The Audi A6 is proving to be the consummate executive family car as it does the job of giving off a rewarding drive while swallowing up five adults and their luggage with ease.
My only concern for now is the fuel consumption. While I have been guilty of not doing any long-distance driving, my average consumption is about 16 litres per 100km, and that is quite high for a 3,0-litre car. Obviously, I’m going to have to put a few long-distance kilometres on the car to gauge a proper combined fuel consumption, but for now it’s proving quite thirsty in city driving conditions.
The engine in the A6 is fairly new to this range — it’s the 3,0-litre V6 super-charged petrol unit, which comes with tiptronic transmission and Quattro all-wheel drive. It’s a very refined engine, but the power delivery is nothing short of blistering, and it’s because of its exuberance that I’m more to blame for the car’s high fuel consumption than the car itself — the 213kW of power and a whopping 420Nm of torque is difficult not to enjoy.
Audi claims that if I drive sensibly enough and mix in long distances then I should get close to the combined claimed consumption of about 10 litres per 100km. I will obviously put that to the test soon enough and report back on the long-distance fuel consumption.
The tiptronic transmission is top-notch and perfectly responsive. Move the gear-shifter into “manual” mode and the gear changes are perfectly crisp, move it into sport mode and it responds sharply to more urgent gear-changes.
Clearly the A6 is more than a middle-manager’s toy as it has the ability to be a bit of a hooligan when you want it to be.
Fast facts
Price: R595 000
Engine: 3,0-litre V6 turbocharged
Tech: 213kW and 420Nm
Top speed: 250km/h, 0 to 100 in 5,9s