2015 Audi S6 video review
We’ve spent weeks looking for something we don’t like about this car. We’re still looking…
By Shahzad Sheikh
Living with a car brings you closer to it than any road test ever can. I’ve had this Audi S6 long termer for over a month now, and you can read some of my long-term updates at this link, or follow our social media posts by just typing in #MMEAudiS6 or #MMELongTermer.
Watch my full video review of the car, by clicking below
Not being an RS6 or RS7 with its mental 560 horsepower, you might feel a little short-changed with ‘only’ 450bhp from the twin-turbo in this V8 with its seven-speed auto and Quattro all-wheel drive. But not after you’ve punched the right pedal a few times.
The acceleration time of 0-100kph in 4.4seconds is simply not to be laughed at. Not long ago it was pretty respectable for spartan supercars to just about dip to the near five-second mark. But now we have a big, spacious, tremendously comfy, luxury limo, packed with equipment and built like a tank, easily able to embarrass it. And almost sound as good.
In fact I should have said at the beginning that this car is a fully-specced version costing AED…. and comes with …. as options. The base car is AED310,000 and really the only options you absolutely must have is the Sports Exhaust because it rumble and bellows, and occasionally even barks and crackles. You must also definitely specify the AED5000 Sports Differential with its independent torque vectoring effects.
Going back to those old supercars, not only will this barge grip better thanks to all-wheel stickiness, but it will turn and attack corners and catapult you out of them better, quicker, and more effectively than most of them ever could.
It’s sheer bloody voodoo, this is. You drive this hard – push it through the understeer – and you’re left with your jaws sagging at the realisation of what this car can do in the twisties. By the way, the Sports Diff is standard on the RS models unsurprisingly.
This is a full-option bruiser that’ll pummel sports cars to death when you’re too busy fiddling with the superb Bose sound system, swipe all their trophies, before effortless crusing you in unflustered ease to your next meeting.
I say in the video and I mean it, this car is like having your cake and eating it. A full-fat feel-good silky smooth experience of sublime serenity one minute, and the Transporter thug-in-a-smart-suit body guard that’ll take the nearest wing of whatever mafia without creasing its trousers the next.
Okay if I try really hard to get picky, I could say that the slightly grinding vibration at full-lock is a little unseemly, and the gearbox can fall asleep and wake a bit confused in very slow stop-go traffic scenarios. Plus if I could have one wish, it would be to sneak in a dual-purpose rear-drive-only and traction-full-off button, just so every now and then I could have my necessary burnout fix!
Other than that, this car is damn near perfection if you’re looking for a suave, sensible and superb saloon that’ll get respect from the neighbours and the boy-racers alike.
2016 Audi S6 – The Specs
Price: AED310,000 (US$84.5k)
Engine: 4.0-litre V8, 450bhp @ 5800rpm, 406lb ft @ 1400rpm
Performance: 0-100kph 4.4secs, 250kph, 9.4L/100km
Transmission: 7-speed auto, all-wheel drive
Weight: 1895kg
