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2016 Audi A6 First Drive [w/video]

The Audi A6 could be seen as a singular kind of sleeper. It sells in volumes that are one-half to one-third those of its German competition. The sedan doesn't command a conversation much less the imagination, its history bereft of iconic brand identifiers. Think of the way the E28 BMW 5 Series turned the segment into something to be proud of, or those double headlamps from the W210 Mercedes-Benz E-Class, or that other E from 1986 simply known as Der Hammer. There is currently no RS6 sedan in the US to draw halo attention to the clan. And it was the first in its segment to slip into a design lassitude such that you had to check the badge to make sure it wasn't a different Audi. However, I look at the A6 from the other side: it's an underappreciated gem. With the 3.0-liter supercharged V6, it's a thoroughly fun steer. It has more power and torque than the competition. I think it has the finest interior. It's probably my favorite sedan in the segment considering how many boxes it checks before you cross the bridge to things that begin with S, M, and AMG. But you have to get to know an Audi in order to comprehend what it possesses, and the "product improvement" rolled out for the 2016 A6 won't change that. I'll call these "blind spot updates," because someone needs to point out where they are, and even then you've got to work to see them. Nevertheless, they're there, in places like the wider grille, new headlights and taillights with revised LED DRL signatures, new bumpers, side sills, rockers, and trapezoidal tailpipe finishers. The interior and driver assistance systems get gussied-up. The interior and driver assistance systems get gussied-up, too. The base A6 2.0T can be had with driver aids now – Audi pre-sense comes standard, the night vision assistant will identify animals, and the blind spot monitor works with lane keep assist to give you even more warning before changing lanes. There are two new colors and new inlays, like the layered walnut on the tester I drove, which is an upper-tier luxury feature that's finally filtered downstream. The biggest interior rework comes via the MMI system, which gets the Nvidia Tegra 3 quadcore chip pushing graphics to a retractable, eight-inch touchscreen. The additional processing power allows for new features like expanded codec playback – you can now play uncompressed .flac files straight through the stereo.

Autoblog Podcast #406

Episode #406 of the Autoblog Podcast is here, and this week, Dan Roth, Brandon Turkus, and Chris Bruce talk about the Mustang Shelby GT 350, the Los Angeles Auto Show, and the Volkswagen Golf winning Motor Trend Car of the Year honors. We start with what's in the Autoblog Garage and finish up with some of your questions, and for those of you who hung with us live on our UStream channel, thanks for taking the time. Check out the rundown below with times for topics, and you can follow along down below with our Q&A. Thanks for listening! Autoblog Podcast #406: The video meant to be presented here is no longer available. Sorry for the inconvenience. Topics: Ford Shelby GT350 LA Auto Show Volkswagen Golf wins Motor Trend COTY In The Autoblog Garage: 2015 Ford Fiesta SFE 2015 Honda CR-V 2015 Audi Q3 Hosts: Dan Roth, Brandon Turkus, Chris Bruce Runtime: 01:26:07 Rundown: Intro and Garage - 00:00 Ford Mustang Shelby GT350 - 29:21 LA Auto Show - 40:36 Golf is Motor Trend COTY - 53:50 Q&A - 01:00:42 Get the podcast: [UStream] Listen live on Mondays at 10 PM Eastern at UStream [iTunes] Subscribe to the Autoblog Podcast in iTunes [RSS] Add the Autoblog Podcast feed to your RSS aggregator [MP3] Download the MP3 directly Feedback: Email: Podcast at Autoblog dot com Review the show in iTunes

Audi may add plug-in hybrid A6, A8 and Q7 to range [w/poll]

Audi could be getting even more diverse with its powertrains for the A6, A8 and Q7, moving beyond offering just gas- and diesel-powered models and adding plug-in hybrid variants of the three luxury vehicles. The report comes from Indian Autos Blog, which spoke to Dr. Ulrich Hackenberg, Audi's research and design chief, who confirmed the PHVs.
The next-generation Q7, due in 2015, will be the pioneer for the full-size PHV movement from Audi, although the A3 Sportback E-Tron (shown above) will precede it. The move toward plug-ins by Audi is a big step, as the German marque has stayed quite firmly in the diesel camp, outside of its racing efforts. It's developed a few E-Tron cars over the years, including a version based on the R8, although it wasn't until recently that production of the electric sports car became serious again.
It's believed that this hesitance to really dive into the PHV market is why Audi sacked former research and design boss Wolfgan Dürheimer, with IAB speculating that his approach was too conservative.