Price hike for new Audi A6 allroad

Audi has launched its third-generation A6 allroad in Australia with a hefty price increase and a limited supply.

Now set at $117,900, about $14,000 more than its predecessor’s price when it departed the Australian market in September 2011, the A6 allroad continues on as a high-rise version of the latest A6 Avant, powered by an uprated 3.0-litre 180kW/580Nm turbo-diesel engine mated to a seven-speed dual-clutch transmission (S tronic) and quattro permanent all-wheel drive.

That price is also almost $40,000 more than the orthodox diesel A6 Avant, although that car is front-wheel drive-only and powered by a 2.0-litre four-cylinder rather than a V6.

Audi knows from past experience that demand for the A6 allroad will be limited, which is maybe why it has dubbed the new car a ‘limited-edition’ and says only 150 will be brought to Australia. But even at that level of supply it’s doubtful anyone who wants an A6 allroad won’t be able to get one.

So why has the A6 allroad - launched this week alongside, for the first time in Australia, the new A4 allroad - gone up so much in price?

“It’s really the added equipment,” explained Audi Australia Product Planner Peter Strudwicke. “The old car didn’t have satellite-navigation standard, which just shows you where the market was when that car was launched (in 2007).”

“Five years ago navigation wasn’t seen as a necessary item, so the previous car didn’t have that, didn’t have four-zone climate-control or a power tailgate. The added equipment in the new car is worth over $20,000.”

Certainly, the new A6 allroad has no shortage of standard comfort equipment. Other items include powered and heated front seats, an MMI controller that links to a seven-inch media screen, leather and aluminium trim. Safety equipment includes eight airbags, tyre pressure monitoring, electronic stability and traction control, front and rear parking sensors, a reversing camera and Xenon headlights.

But the allroad’s most advanced technology remains optional, including LED headlights radar-based active cruise control, the predictive rear-end collision sensing system, Side Assist lane-change alert, Active Lane Assist and Parking Assist.

The A6 allroad’s direct-injection 3.0-litre DOHC 24-valve engine averages 6.3L/100km – a 16 per cent improvement from its predecessor – with the aid of an automatic idle-stop system and emits 165g CO2/km. Audi claims the A6 allroad will accelerate to 100km/h in 6.6 seconds.

Audi's biggest allroad has grown for generation three, now measuring y 4.94 metres long with a 2.91-metre wheelbase and offering 560 litres of luggage space that expands to 1685 litres when the rear seat is folded down. The front seats are now 20mmm further apart.

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

Standard chassis equipment includes electro-mechanical power steering, 20-inch alloy wheels and tyres and the multi-mode Drive Select system, which now includes economy-oriented Efficiency mode and an ‘allroad’ mode for off-road driving. Adaptive air suspension can raise the ride height as much as 60mm to cope with rough off-road conditions.

The quattro system is a permanent mechanical type that nominally splits drive 40:60 front:rear. Torque vectoring clamps a spinning wheel to aid drive distribution. Hill Descent Control is also standard.

Visit motoring.com.au again soon for our launch review of the all-new Audi A4 Allroad.

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