Test drive Audi A6 1997 - 2001 sedan

"Six" hits ace

Almost all manufacturers make their fresh models every three to four years. This fate and Audi A6 did not pass.
 
Riding on Audi has become fashionable. In the country, three years ago, the surrounding the surrounding reality is only through the sight on the hood and automatic for three letters, Audi is experiencing a real Renaissance. It can be explained by a lot of reasons: the cost, diligence of representation, the fatigue of the consumer from the stereotypes of previous years, etc. But the fact remains: no one can boast of such a dynamics of sales over the past two years - an increase by almost five hundred percent. The Germans grabbed their heads when Russia demanded more and more quotas, the lion's share in them was not budget A4 and A3, but very and very equipped A8 and A6. Well, what can be said here - we live well.
What is in my image. Updating popular models is a crazy thing. Here, in the presentations, the press even developed a tradition: if the innovations are insignificant, then they are more than trying to compensate for them with the interest of the place, the luxury of hotels, the high cost of gifts, and so on. Audi, presenting her six 2001 six, chose for this the quiet East German town of Weimar, known primarily by the fact that a great hunkerry, a volunteer, a tyrant, and the genius of Goethe lived and worked there. Journalists were settled in an ordinary hotel, noteworthy only by the fact that during the GDR he was stuffed with bugs as an embassy of the United States in Moscow, and they gave each a leather wallet, probably copy money with a subtext.
I must say right away that the new A6 does not beat in the eyes. As in the picture - put it nearby and find ten differences. In total, 48 cars will go from the conveyor, of which 22 will be equipped with a Quattro all -wheel drive. So, let's start with the external.
The front panel with a radiator gril has changed - it has become double. If you carefully look at the headlights, it can be seen that they have become larger - the manufacturer claims that the new xenon gives 37 percent more than the light, and as an option the machine is equipped with long -range xenon light.
On the stern, I notice in a new way the decorated rear lights, which emphasize the design dignity of a cut limousine, as the Audi engineers call it. Immediately - the emphasized sexual trail - chrome, and not modestly hidden, as before, the pipes of the muffler. As for the color, then there are changes: in the scheme of Audi, they finally moved away from the dull, in my opinion, Prussian-green and moved to the most unexpected shades of blue and black-11 new options for coloring the body appeared. The gamut of the wheeled discs became wider-a variety of drawings and sizes, up to 17-inch on sports versions.
Mark three. The best is the enemy of the good, - one of the functionaries of the concern began the presentation from such a phrase. Apparently, it was she who was supposed to explain why external changes were made to a minimum. Indeed, if the car is already sold so well, then what to invent the bicycle? So the truly update affected content, not forms.
Naturally, the first machine chosen by the author was a QUATTRO modification with a new engine of 3.0 and a new 6-speed manual box. Last year, Autopilot tested A6 Avant for six months with a manual checkpoint, and the memories of this dynamic, comfortable and pleasant in all respects were still fresh in memory. In addition, a fair share in Russian sales amounted to A6 Quattro with 2.8 engines, and now they were replaced by a three -liter.
 
At the wheel, I felt like in my favorite jeans after dry cleaning-everything is in its place, he doesn’t pull anywhere, he doesn’t pull. Alas, one hole still remained: the driver’s right leg rests again on the side of the central console - the very tunnel that we wrote about more than once was built here. However, I have long come to terms with him and I am considering this not as a constructive flaw, but a certain distinctive feature of Audi-something like four rings.
From the place to the quarry, the car starts very briskly, powerful and at the same time smoothly. The added two dozen horsepower in a light -up almost fifty kilograms of the engine affected accelerated dynamics. For 4 thousand revolutions, the sound of the motor is clearly heard in the cabin at each gas press - the feeling is that you press on the pedal of a medical boards. After ten minutes, this begins to annoy, after half an hour - to act on the nerves, after an hour, however, you get used to it. It turned out to be different. With a colleague from the magazine driving, who is difficult to suspect of unprofessionalism (motorist after all), we took turns tormented by a 6-speed box. Either the programs periodically stuck the wrong, then touching, due to the not too comfortable course of the pedals, it turned out to be sharp-in a word, there was a feeling of obvious dampness, if not the incompatibility of the power unit and manual gearbox. In the evening of the same day, we talked about our feelings as an engineer of the concern. Rumhing the napkin in his hands, the German suggested that we were simply unlucky with the car, which, perhaps, rolled up to us by colleagues-journalists. Well, perhaps. It was comforted that three -liter cars Russians are mainly buying with a STEPTRONIC automatic. And there are no such problems.
Oda diesel. After not too successful rapprochement with a three -liter engine, we decided to ride another modification. In general, as mentioned earlier, the changes in the six touched the engines primarily. The well -known motors of 2.4 and 2.7 Biturbo were modernized (they were facilitated and reinforced), and with them new ones appeared in the gamut. With a fair amount of skepticism, we got into a front -wheel drive machine with a 2.5 V6 TDI engine. The diesel engines obviously not success with us, and one buyer said this: why do I need a tractor for forty thousand dollars. However, one of my familiar jeeps to the question of how much his car consumes gasoline, answers three hundred and fifty dollars a month. We gradually wean from a stupid stereotype who buys a car for forty thousand, does not count money for gasoline. Already counts. And in this case, the brake when buying diesel versions of famous brands was, first of all, their dullness and noise. Like, the dynamics are not the same as the gasoline, and the voice is not the same for the diesel engine.
This is me to the fact that this does not apply to Audi. Diesel engines presented me the biggest surprise. I never thought that diesel could go so wonderful. Only on this machine, I fully felt other annoyance of the updated A6: a new smart control amplifier of servo -Tronik and a stray automatic transmission multitronics. The car was remarkably accelerated to a hundred, confidently kept the road in the coolest turns (without Quattro), and, the most pleasant, the average fuel consumption was highlighted on the computer - 7 liters per hundred! Frankly, I would not refuse such an official car - dynamic, comfortable and at the same time very budget.
However, the latest definition primarily refers to another motor new product - 1.9 TDI engine appeared on A6. And he pleasantly surprised us with the remarkable dynamics and intelligent work of the box. The sensations remained like riding a gasoline sixteen -plapant with a low -pressure turbine. Alas, large -scale deliveries to the Russian market of this model are not provided, but a pity. With manual automatic transmission, in a simple configuration and at a low price, it could well compete with even cheaper models of Korean and Japanese manufacturers.
       
Audi also haunted the Formula laurel 1. Almost like in a sports car and like Alfa Romeo, the steering wheel of a new six can be equipped with Tipronika gearbox control keys. This is an obvious advantage, especially when switching only one gear down during overtaking. The ability to control transmissions in fully automatic mode, of course, remains.
     
Text and photo Alexander Fedorov
 
 

Source: "Autopilot"