Audi A6 Allroad 2013 Review

Not so much
>> Price
>> There are still lots of expensive options
>> Busy cockpit

That was back in 2001 and the A6 Avant-based quattro wagon was simply known as the Allroad and came with a frisky twin turbo petrol engine. A diesel followed in 2002. It was a low-risk entry into the segment, aping the concept of the Subaru Outback and Volvo XC70 by being a low-rise version of a road-going all-wheel-drive wagon.

In 2002 SUVs accounted for 18 per cent of all new passenger vehicles and the Allroad claimed six per cent of all Audi sales. Fast forward to 2012 and the launch of the third generation Allroad. Total Australian SUV sales are now 35 per cent of the market and 37 per cent of all Audi models hitting the road are soft-roaders.

Of course, that dramatic rise for Audi is due to the arrival of the Q7, Q5 and Q3. The A6 Allroad is now only a bit player. Indeed, Audi has announced the new car will be sold as a limited edition of 150. At a sales rate of around 10 per month (estimated) you won’t have to be in your Audi showroom tomorrow to make sure you can get one – especially at the $117,900 asking price (before on-road costs)!

PRICE AND EQUIPMENT
>>Up, up and away
Being a ‘limited edition’, the A6 Allroad comes in just one specification, powered by a 3.0-litre V6 turbodiesel engine driving all four wheels via quattro permanent all-wheel drive and an S tronic (dual clutch) seven-speed transmission.

It is more than $40,000 more expensive than a Q5 3.0 TDI and a little less expensive than the only A6 Avant turbodiesel available here, which is a 2.0-litre front-wheel drive mated to a CVT (or multitronic in Audi-speak).

The Allroad is also over $14,000 more expensive than its predecessor, which was delisted in September 2011, priced at $103,714. But Audi claims the new car more than makes up the gap with additional standard equipment that it values at more than $20,000.

New gear includes satellite navigation (amazing the old car didn’t have it standard), four-zone climate control and a powered tailgate. There’s also powered and heated front seats, an MMI controller that links to a flip-up eight-inch media screen, keyless entry/start, 10-speaker audio, 60 GB hard disk, DVD drive, voice control, Bluetooth and leather and aluminium trim.

But the Allroad’s most advanced available technology remains optional, including LED headlights, radar based active cruise control, the pre-sense rear-end collision sensing system, side assist lane change alert, active lane assist and parking assist.

The Allroad has several styling features that distinguish it from the A6 Avant, including wheel arch flares, stainless steel underbody protection, side skirts, 20-inch alloy wheels and Q5-like vertical bars for the single-mouth grille. A space saver spare tyre with compressor is standard. Braked towing capacity is a substantial 2500kg.

MECHANICAL
>>A bit more power, a lot more torque
Based on the same MLB architecture as the latest A6 range, the Allroad measures up at 4940mm long, 1898mm wide and a minimum 1452mm high. Its wheelbase is 2905mm, which is a 72mm extension over its predecessor. Yet overall length is only six mm longer. The front overhang has been chopped by 77mm.

It weighs in at a hefty 1855kg, despite 20 per cent of componentry being aluminium.

Powering this sizeable chunk of vehicle is an uprated version of Audi’s familiar 3.0-litre common-rail, direct-injected and intercooled V6 turbodiesel, which climbs a substantial 80 Newton-metres and a less significant four kilowatts.

The 24-valve engine’s vital numbers are now 180kW at 4000-4500rpm and 580Nm between 1750-2500rpm. It averages 6.3L/100km with the aid of auto start-stop – a 16 per cent improvement from its predecessor – and emits 165g/km of CO2. Audi claims the A6 Allroad will accelerate from 0-100km/h in 6.6 secs.

S tronic can be left to do its own thing, be placed in sport mode to hold gears longer, or manipulated manually via the shift lever or paddles on the steering wheel. The quattro system is a self-locking centre diff that nominally splits drive 40:60 front rear. Torque vectoring clamps a spinning front wheel to aid drive distribution. Hill descent control is standard.

Standard Allroad chassis equipment includes electro-mechanical power steering – which is claimed to save 0.3L/100km – and the multi-mode Drive Select system, which now adds economy-oriented Efficiency mode and an ‘Allroad’ mode for off-road driving, in addition to Dynamic, Comfort, Auto and Individual.

Drive Select changes the parameters of the engine, transmission, steering and air suspension.

The air suspension system is self-levelling at the rear and can raise the ride height as much as 60mm all-round below 30km/h to cope with rough off-road conditions.

The luggage area offers 560 litres of baggage space, which expands to 1685 litres when the rear seat is folded down (albeit not quite flat). The loading width is 1050 millimetres, the loading length 1181mm, another 785mm added when the rear seat backrest is folded down. The loading lip height is 624mm.

Bag hooks, a side fastening belt, a tray for dirty items under the loading floor and four fastening rings that can be moved on rails on the edges of the floor, are all standard. The luggage compartment partition net can be secured in two positions.

This is an interior of high quality and essentially apes the A6 donor car. Seats are covered in black leather trim, while there are aluminium ‘A6 Allroad’ door sill trims. Up-front, passengers are very comfortably looked after thanks to large, supporting and fully adjustable seats. The driver’s main challenge is absorbing the information that is available via the instrument panel, the media screen or the buttons and dials on both the centre console and centre stack.

Storage options are common up-front and reasonable in rear. Outboard rear-seat passengers also get a good deal when it comes to head, knee and leg-room, but the middle-rear passenger draws the short straw because of the intrusive transmission tunnel.

SAFETY
>>Ticks the boxes
The A6 Allroad includes eight airbags, tyre pressure monitoring, ESC and traction control, front and rear parking sensors, a reversing camera and xenon headlights. For off-road driving a new display shows the car’s lateral and tilt angles. Hill Descent Control can be set at a range between 9km/h and 30km/h.

The current A6 has been rated a full five stars by Euro NCAP. However, that result applies to a left-hand drive four-cylinder turbodiesel sedan.

It’s a weird mob and not all of them that tempting. So plaudits to Audi, which seems to have found a niche all to itself. Hey, if anyone was going to...

ON THE ROAD
>>It’s very nice, but for this price…
Just like the A6 it is based on, the Allroad is a significantly improved drive compared to its predecessor. The engine is a peach, with mountains of torque to ensure that no obstacle is too big or too steep to conquer. Refinement is superb for a diesel engine and noise intrusion is minimal.

Our only quibble was a very occasional and very intermittent momentarily lapse of throttle response. We don’t think it was turbo lag or dual clutch tardiness, but maybe a minor glitch in our test car. We’ve alerted Audi and we’ll see if they can unearth anything.

The Allroad’s ride and handling balance was very good. The air suspension tended toward a trademark mild patter, but overall control and comfort was terrific, whatever mode had been dialled up via Drive Select.

Efficiency, however, did tend to dampen engine response down too much.

No matter what the surface the Allroad managed to keep most noise out of the cockpit. Not even coarse bitumen could generate much roar from the massive Goodyear Eagle F1 255/40ZR20 tyres.

The Allroad proved stable and controlled on the gravel roads and creek crossings of the launch drive. The ability to raise ride height proved handy negotiating some water bars. But there’s no doubting this is a soft-roader with a low off-road limit you would be foolish to push far. The absence of low range or even a locking diff speaks volumes there.

But realistically, Allroads are most likely to spend most of their time strolling about our most affluent suburbs. There, they will provide a nice combination of car-like driving experience and a viewing platform not far shy of an SUV for the few who can afford them.

And that is surely the Allroad’s biggest issue; the price is over the top even for a car of this quality. Hey, it certainly buys exclusivity.

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