AUDI LAUNCHES NEW A6 ALLROAD QUATTRO

Sometimes it’s nice to spend time in a car that has a cult following such that the company that sells them doesn’t seem especially bothered by the expense of a relatively low-volume proposition. The Audi A6 allroad quattro is one of those cars and Audi freely admits that its customers are rusted on (which might explain the allroad-exclusive brown hue available as an option). It’s also nice to see an option available if you don’t want a big SUV.

In the past, three quarters of A6 Avants sold were allroad quattro, so the German company has gone all-in and dropped the standard wagons. Quattro is the Audi name for all-wheel drive.

VALUE
It’s not cheap – kicking off at $111,900 (plus on-road costs), it is at least $6000 cheaper than the model it replaces while packing more power and gear.

Standard are 19-inch alloys, LED headlights and “dynamic” scrolling indicators, four-zone climate control, active lane and side assist, electric folding and autochromatic mirrors, leather everywhere, DAB digital radio, keyless entry and start and electric tailgate.

The $4800 Technik Package includes park assist, adaptive cruise with stop-and-go and “pre-sense plus”, Audi Connect internet connectivity and around-view camera. Individual options include Bose-branded surround sound ($1950), matrix LED headlights ($2300), panoramic sunroof ($2980), full body paint (ie painted plastic on the wheelarches for $1450) and load-securing kit for $380.

DESIGN
The new allroad quattro brings the sheetmetal into line with the recently updated A6 with a bit of TT thrown in. If you’re looking for drama, you’ve come to the wrong place – it’s a study in restraint and keeping it cool. The main external changes are limited to tweaked headlights and other easily-changed bits and pieces. The allroad is distinguished by vertical grille slats, unique bumper, unpainted wheel-arch and sill extensions and unique tailpipes.

The A6’s cabin is big and quiet, with excellent front seats and unusually comfortable rears. With the long wagon roofline, you get plenty of headroom everywhere and a good chunk of storage – 565 litres with the seats up and 1680 litres with both sides of the 60/40 split rear seat down.

The dash design is simple and clear, avoiding the occasional button explosion high-tech German cars can suffer from. As is Audi’s wont, the materials are first rate and there isn’t a mismatched bit of plastic front to rear. The aluminium look trim is good, the wood slightly less successful, but as always, that’s a matter of taste.

The new car’s dash now features a full colour display between the dials which can be switched according to taste. The sat-nav display is excellent and leaves the central screen free for passengers to play with the music selections.

SAFETY
New A6 allroad quattro comes well-equipped and includes eight airbags, ABS, stability and traction controls, reversing camera and pre-sense collision avoidance and mitigation.

INFOTAINMENT
As in the A6, there’s a decent-sized 8-inch screen in the dash run by Audi’s MMI which continues to evolve. The updated MMI supports iOS’s Siri and Android’s S VOice, proper USB support, and Bluetooth.

Sound is excellent through both the standard and optional Bose stereos.

The sat-nav performs well and has a nifty feature where if you load images with GPS info you can call up the image and tell the car to go there.

ENGINE / TRANSMISSION
The allroad quattro is available with just the 3.0-litre TDI, which isn’t a bad thing at all. Power and torque are both up in the new model, with 160 kW and 500 Nm to drive all four wheels. The sprint to 100 km/h is dispatched in 7.3 seconds.

Audi claims just 5.6 litres per 100 kilometres for the combined cycle, aided and abetted by an a seven-speed dual clutch transmission and updated stop-start system that switches the engine off if the car continues to slow under 7 km/h. Added to this is an Efficiency driving mode that has a free-wheeling function when you get off the throttle.

We tested the 0-100 km/h sprint repeatedly but given our drive was on at-times unrestricted Northern Territory roads, our highway fuel figures would be rather unrepresentative.

DRIVING
It’s an incredibly comfortable cruiser. Our quick-fire trip to the Northern Territory saw a bit of lowly-trafficked Darwin roads before blasting out onto the Stuart Highway to the south. One way to gauge a car’s capability is to accelerate slowly to very high speeds and see when your passengers fall into a nervous silence, something you can only do up here.

It was the unplanned beep of the car’s own speed warning at 200 km/h that alerted the passengers who shrugged and got on with their discussion. Up to and including that speed, the allroad quattro was quiet and impeccably composed.

On the red dirt and gravel, the underbody appears to be well insulated as there was none of the expected pinging and ponging of stones. Part of the A6’s quietness is down to a refined engine and transmission while acoustic glass dampens the sound of large and unfortunate insects meeting their end on the windscreen as well as general wind and ambient noise.

There are five driving modes – dynamic, automatic, comfort and lift. Lift uses the air suspension to bring the A6 up to 185mm off the deck, allroad mode reduces that to 175mm. Comfort and dynamic drop further, to 140mm and 125mm respectively.

The allroad quattro’s drivetrain does have a bit of fun built in. Drive is split 40:60 front to rear, with a maximum of 85 percent to the rears. The quattro sport differential also adds to the potential mischief with torque vectoring across the rear axle to help quell the inevitable understeer.

We didn’t do a lot of cornering, but long fast sweeping bends were no problem at all and the few corners we did tackle confirmed our suspicions – heavy car, mild understeer, no drama.

SUMMING UP 4.0/5
The new A6 allroad quattro does what the previous models did – quiet, refined cruising with a smattering of off-road capability without the me-tooness of an SUV. The allroad quattro won’t ever threaten the Q7 for sales but is here for a hard-core fan-base that buys them at a rate of a few hundred per year.

It’s not the cheapest option for your mild off-roading needs, but it’s a road-crushing cruiser, with tons of space for the family and their things. On top of that, it looks the business. Can’t really argue with that.

LIKES: Effortless power, refinement, sleek design.
DISLIKES: Heavy, annoying option packs versus single option pricing, air suspension ride.