when I've seen it "blinking" and found cars creeping when trying to change lane.
The least useful is the active lane assist. Sometimes it turns quite late and sharply (even with the "early" setting). And it always bickers about the hands not on the steering wheel and deactivates; even when the hands ARE on. Long way from autonomous driving, or at least what Tesla has at the moment (also, of course, no change of lane when signaling..). I still turn it on every long journey, to assist me.
One last minor niggle: sometimes it gets confused on various lines on roads, like old temporary narrow lanes from works etc; and I feel it wants to steer me onto a different lane, or onto the separator but it's easy to resist it and move back. Not 100% trustful.

acc_628x178.jpg

The interior is the best for this class (I haven't seen the new E-class to compare, but seen and test drove all the others). All materials say quality, all buttons click just right. Very little road noise - especially on new tarmac which is much quieter - barely a bit of wind whisper at 70 mph. I feel treated like a king!
The screens are high-def. I've got the 7 inch screen between dials and I love it, the amount of information and the way it's organized is very good.



I could've lived without the Audi Connect / hard drive navigation / touch pad, but they've packaged them in the £4000 Tech Pack Plus and I had to swallow the pill, as I really wanted ACC. I've played with the Tesla S "giant ipad" and there is a HUGE difference ... this is where I think Audi can improve dramatically. The whole connectivity package, with apps, weather etc, is much much behind what Tesla has now.

My wife really wanted the sunroof. It's nice but.. not for the driver and front passenger, as it starts right above and not in front of you, and you need to crane your neck backwards to see anything. Definitely not worth the £1250.





As I said earlier, I really needed the space, with a 16 month baby and plans to do long weekends away with friends. Last bank holiday I had to fit some of the bags inside of the car!
But besides extreme situations like these, I'm very happy with the space. With the seats folded you can fit a double mattress inside.
I've bought the boot separators kit (one metallic extendable bar and one textile band that fit in the rails). They are not as useful as I thought.



It's a shame that even with the lighting package Audi hasn't bother to put all interior lights as LED's. You can really see the difference with an aftermarket kit, the originals look yellow'ish comparing to the LED headlights. However I've found the LED lights a little too brighter on a dark night.




So.. overall: extremely quiet and comfortable, spacious, easy and relaxing on long journeys, but lagging behind in the gadgetry and connectivity features that come with a high price to pay -- not always easy to justify. With the configuration selected (see signature), it creeped up to a £45000 invoice price, and without some of the options I would've wanted (matrix lights, electric seats, perhaps a little bigger engine... it all adds up into 911 territory!)

Even so, the big "end of life" discounts that they currently have make them a no-brainer in comparison with the other brethrens in the premium large segment (and you can see that in the sales figures ), and even with the newer and more modern A4. Especially with the delivery times for that one!

Looking forward to spend the next 5 to 10 years driving it. It ticks all my boxes for now.

And I've made up my mind: I won't change it until I can find a ~400 miles electric car, similar in size with FULLY autonomous driving. The one I can have a nap while it's taking me to the airport
The next A6? The next Tesla S? Google car, Apple car... who knows.

'Nuff said!

[sbaffi]

Great stuff and pictures, your smile tells it all! And of course great color

[wildbore]

It is a great car; I love mine. But it was designed six or more years ago and it is starting to show. It will be interesting to see where the new A6 goes. The new E-Class sets a very high bar in terms of tech.

[jake25]

Thanks John, great writeup. Very much looking forward to have mine.

[Knightly77]

Great write up John, thanks, - glad you are enjoying the car and its toys. I totally agree with you on the technology front. What the A6 is great, it is mostly efficient and effective at doing what it does, whether that be navigating you somewhere (with dynamic routing), keeping you within a lane or warning you when you are drifting, alerting you to car/bikes approaching quickly from behind/beside you or taking/making calls through bluetooth. However, as you note and Wildbore both note, technology has moved on and the A6's kit is probably now a little old now and that is starting to show. Doesn't make the current car "rubbish", far from it, but does illustrate the need for Audi to make sure they get ahead again, or at least catch up (when comparing to the new E class).

It is a great car; I love mine. But it was designed six or more years ago and it is starting to show. It will be interesting to see where the new A6 goes. The new E-Class sets a very high bar in terms of tech.

Coincidentally, I spotted this article about what the new A6 might look like and what features/technology it might have. Worth a quick read to see what the author of that article believes might be coming to the new A6 in about 12-18mths time: New hi-tech 2017 Audi A6 is shaping up | Auto Express

[A6S]

Great write up John, I'm sure plenty will find that very informative. always find these write up better than the magazine type reviews as a lot are biased and aren't living with the car for long enough to know the good and bad.

Audi to make sure they get ahead again, or at least catch up (when comparing to the new E class).

Coincidentally, I spotted this article about what the new A6 might look like and what features/technology it might have. Worth a quick read to see what the author of that article believes might be coming to the new A6 in about 12-18mths time: New hi-tech 2017 Audi A6 is shaping up | Auto Express

I hope they make it a bit better looking than that.
That's looks too much like the a3 saloon.
The new e class is great looking car with lots of new tech. Unless Audi does something awesom I reckon I could be persuaded towards one. It's just annoying that we in the uk don't get the 4matic versions of these cars just like the xdrive on the 5 series.

[Sam555]

Great review thank you. About to order very similar model. What made you pick the Quattro over the Ultra version? Only asking as will probably do the same but hardly no press reviews on this that I can find. Audi seem to have sneaked the 2.0 A6 Avant Quattro out without fanfare, all press reviews still state only available on 3.0 versions.

[silky6053]

I bought a very similar spec but with 2 wheel drive last October. It was stolen. For the replacement I ordered, additionally, Quattro (which had just become available in January) and the Bose sound system. Couldn't be more pleased. The Quattro is more fixed on the road, less skittish when pulling out from junctions, particularly in the wet. Feels planted when when going into roundabouts and if driven fast into bends, less intervention from the ESP compared to the 2 wheel drive. As the Bose has 'broken in' it is markedly better than the standard sound system. Excellent clarity and definition across all tonal ranges, and the bass is superlative at all sound levels, particularly with high volume rock which I enjoy despite being an old git. I've done most of the VCDS mods in the sticky and replaced all the internal halogen bulbs with white LEDs. I already have the lighting package. Also installed a Blackvue dashcam. I've polymer sealed the car and the internal lunar silver seats, added a boot liner and the Audi avant load retainers, and bought an electric coolbox and roofbars. All set to continue enjoying the car and about to go on a long tour of Scotland!

[John Rotaru]

Great review thank you. About to order very similar model. What made you pick the Quattro over the Ultra version? Only asking as will probably do the same but hardly no press reviews on this that I can find. Audi seem to have sneaked the 2.0 A6 Avant Quattro out without fanfare, all press reviews still state only available on 3.0 versions.

For me it had to have four wheel drive for wet boat ramps. It's very difficult to pull the 2 tonne boat out of the water when the ramp is muddy or wet. It was the main reason I had to change my FWD IX35. But as silky6053 said, it's also behaving much better in the wet.

[ukgroucho]

The new e class is great looking car with lots of new tech. Unless Audi does something awesom I reckon I could be persuaded towards one. It's just annoying that we in the uk don't get the 4matic versions of these cars just like the xdrive on the 5 series.

Bizarre surely this is just marketing driven as I struggle to believe that Mercedes will have fallen into the same trap that BMW did with the 5 series - their lack of a right hand drive X-drive 5 series is apparently to do with the right hand drive steering arrangement getting in the way of some gibbons that would form part of the front drive components. I'm sure they will fix that on the next refresh as they offer X-drive across most of the rest of the range in the UK.
As I said I'd be surprised (but not amazed) if Mercedes had not learned from BMW's mistake.