Audi A6 Avant 2.5 TDI

...name for "Estate") and the Audi A6 Avant (Audi's even stupider name for "Estate"). All three are absolutely belting cars and I wouldn't be unhappy with any of them. I don't know how you choose your cars but with me it's almost always emotional, although I then usually go to the trouble of producing a load of charts and lists to justify the emotional decision I've already made, if you see what I mean. I think what I am trying to ...
...the Golf Gti Diesel. While Audi and VW are both part of the same company (VAG), there is still a bit of rivalry between them so when Audi released the 150bhp V6 to VW, it already had a more powerful variant up its sleeve, the 180bhp unit which is only available in the A6 Quattro. In order to get the extra 30bhp Audi had to up the turbo boost pressure and fit stronger con-rods and pistons to the motor. However at 180bhp it is kicking out almost exactly ... more

If you've read any of my other bits and pieces on this site then you will know that I am a bit of a Porsche freak. So what am I doing writing about a big staid Audi? Well, I flogged my Boxter S at the end of last autumn and Jan (she who must be obeyed) decided that I should invest in "something more sensible" in line with my rapidly advancing years. Having pondered for a while on what to do I decided to have a look at the new crop of big German "super diesels". You know, those big turbocharged Autobahn stormers that whistle past you on the Motorway doing a steady 98 MPH and getting forty-odd miles to the gallon - smug bastards.

So, I looked at the Merc 320 Estate, The BMW 530 Touring (BM's stupid name for "Estate") and the Audi A6 Avant (Audi's even stupider name for "Estate"). All three are absolutely belting cars and I wouldn't be unhappy with any of them. I don't know how you choose your cars but with me it's almost always emotional, although I then usually go to the trouble of producing a load of charts and lists to justify the emotional decision I've already made, if you see what I mean. I think what I am trying to say here is that, when it comes right down to it, I'm a bit of a prat.

Anyway, the Merc ran out too expensive and second hand examples are as rare as rocking horse shit. As to the 530, I know I'm in the minority when I say this but I don't like BMWs. The build quality isn't great and I don't aspire to being the kind of person who drives one. A mate of mine was on the Board of BMW Softlab (BMW's computer arm) for a while and I got to thrash all of the top-end cars at various BMW track days. The only model in the BMW stable I really would kill for is the M5. That thing just flies. As to the rest? You can keep 'em. My wife has driven three series cars for years and she loves them but the truth is that they aren't that good. Tail happy, thirsty and not particularly reliable. Oh, and they are prime targets for casual thieves to break into. I have had to replace no less than five drop glasses in Jan's last three cars. But enough of my subjectivity, the 530 is the quietest of the three, the highest revving and the one that feels most like a petrol car. It's also the thirstiest and has the least room.

Audi's V6 Tdi motor is a bit of a masterpiece. Up until last year, you could only get it in its 150bhp guise. This is the same engine which graces the Golf Gti Diesel. While Audi and VW are both part of the same company (VAG), there is still a bit of rivalry between them so when Audi released the 150bhp V6 to VW, it already had a more powerful variant up its sleeve, the 180bhp unit which is only available in the A6 Quattro. In order to get the extra 30bhp Audi had to up the turbo boost pressure and fit stronger con-rods and pistons to the motor. However at 180bhp it is kicking out almost exactly the same from its 2.5 litres as the BMW is from 3 litres and the Merc from 3.2. Cool huh?

The car I ended up buying was my local Audi main dealer's 3-month-old demonstrator. The car is loaded to the gills with extras and they did me a stonking deal. Officially it is an Audi A6 Avant Quattro SE Sport 2.5 Tdi, which must be the longest moniker ever given to a car. New, on the road, the car would have been put up at about £33500 but they let me have it (with 4500 miles on the clock) for £28K. Now that's a good deal in my book. However, it wasn't just the price which made me choose the car, it is the way the thing goes. The mid-range torque is nothing short of astonishing. Below 1500 rpm the car is absolutely gutless but once you cross the midpoint between the big 1 and the big 2 on the tacho, the turbo starts to do its magic and the car just lifts up its skirts and flies. Unfortunately, a bit like me these days, its all over very quickly and the Diesel runs out of puff at betwen 4000 and 4500 revs. Mine is a six-speed manual, which the car genuinely needs due to the relatively narrow power band however, if I were buying from new then I think I would pay the extra 1500 sovs and have the gearless CV automatic gearbox. The CV (constantly variable) box is class. Do you remember the little Dutch Daffodil or DAF? It had a CV box that worked on rubber belts and it could go as fast backwards as it could forwards (neither of which was particularly quick mind you). The Dutch, the mad buggers, used to race them backwards at Assen! The traditional problem with CV boxes is that you can't put much power through them without the belts slipping. Audi have managed to crack the problem by using hy-vo chains instead of rubber belts and as a result reckon that their box is good for around 250bhp. Cop that for a bit of the old vorsprung durch technik.

The fixtures and fittings on the car are absolutely top notch and I cannot find fault with the build quality. It is definitely better than BMW's 5 series and right up there with Merc's E class. As an example, the tie down hooks in the boot floor are absolutely prime grade chrome rather than the satin black items which you would find in any other car and the carpeted cubby holes in the boot have heavy duty metal latches rather than the more common plastic "push-click" varieties.

Extras on my car are the sports pack which is essentially lowered suspension (bloody stupid idea) and what my teenage son refers to as "BAFS" (Big Ass Five Spokes) shod with extremely low profile (235/45), "Z" rated, Dunlop SP Sport tyres all round. It also has those "blue" high intensity headlights, full leather, CD Stacker and wood trim inserts. The sports pack reduces the ground clearance on the car to just above bugger all. The car park where I work is just an old building site and, as a result, it's quite rough and potholed. One of our security guys gouged a great bit lump of plastic out of the front bumper while he was somewhat enthusiastically parking the car (playing at being Colin bloody McRae more likely!). Fortunately the VAG body shop repaired it without the need for a replacement bumper. However, even on normal roads a bit of, ahem, shall we say, spirited driving will see the car touching down in the corners or over relatively small bumps. The sports pack gives the car a really lean, mean look but I would advise that you keep your money unless you enjoy the sound of plastic on tarmac.

My daily drive to work consists of 24 fast motorway miles and 8 very slow urban ones into Manchester. Overall the car is doing about 32 miles to the gallon, which I find very acceptable for such a big vehicle but which, nevertheless, is less than Audi led me to believe. The big positive from the point of view of running cost is the Audi Extended Service Interval that these cars have. Audi use a high-grade synthetic oil (made specially by Castrol), which allows them to do anything up to 22000 miles between services (the period is variable depending upon how you drive the car). Mine has just had its first service at 19600 miles. The fixed price of £280 compares very favourably with BMW and Merc, particularly when you consider that I will probably only service the car twice more while it is in my ownership (I intend to swap it at 60K). The only downside is that the oil is almost impossible to obtain other than through a VAG Main Dealer. Moreover, it costs nearly twelve quid a litre! Liquid gold or what? According to the handbook, in an emergency you can top up with a "small amount" (that's what it says) of another "good" synthetic. However, it then goes on to warn that putting too much of the wrong oil in will invalidate the warranty and, assuming that the engine doesn't blow up, the car will have to revert to being serviced every 6000 miles. I asked Audi what constituted a "small amount" and after a great deal of humming and hahing they eventually came up with the answer "No more than one litre" however, they also very kindly gave me a cute little sealed "top-up" bag containing one litre of the posh Castrol stuff together with a little hand wipe sachet like the ones you get at Kentucky Fried Chicken. Nice.

All the motoring hacks criticize the A6 for it's steering, accusing it of being a bit "vague", particularly at the turn-in point, and I'm afraid that I have to concur. Usually I disagree with journos on principle, simply because most of them don't know their asses from a hole in the ground. I met one guy a few years back who was working as a road tester on a fairly well known magazine who admitted to me that his previous job had been writing about furniture! Just the bloke you need to tell you about the on the limit handling of your latest heartthrob scoot. Anyhow, the Quattro does feel a bit uncommunicative and wooden when you chuck it into your favourite bend. At first it feels very "front-endy" as if the front is going to let go. However, if you floor it, it will dig in and settle down. The actual level of grip available at the limit is nothing short of astonishing and there is very little that will match it for lateral G. However, when it does finally begin to let go, it is the front that gives up first, something which I don't particularly like but which is probably safer than the rear going walkies. No counter-steering skill or balls-out-rear-wheel-drive bravado is necessary to bring the car back into line, just ease off the power and it will come back all by itself. All very undramatic, which I suppose is the whole ethos of the car.

On the motorway the A6 is superb. It will sit at seventy with the cruise control engaged whispering along quietly and giving about 45 miles to the gallon. This really is having your cake and eating it. My only criticism is the clutch. It has quite a long action, which makes it almost impossible to get the seat rake correct. If you set the seat so you are comfortable for the clutch-out position, then you will be stretching to push the peddle all the way to the floor. Conversely if you set the seat one notch forward, which is comfortable at the clutch-in position, then you have to lift your foot awkwardly to depress the pedal in the first place. Solution? Shell out another 1500 dabs and specify the superb gearless CV automatic. You know it makes sense. Old man Renault knew a thing or two. He was the first to fit gears to a motor car and he said of them "C'est brutal, mais ca marche!" Chuck 'em away.

The stereo is killer, if a bit odd. Despite the fact that my car has a CD stacker in the boot, the head-up unit in the dash, which you would expect to incorporate a tape player has, instead, another single shot CD unit giving 7 CD's in all. Can't work that one out at all. Funnily enough, the single shot unit is one of the few things to have given trouble. It gets very hot sitting there above the heater gubbins and every now and then it sulks and won't eject the CD. Park up, leave it to cool down for a bit and its fine again. The only other, more worrying, fault is the fact that every now and again when I return to the car I find that it has wound one, or sometimes all, of the windows down. At first I thought that it was just dopey old me forgetting to shut them (yes, there is a setting on the remote locking mechanism which will wind them up when you lock it but I don't have it enabled) but after a while I realised that there is a little Gremlin in the electronics which every now and again has a bit of fun with me. It doesn't bother me overly because I never leave anything of value in the car but I am worried that one of these days I may return to find that someone has moved-in and claimed squatter's rights!

In summary, I really like this car. It looks great, goes well and doesn't need to visit either the petrol station or the service shop very often. Nice one Audi, but couldn't you have come up with a name that isn't quite as long as war and peace?
 

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