A few weeks ago, I received a phone call from Paxton with an opportunity to test drive the newly released 2005 Audi A6 4.2 Quattro. Without hesitation an appointment was scheduled and I waited with baited anticipation as every car magazine review that I've read so far have had nothing but great things to say about the entire car.
The A6 that I had the honor of driving today is a European spec A6 4.2 quattro. It appears to be making its rounds around the west coast training the sales staff, Audi technicians and lucky future A6 owners like yours truly.
Exterior:
I urge anyone reading this who have not seen this car in person to get out to the dealership as soon as these cars hit the lot. The pictures simply do not do it justice. In static mode, the shape of this newly constructed A6 from the ground up conveys speed. The flow starting from the hood up the windshield and down towards the stamped kick up in the rear boot lid gives the new A6 an subtlety aggressive posteur.
Moving to the front end of the car stands before you the controversial "Shield" that will adorn almost the entire Audi line harking back to its Auto Union days. Yes it’s prominent, as it aptly should, because this will be what bystanders will quickly recognize as uniquely Audi. Love it or Hate it, this grille is here to stay. One way or another, the front end of this A6 will convey emotion.
Follow the body crease from the upper most corner of the headlight assembly and you’ll see this simple line accent the body creating a feel of forward movement on towards the rear of the deck lid where there's a slight "kickup".
Simple is what best describes the sihlouhette of this car. You have a coupe like roof line with a rather rakish 'C' pillar allows this sports sedan to slip through the wind at a 0.28 drag coefficent. Unlike another competing European car in this segment this Audi A6 has two prominent body lines, one previously described and a lower belt line flows effortlessly in concert never competing for your attention.
Rounding off the car is the simple yet elegant rear end of the A6.
The low lift over of the trunk makes for ease of lifting large items in and out of the trunk without worrying about getting caught. A nice strip of polished aluminum accents the top portion of the rear boot lid to give it a touch of sporting class. The trunk greatly benefited from this redesign as one can easily stow at least 2 golf bags with room for possibly more.
The car's battery is now housed underneath the false bottom adjacent to the spare tire.
One of the main highlight of the car's rear end is the use of LED light assembly for added efficiency and safety in inclement weather.
Interior:
All I can say is this is typical Audi ergonomic at its best! The fit, finish, and use of high quality materials runs abound inside the A6. The car I had the pleasure of piloting was equipped with the sport interior as evidenced by it's 3 spoke perforated leather steering wheel and rather supportive B6 S4 like sport seating (it was a dream to sit in as you are nestled comfortably inside the cockpit).
The gauge cluster is easy to read, 4 gauges gives the driver a quick glance at the engines vitals (water, tach, speedo, fuel)
Further, audio controls are within fingers reach on the sport steering to tune to your favorite presets and to control the volume. Lurking behind the 3 and 9 position lies the paddle shifter, more on that later. Moving your eyes towards the center you’ll be greeted with Audi's simplified answer to the ubiquitous I-Drive…I didn’t get a chance to fiddle with it much but what I could gather from it was that it was very intuitive and simple to use.
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My name is John.
The fact that 20% rejects the new grill does not mean 80% approve. There is a whole other catigory of people who have not formed an opinion, or are ambivolent. I suspect that it is a fairly large group.
But I am one of the 20% so my opinion is biased, which affects the statistics.
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