Audi S6 test drive since 2012 sedan

Highway Star

The current abundance on the roads of the A6 family reminds of the early 90s - then the Audi 100 traveled in the back of 44. The Americans also came across - the numbers 200 flaunted on the cover of their trunk. The cars with the letter S were rare. You do not see them so often and now ...

The Audi Audi Audi Audi Auto Employee gives me the keys, documents and writes out a ticket for two days. The expression of his face is intriguing - they say, you will understand everything yourself, we will talk when you return the car.

Outwardly, the S6 seems to be somewhat flattened compared to the usual A6: slightly dilated wings hang over wide bast shoes (255/45R17, a category of speed Y) on six -spoke disks in the style of TT. They, however, can also put them on a simple six - fuel consumption will increase greatly, but it will look great. The potential of the car is modestly indicated by the emblems of the S6 on the false radiator grille and the lid of the trunk. And no spoilers, decorative stripes and other sports paraphernalia. Impressive brake mechanisms are visible - four -piston brackets in front and back and thick ventilated discs (on all wheels). Otherwise, it is impossible: the equipped mass of the Audi S6 - 1820 kg, and the complete - about 2300.

The engineering landscape is the top of the high -tech style: everything is closed with casing, and only the filler neck and the oil probe are available to the driver. Four rings and the inscription V8 4.2 instantly collect a group of those interested in - there is not even a word QUATTRO on the trunk cover, absolutely nothing is said about the volume. The false radiator grille has a drawing somewhat different from the A6, and fog lights are mounted low in the front bumper above the road. Through the holes of the air intakes of the front spoiler, corrugated tubes of the oil radiator are visible.

I get into the salon. Recaro front seats have very developed side support and many electrical settings. The steering wheel is also endowed with adjustable adjustments for cars - the shaft tilt and the distance to the instrument panel are changing. In the doorway and near the transmission control lever - casting blue carbon fiber inserts. The head of the lever, sheathed with skin, is inconvenient - it is impossible to wrap it. However, the transmission is automatic, in addition, there are buttons with pluses and minuses on the steering wheel - you can control it without taking off your hands from the steering wheel.

I look at the instrument panel - a picture. Six dials: analog speedometer and tachometer, fuel level indicators and coolant temperature, voltmeter and oil thermometer. Nobody puts the last two just like that: it is not supposed to be distracted from the road to simple car-users. A voltmeter is necessary because the car is stuffed with electronics cleaner than the submarine, and the thermometer of the oil will help to choose the optimal engine operating mode. Even during the excursion to the hood, I drew attention to a plastic hatch with electric characters next to the lower edge of the windshield. It turned out that the battery capacity is 105 ampere hours, approximately the same are placed on diesel medium -tonnage trucks!

The engine is launched - except for the arrow of the devices, nothing indicates this. On the tachometer seven hundred idle, the transmission indicator shows neutral. The devices are highlighted in red, the arrows are bluish -white. Between the main scales there is a small scoreboard: a sealing temperature, medium, instant fuel consumption, average speed and other information. The current state of engine systems is indicated by orange symbols. Several times using the washers of the glasses, I watched the rest of the time on the display of the orange fountain. The red zone of the tachometer is after seven thousand, the digitization of the device ends on them. Twisting the motor will not give an electronic revolutionary limiter, it will not work to move in fifth gear faster than 250 km/h. The extreme indication of the speedometer is the magic number 300, the comments are superfluous.

The central part of the torpedo is dotted with buttons - from the alarm to the air conditioning that can simultaneously serve the front riders, taking into account their individual wishes. The lion's share of the area falls on the audio installation panel. I turn it on - the inscription Bose lights up. Acoustic systems of the same name - written on the lattices. The device consists of a tuner, a cassette tape and a four-disc in-dash CD-changer. It sounds great, can be controlled by buttons on the steering wheel. Comfortable!

The front doors are contained in a pair of pockets with folding panels. Cup holders and other containers are in the order of things. The car class is emphasized by the presence of curtains in the rear doors and an automatic canopy in front of the rear window.

The salon is spacious, visually the volume is added by a light suede upholstery of the seats and the ceiling. In front of the ceiling there is an electrified hatch covered with a curtain that has the color and texture of the upholstery of the cabin. Sitting from behind is very pleasant. Safety belts are three, but the rear sofa is matured for two. Its middle part is simultaneously a armrest and container for a first -aid kit.

I go out of the gate. I give it to the gas - at the end of the alley of the speedometer shooter, it already exceeds a hundred. I look back - a cloud of poplar puff raised from the asphalt. Something is wrong here, a small distance is already painful ... The second attempt is the same result. I try to track the moments of switching the transmission - it does not work, only the tachometer arrow intensively deviates to the right and immediately falls back. The cabin has absolute silence ...

The suburban route is a vicious circle of about 10 km long with several settlements - an abundance of turns and changes in heights and an excellent road surface. The movement is quite lively, but the temptation is too large ... I turn on the near light, the lever in the Drive position - let's go! Descent - speed 140, entrance to the settlement - 160, right turn of the first complexity group -160, signal (well, by the way, sounds), springboard - 150, right four - 120, a fracture of the profile - 100, signal, right five, Left two - again 160. I am translating the spirit. In principle, you can go even faster, but then the track must be closed for other transport. (I deliberately do not call either the district of the Moscow Region, or even more so the settlement - too much is good.) I’m going to the Khodynskoye field - a photographer is waiting there.
Having shot the car in different angles, he asks to lay a couple of steep turns. Belt, sport mode, start. Acceleration is even more intense - the transmission switches in the range of 6300-7000 about/min. The steering wheel becomes wonderful elastic, it is a pleasure to work for them. Valya in the first turn - only stones fly from under the wheels. And no roll! Acceleration, an attempt to provoke a skid and side swaying - again by. The cadets and careers of the school of the right ride left nearby left classes and look at a black sedan fascinatedly, smoking rubber ... The photographer will echo off the foot to the leg - when will the car tilted a little? Everything turned out to be in vain ...

Who is addressed to the Audi S6? There are certain restrictions. For a prepared driver, this car does not pose a danger. The sharpness of the steering wheel allows you to maintain total control over the machine at almost any speed. By the way, the rotation of the S6 is absolutely neutral, so even with a solid excess of power on wheels, it is rarely that anyone will manage to disrupt it in a skid. ABS and the distribution system of torque work very delicately and remind of themselves only in a critical situation. The inaccessible driver should be stored: a light movement of the leg - and the bar falls in front of a herd of 340 horses, striving to break out of eight cylinders with a total volume of 4172 cubes. Up to about 170 km/h, the speed is not felt at all ...

Evening, shooting is over, ahead is a route in the night city. The suspension is absolutely silently practicing a micro -relief, the car moves smoothly along the streets. In different modes, I try forced inclusion of different gears - if the speed for a particular transmission is large, the brains do not allow to switch to the step down, if they consider the revolutions acceptable, it will even be slowed down by the engine, and very efficiently.

Twelve centimeters separate the bottom of the S6 from road surprises - there are few, so I move carefully. But quickly - at every traffic light, the neighbors are observed by the stream by the four rings on the lid of the trunk. Those who want to go nearby are not visible ...

The steering wheel sits tightly in her hands, deliberately rough seam of a leather sheathing - a small obstacle. Turned streetfighters perform their chaos, randomly rebuilding from a row in a row and lifting through the planted rings. One press on the pedal to the floor, one more - on the transmission control button, and riders are rapidly naught in the rear view mirror.

The temptation to bring the speedometer arrow to the right edge of the scale is too large. Again I break out of the city with its bombs, eternal traffic jams and annoying police officers - you will not see my documents anymore ... I turn on the main light, after a short pause, xenon flashes. On the radio, Gillan sings Highway Star - music as to order. The tachometer shows 6700, on the speedometer - 250 ...

Teskt: Egor Karpunin

A source: Motor magazine [No. 9/2002]