Audi S6: Taking the 2007 on a Road Test

The new 2007 Audi S6 is quite an exceptional vehicle. Just released, it is expected to compete head on with other super sedans like the BMW M5. Even better, the rumors are that an Audi RS 6 may be headed our way in the next year or so. But, let's not get ahead of ourselves.

First and foremost the current Audi S6 is an impressive sports sedan. Boasting 435-hp from a powerful V-10 FSI engine, it has plenty of speed to spare. Add that with the 55/44 rear biased Audi Quattro and you have a quite impressive package. This review comes to us way of Automobile.com.



Here are a few excerpts:

The sound of the new S6 at idle is every bit as intoxicating as I remember the old RS6, although the way Audi's going about generating power in its latest midsize muscle car is altogether different. Instead of a carbon-fiber shrouded twin-turbo V8, the new model features a rather exotic 435 horsepower V10 that's only more visually stimulating if you're an engineer. Still, it produces one of the most alluring rumbles I've yet to hearfrom ten cylinders, nothing like the obnoxious blat of a Viper or high-strung wail of a Carrera GT, no, and much more audibly pleasing than the ten-pot mill in BMW's M5.....

.....Power to weight is a key ingredient, and one that sees the Audi failing miserably, weighing in some 326 pounds heavier than the already robust Bavarian and 451 more than the comparatively lightweight Mercedes (two words that aren't normally associated), a 4,486-pound juggernaut that nevertheless feels fairly fleet onits feet. Yes, I was almost as shocked as when I first tested a Bentley Arnage T, a near three-ton mammoth sedan that almost dances as well as the aforementioned M5. Or maybe it was the shock of the Flying-B's willingness to gently drift through apexes at ridiculous speeds without biting back in uncontrollable oversteer that had me feeling as if I could take anything on the road, like Tim Birkin powering a '29 4 1/2 Liter Blower to victory at Le Mans.....

.....I think that this is probably Audi's strongest suit in the super sedan segment. The S6 isn't the quickest at 5.1 seconds to sixty, nor the fastest at a rev limited 155, and probably isn't the most capable around corners, but overall it delivers performance that only a handful of four-door executive shuttles can exceed while pampering everyone onboard every minute of the ride. And if that bone dry roadway happens to turn nasty, as it did during the second day of my test, well, it'll eat M5s and E63s for breakfast, lunch and dinner, not to mention dessert, as its rear-biased 40/60 split quattro all-wheel drive, combined with sport-oriented traction and stability control, adds more grip to the front wheels and virtually eliminates the possibility of losing control. The perfect compromise for a workaholic trying to squeeze just one more meeting into a wet winter day? Being one who would know, the S6 just might be.

[Source: Automobile.com]

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