Test drive Audi A6 Avant 1998 - 2001 station wagon

Audi A6 Avant VS Audi A6 2.4 Limousine

Here is an occasion to return to the topic of sustainable popularity in our country sedan. For a week, at the disposal of autopilot, a couple of Avant, Audi A6 2.4 Limousine appeared. Nothing special and exclusive - the Germans simply do not use the term sedan, preferring to call such a limousine cars.
It so happened that the week fell troublesome and we regularly had to travel outside the city - as a result, we covered a distance equal to the trip to St. Petersburg and back. During this time, constantly changing the steering wheel, two cars could be fully appreciated. Although the comparison is not entirely correct - the A6 sedan represents the 2001 model year, and Avant for a whole year older. The Audi A6 Limousine went to us in the so -called Russian bag - this means an enhanced suspension, an enlarged clearance and other rubber. As a result, it turned out to be much smaller than the station wagon. Yes, and stands a little higher on the road.
 
(+) The equipment of the sedan is a little richer, it has more different pleasant trifles - an electric bed of rear glass, heating the rear seats, a more modest and elegant decoration of the salon in black skin. Otherwise, this is the usual Audi A6. Even the driver’s place is as close - if your height is more than 174 cm, then you are guaranteed to gently rub your right foot on the beard.
(-) A little about the advantage of sedans over the station wagons. In Audi A6 2.4 in the cabin is much quieter than in Avant. The station wagon is much larger than the internal volume, but the retribution for this is constantly walking along the salon, the quiet echo of the suspension is constantly walking. Even a powerful Bose audio system cannot drown it out.
(+) By the way, about audio systems - CONCERT or SYMPHONY radio systems are installed on AUDI cars. In Avant, we have the first one, in the sedan - the second. In terms of power and sound - the same, but we liked Symphony much more. Firstly, the sound control handle in it on the left, closer to the driver, and the sound control does not distract from the road. Secondly, in this system you can download one CD from the front panel, while in the station wagon you have to climb into the trunk and change CD in the chainger.
(-) The Audi A6 sedan was equipped with an automatic Tiptronic gearbox. From the point of view of autopilot, this is a minus. Although we did not expect from a car with a weaker (against our Avant) motor of hurricane accelerated dynamics, the Tiptronic with a 2.4 engine caused some disappointment. In the city, a machine gun, of course, is more convenient. But even then - for the time being. The pause between the sharp pressing of the accelerator pedal and the beginning of intensive acceleration is so great that it practically does not allow to perform sharp overtaking through the left strip, when a rather dense stream moves along it. But the antidote was found quite quickly, this is below.
(+) The Tiptronic system allows you to switch the gears manually, and with a certain skill, this nullifies the minuses from the thoughtfulness of the machine.
On the information display, the operating mode of the box is constantly displayed. If you are traveling automatically, then the indicator D shines. As soon as the handle is transferred to the right, into manual mode, then the display is ignited on the display. By clicking the checkpoint selector, we found a curious pattern: according to the sensations, we go in the fourth gear - speed, engine speed - everything corresponds. We turn on the manual mode, and the number 5 lights up on the scoreboard. We realized that the machine is constantly one-it-as possible than you want, and developed such a driving style: before the start of intensive acceleration, almost simultaneously with the rotation of the steering wheel, the checkpoint of the checkpoint is translated by one movement. down, for reduced gear. At the same time, we press the gas pedal to the stop, and the character of the car changes sharply. Now the behavior of the A6 sedan has practically equal to the behavior of a more powerful Avant with a manual box. At least, we managed to easily travel around the city in conjunction and do not lag behind each other.
(-) That's what sincerely upset us is the average fuel consumption on the sedan. The numbers on the display were constantly dancing in the range of 21.2 - 21.8 l/100 km. The consumption increased markedly when we rode manually and quite aggressively - regularly switching to low gears. More economically, fuel was spent in automatic mode. These figures are the result of the week of the car and, roll it a little longer on it, maybe it would be possible to choose the optimal mode and decrease to 20 l/100 km. But still, and this is a lot. It seemed to us a voracious Avant with his 12-15 l/100 km was a clear gain.
(+) The sedan is an amazingly large trunk. When outwardly a small lid moves up smoothly, a huge cave opens, in which you can freely place three or four of the largest suitcase. True, it is not very convenient to load a large amount of baggage into the sedan - things must be pushed deep into the trunk. To do this, you constantly have to bend down, and the dirt is gradually transferred from the rear bumper to clothes.
 
We were pleased with the presence of a special window with a cover for long objects in the back sofa. Frames or skiing can be placed in a car without any inconvenience for passengers, but taking into account the fact that only two people can now accommodate behind.
The Audi A6 Avant speedometer is already 20,000 km. There are no problems yet, especially after we have changed the wheels by 19,000. As a result, the car became more stable in sharp turns at high speed. Money is spent only on gasoline ...

Text Nikolay Kachurin, photo Alexey Ilyin

 

Source: "Autopilot"