A6 Allroad Quattro - The complete Audi

GERMAN premium car manufacturer Audi pioneered four wheel drive in normal road cars after their Audi quattro 4x4 rally car changed the face of rallying some 30 years ago and now they offer the system in all their cars including the latest new A6 Allroad quattro writes Bryan Longworth.
The Audi A6 allroad Quattro.The Audi A6 allroad Quattro.
The Audi A6 allroad Quattro.

The advantage of such cars is that owners do not have to buy a big butch premium offroader for the benefits of four wheel drive but can have them in a road car and the latest third generation Allroad is a perfect example of this versatility.

The new third generation Allroad has really sleek purposeful styling especially up front where the narrow and very effective LED headlamps with their distinctive daytime driving lights and impressive Audi grille along with the massive 20 inch alloys provide this car with bags of street appeal for it had many admirers.

There is four level adaptive air suspension and the new model is 70kg lighter due to more aluminium components which has helped to improve fuel consumption by 20 per cent compared with the previous model.

My test car was the A6 Allroad 3.0 TDI quattro S tronic with the 245bhp diesel engine costing £44,190 but it was bristling with options such as technology package (£3,250), 20” alloy wheels (£2,445), all LED headlights £2,175) which added over £20,000 to the overall price!

The very smooth V6 diesel engine provided the car with a really sporty power system with a top speed of 147mph, zero to 62mph time of 6.6 seconds, a combined fuel consumption of 44.8 mpg and CO2 emissions of 165g/km.

And the seven speed S tronic automatic gearbox which could also be operated manually by steering wheel paddles provided a really enjoyable driving experience assisted by the car’s superb handling.

The luggage compartment which had a load securing kit has a capacity of 565 litres which can be increased to 1,680 litres by folding the rear seat and underneath is a space saver spare wheel which is much better than a puncture pack that now seems to be the norm.

Audi stylists have provided a really up market and very functional leather clad interior with controls and instruments that are arguably the best in the business and I appreciated the choice for the driver to have a large digital speed display as well as the conventional speedometer.

The adaptive air suspension lowers the body by 15mm at high speed and raises it by 35mm at the push of a button and the driver can also raise this by 10mm at low speeds over rough terrain.

And owners with horses as I am sure quite a few will have will be interested to know that the Allroad is capable of pulling horse boxes, caravans and braked trailers up to 2500kg.

This latest Allroad is one of the best looking cars in the Audi range and a is a perfect example of a premium road car having the availability of four wheel drive for wintry road conditions and towing without the need to have a large and bulky 4x4.

My Verdict: The complete Audi.

Factfile

Model: Audi 6 Allroad.

Engine: 3.0-litre V6 diesel.

Output: 245bhp.

Transmission: Seven speed automatic.

Top speed: 147mph.

Acceleration: 0 to 62mph 6.6 seconds.

Fuel consumption: 44.8mpg combined.

CO2 emissions: 165g/km.

Price: £44,190.

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