Right, first things first, this new Audi A6 isn’t to be confused with the other new Audi A6. This is the combustion-powered one, the latest in the direct lineage of A6s that’s been around since 1994. It would have been called the A7, had Audi not ditched its odd-names-for-ICE, even-names-for-EVs strategy almost as soon as it introduced it.
Apart from the name and the general shape, this A6 has nothing to do with the all-electric A6 E-Tron. They’re on separate platforms, with this one sitting on VW’s Premium Platform Combustion along with the new A5 and Q5.
Audi A6 Avant – front, static
The A6 once came with all manner of engines, but the range has been slimmed down significantly for this sixth-gen car. Currently, Brits can choose between petrol and diesel, and a couple of PHEVs are on the way, but it’s 2.0 litres and four cylinders or nowt – a shame, when Europe has the option of a rather pleasant-sounding 362bhp twin-turbo petrol V6.
We’ve been having a go in the TDI in Avant guise, partly because a big estate is the sort of car people might still actually opt for a diesel in, and partly because we’re really not sure a 201bhp petrol engine is enough in a car this size. The diesel has an identical power output, but offers a healthy 295lb ft slug of torque, and while the petrol is FWD-only, the oil-burner gets Quattro as standard. 62mph takes 7.0 seconds, and top speed is 147mph.
Audi A6 Avant – side, driving
The engine is smooth and pulls strongly in that unmistakable dieselly fashion. It’s not a car that ever feels truly quick, but it’s never going to leave you in a code-brown situation when overtaking or pulling out of a junction. The seven-speed S-Tronic gearbox is slick-shifting, but can occasionally be slow to react and hang on to gears a bit longer than you’d like, both issues this VW dual-clutcher often suffers from.
Similarly, the new A6’s handling isn’t particularly interesting, but it’s not unpleasant either. As standard, it comes with brake-based torque-vectoring, which goes a little way to cancelling out some of that typical Audi understeer, and variable-ratio steering, which keeps the rack nicely weighted for whatever speed you’re doing. It’s never going to engage in the same way as a 5 Series, but that’s been the case for as long as these two models have been duking it out for the affections of middle managers across Europe. It’s certainly the most agile a non-performance A6 has felt in a while, though.
Audi A6 Avant – rear, driving
What the A6 does best is comfort. Our car had the optional adaptive air suspension, which is fantastic at ironing out imperfections and keeping everything cushiony but controlled. We can’t speak for either of the passive setups – the standard one or the 20mm-lower configuration that comes on S-Line and Edition 1 cars – but opting for the air-sprung setup seems like £1755 well-spent.
That emphasis on comfort continues on the inside, with loads of space and big, supportive seats to settle back into on a long run. The Avant gets 466 litres of boot space seats-up and 1497 with them down – less than a 5 Series Touring, E-Class Estate or the Skoda Superb/VW Passat twins, but still plenty enough for most people.
Audi A6 Avant – interior
The rest of the cabin, though, is where things begin to go a bit wrong for the A6. The material quality isn’t at the level it should be in an Audi – it all looks nice and swishy, but you’ll be disappointed to discover the tacky-feeling aluminium-effect plastic around the vents and the equally cheap, fingerprinty piano black stuff Audi likes to stick on its centre consoles these days. While it’s no great surprise to find corners being cut in a modern car interior, it’s a bit disappointing when it’s so obvious in a car that, at a minimum, costs £52,785 for a saloon and £54,735 for an Avant.
More irritating, though, are the controls – or lack thereof. Audi’s eliminated nearly every physical button and dial, although thankfully, you do get a proper knob for audio volume and a shortcut button for your ADAS settings. The only ways of adjusting the fans, though, are to jab at the screen, temporarily overriding whatever’s displayed on it, or to take your chance with the voice command system. Both are ultimately workable, but needlessly slow and complex.
Audi A6 Avant – interior
Then there are the infuriating steering wheel buttons Audi still insists on sticking in everything it makes. For some reason, they’re both clickable and touch sensitive, and they’re too small, too easy to accidentally brush while steering, and feel cheap and nasty when you do click them. All these grumbles are steadily creeping into the latest generation of Audis, and frankly, the interior revolution promised by the Concept C can’t come soon enough.
Forgive them, though, and the A6 is a pleasant, roomy and, in diesel guise, fuel-efficient cruiser, albeit one that could stand to gain a bit more power and reclaim some of that stout interior solidity of Audis of old. A solid all-rounder, it’s not as sweet-handling as a 5-Series Touring, nor as techy as an E-Class Estate.
Audi A6 Avant – rear, static
You can’t get the BMW as a diesel anymore, though, and starting at £54,735, the Audi is better value spec-for-spec than the Merc (although our test car, a top-spec Edition 1 with some liberal options-box ticking, came in at £79,255 – for a 2.0-litre diesel estate!).
Frankly, if it was our money, we’d ignore all the flash German badges and get a top-spec Skoda Superb L&K Estate, which starts at £49,385 for a similarly-powerful all-wheel drive diesel. It’s as nice to drive as the Audi, and has a better interior and a bigger boot, but if the badge matters that much to you, the A6 should keep you satisfied. It does everything you could reasonably ask of it – it’s just a shame it doesn’t feel quite as Audi-ish as some of its forebears.
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