Hard to imagine now, but if you walked into an Audi showroom ten years ago, your only choice was something from either the A4 or A6 model
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| (Photo: John LeBlanc, Auto123.com) |
ranges. But with plans to extend its lineup from the existing 22 to a total of 40 by the year 2015--more immediately, the A5 Coupé, Audi TT Roadster and the Audi R8 mid-engined sports car, all coming for 2007--Audi is getting serious about being a full-line carmaker. Even the Audis that matter to driving zealots--badged S line, S, and RS--have multiplied like hasenpfeffer.
Which nicely segue's into this road test's subject matter: Audi's new S6. Or, better known to enthusiasts as, "the S6 with that Lamborghini vee-ten".
Appearing first in Audi's recently rejuvenated über-luxury-sedan S8, this is Audi's first ever vee-ten. Although the German company admits that the S6's mill was pinched from a parts bin with an Italian label, they also say that there's been enough technical differentiation from Audi's hard working engineers to call this mill their own.
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| (Photo: John LeBlanc, Auto123.com) |
Engine genealogy aside, cajoling a 435 horsepower, 398 pound-feet of torque 5.2-litre ten cylinder into the engine bay of the sourced A6 sedan certainly does supports Audi's "getting serious" attitude. Compared to the carmaker's first S6 from the mid-'90s--that housed a 227 h.p., 258 lb.-ft. of torque 2.2-litre turbocharged five-cylinder engine--it's also another indication of Audi's decade long upwards progress. More on the S6's Lambo, er, Audi vee-ten later.
As expected from any Audi wearing an S badge, the rest of the five-passenger, mid-size sedan has been modified to balance the engine's prodigious power.
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| (Photo: John LeBlanc, Auto123.com) |
The sole transmission choice--a six-speed manumatic--has been retuned to deliver more dynamic gear changes. In addition to being able to select "S" sport mode via the console gear-shift lever, an S6 driver can also swap cogs anytime manually with the gorgeous aluminum-optic shift paddles that are mounted on the steering wheel. The S6's steering ratio has been quickened over the A6's, and standard 19-inch cast aluminum wheels with a distinctive 5-arm wing design and four large (386 millimtres in the front, 330 millimtres out back) ventilated discs with brake calipers painted black are all S6 exclusives.
Standard S6 rubber are 265/35 R19 summer performance tires, but during this most recent test, slightly narrower 255/35 R19 Dunlop SP Wintersport 3D M+S were fitted for the impending cold.
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| (Photo: John LeBlanc, Auto123.com) |
Inside, the S6's cockpit is crafted like every other A6--the industry's benchmark. For the new S6, front occupants enjoy sports seat with integral head restraints and pronounced lateral supports wrapped in Silk Nappa leather. The three-spoke multifunction leather sports steering wheel has power reach and height adjustments. And, as per Audi S standards, the instrument needles are in white and its numbers use characteristic S-style italics; the dials are in dark grey.
