First look: A6 beauty in the beast

IS this the face that will turn Audi’s A6 from mid-size luxury pretender to contender?More aggressive with its chrome-ringed guppy mouth, the sixth generation A6 is launched at the Geneva motor show next month, before going on sale in Europe in June.

In Australia, we should get our first in-the-metal sighting of the new A6 at the Sydney motor show in October, before it goes on sale either late in 2004 or early 2005.

An Avant (wagon) version should be launched in the next few months in Europe but there is no news on whether it will come here.

The new A6 will replace a car widely lauded for its clean lines and superb interior, but also one that was dominated by its fellow Germans, the BMW 5 Series and Mercedes Benz E-class, in terms of sales.

To counter that, Audi has obviously decided that bold is beautiful, revealing a car that is in most parts an evolutionary progression from the old shape – except for the new front-end, recently seen on the A8 L and several concept cars.

The dominant feature is that big trapezoidal grille which is bisected by a thick horizontal bar. Love it or hate it, you can’t ignore it.

Overall, the new A6 is slightly longer, wider and higher than its predecessor and has a substantial 83mm extension in wheelbase to 2840mm. Audi says that means front shoulder room has climbed by 23mm with an extra 6mm in the rear. Luggage capacity is 546 litres, which is up for the all-wheel drive quattro models but down for the front-wheel drives.

The interior follows the trend of the A8 luxury saloon launched last year, with its high and wide centre console. There’s also an MMI (Multi Media Interface) control terminal behind the gearshift and an electro-mechanical parking brake.

A distinctive touch is the steering wheel boss which apes the shape of the new grille.

Despite being a bigger car, Audi claims the combined effect of using aluminium, high-strength steels including stainless steel and tailored blanks means the body weight of the A6 is reduced by around 30kg. It also claims torsional stiffness is up by 34 per cent.

There's no sign of the aluminium spaceframe that is employed by the A8, but Audi does link the two cars in character claiming they are the most sporting in their respective classes.

Audi has significantly updated the engine range of the A6. At launch the base level petrol engine will continue to be a 2.4-litre V6 with a 5kW boost to 130kW, a 188kW 3.2-litre direct injection (FSI) V6 which will first be seen here in the new A3 and the 90-degree 246kW V8 recently launched here in the sports S4 model.

The only engine for sale in the current generation here that is not covered off on that list is the 184kW biturbo V6. But that doesn’t necessarily mean it is dead, just that it’s not part of the initial line-up.

Also, no news has been issued about the timing of the next A6 or the hyper RS 6, the latter mooted to have either a bi-turbo V8 or V10 engine.

Turbo-diesel is also a chance for introduction in Australia, with a 3.0-litre 165kW V6 and four-cylinder 103kW 2.0-litre both available initially in Europe. With the 2.0 set to be offered as part of the A3 range, it makes sense that the 3.0 would be the engine under consideration for the A6 here.

In Germany, engines can be mated to a manual six-speed gearbox, six-speed tiptronic or continuously variable multitronic automatic transmission. But the latter CVT still does not appear to be used with quattro. Australian transmission combinations have not been determined yet. There are no manual gearboxes currently on offer here.

Other technical features include Audi’s familiar four-link front suspension and the trapezoidal-link rear suspension design from the A8, with adaptive air suspension as an option from 2005. Brake assist and speed-dependent servotronic steering are standard.

Features that Audi is already touting for the new car include two-stage activation front airbags, a sideguard head airbag system, side airbags and active head restraints at the front as standard. Also standard are light and rain sensors and climate control.

Options in Europe include adaptive cornering lights, radar-assisted adaptive cruise control, a tyre pressure monitoring system, an access authorisation system, Bose surround sound system and DVD navigation.

Exactly what pricing the new A6 will be set at and what sales it will achieve are both questions Audi Australia is shying away from for the moment. Spec is yet to be finalised and that will play a big role in determining the dollar figure.

Mixed into that is the January 1, 2005, reduction in import tarriffs, which will also have to be taken into account.

If it gets here by December 31, the A6 will cap off a hectic year for Audi in Australia, with the mew model rush going something like this:May:
Audi S4 Avant
Audi A3 1.6 and 2.0 FSI
Audi A3 2.0 TDI (probable)June/July:
Audi S4 cabriolet
Audi TT V6Third quarter:
Audi A8 L 4.2August:
Audi A3 3.2 DSG