2007 Audi S6 Review

Specifications

Silly Power: With Great Power Comes Great Silliness

Remember a few months ago when I wrote about the glory and subtlety of Audis A6 4.2? Well, incase you havent reread it recently, these were my closing thoughts: What more could you ask for? Keyless ignition? A power-operated trunk? A heart-stopping surround sound system? Theyre all available, but for me theyre unnecessary - I am, after all, a simple kind of guy. Like I said in the beginning, the only thing I would really ask for is a drivers door that opens itself. And more horsepower, even though it doesnt really need it - but hey, who can argue with more horsepower. While itll still be some time before my first request is granted, the second one is something Audi worked on since the time of writing.

For those who want something with a little more go, the 4.2-liter engine gained FSI, boosting power to 350 hp from 335, but for 2007 theres also a new A6 in town. Scratch that, a new S6 in town, and it will be available with a Lamborghini Gallardo-sourced V10. But that would just be silly. I love silly. Well, silly has arrived. It arrived with an S6 badge and that Lambo-derived V10, tweaked for slightly less power but more torque across the board, as befitting a luxury sedan outfitted for daily, year-round use. Much silliness ensued. Silliness on on-ramps, silliness on the highway, silliness on city streets, silliness in my parking garage, silliness in underpasses and tunnels or near any close walls that would reverberate the engine and exhaust notes right back at me, although I wished for a longer, cleared tunnel to get the full operatic range of this tenor.

So how silly was it? It would be like Borat interviewing the Three Stooges on The Colbert Report. Yeah, its a big sedan, and does anyone really need 435 hp and 398 lb-ft of torque to get to and from work and drop the kids off at school on the way? Ill take it, thanks. This thing flies in the face of reason, it flies in the face of gravity and physics, and it flies on the face of traffic regulations in America - except maybe for Montana or one of the Dakotas, I forget which one has a “whatever conditions permit” speed limit (Montana - Ed.).

I was first introduced to the glorious S6 at last years NAIAS, where it cut through the presentation fog in an unmistakable Sprint Blue on the same day that I also had chance to witness the A8/S8s Bang & Olufsen stereo to end all stereos, with polished satin aluminum speaker covers and a pair of mind-melting death-ray mini-tower tweeters that pop out of the upper dash. The S6 is not available with the Bang & Olufsen sound system, yet, but heres hoping that in 40 years when I can take out a second mortgage on my condo to afford an S6 that Ill be able to get one installed.

You see, I would still take the S6 over the S8, despite the S8s better sound system and parking assistance (the rearview camera shows you the path your wheel angle will take you) and the adjustable air suspension (which doesnt seem to do much at all–all the settings are distinctly firm). The S6 is firm all the time, without the extra weight and cost of the fancy pumps and mounts that the air suspension requires. Just straight up multi-link coilover suspension components at the most sporting end of the spectrum to which a true luxury car can aspire. The sound system was a mere Bose 9-speaker affair (my, how positively Bohemian…), that doesnt hold a tweeter (literally) to the B&O. Boo hoo. Believe it or not, I survived with my ear drums intact despite the volumes to which I pushed this system. Unless youre Beethoven, Im pretty sure youll be able to live with the difference.

In this class of cars, comparable only to other such rarities as the E63 AMG or perhaps the M5 (which almost completely gives up on the luxury side of the equation for the sake of a balistic commuter missile), details like the stereo take a back seat to the interaction between driver and car, the engagement a driver looks for from his $70+K super sport sedan. He or she may even want to spring for track days and sign up for Solo1 classes where you can drive the wheels off your car at a racecourse like Mosport, which is also the first place I got to drive an S6.

After our coaching lap, we were allowed to pick our ride and drive the circuit ourselves, but we were held up behind a pace car because of the wet and treacherous conditions. So I drove around the legendary track in an S6 and an S8, but we were reined in severely and I never had the chance to take it above 80-90 mph (I wasnt paying very close attention to my speed) on the back straight, and never did we seem to challenge the impressive abilities of these sedans, because not once did it seem we were approaching any sort of threshold where it might put a foot wrong, although in those conditions it can take less than a blink to be completely off track if youre pushing the limits.

Several weeks later, however, I had an S6 all to myself, out from under the prying eyes of Audis driving-event staff and track nannies, with only my conscience and untold and unseen enforcement agencies to keep me in check. Hah. Of course I drove within the limit the whole week and never broke a single traffic law (my editor made me say that…), but I still managed to squeeze some performance out of that 5.2L V10. And I can tell you that I didnt get pulled over or cited for any offences, so in retrospect I must not have done anything wrong, right? Great, that makes me feel much better.

Anyhow, back to that gorgeous V10 that got me in the habit of leaving my door open when turning on the car, because the sound of that yawning lion made me shudder with anticipation or with fantasies of a dry, unlimited-lap session back at Mosport. Yup, when you get to drive the kinds of cars were lucky enough to drive, you fantasize about driving them faster, farther, keeping them longer in a world paved with unblemished asphalt and ever-sharper hairpins, longer straightaways and countless esses… and no speed traps of course, or pedestrians or slow drivers to ruin our fun. For a few days, I felt like I was living in a partial fantasy world, because cars just seemed to drop out of sight, clover leaf ramps became skid pads, a couple of my favorite exits became hairpins  leading into a series of curves that you could, if one were so inclined, call esses, and each was decidedly overcome with complete stability and rapture, a state of grace and composure the likes of which I had yet to witness until the S6 came into my life.

The S6 is not nearly so raw and immediate as the RS4, with its on-switch mentality (the famed S button simply turns it more on), yet not so refined and subdued as the S8, with its pinnacle of luxury accoutrements. The S6 is a fraction slower than the S8 according to Audi (5.0 seconds to 60 mph as opposed to the S8s 4.9), a bit more focused on the driver, with good feel and consistent messages through the (not aluminum) chassis and rigid suspension, and enough traction to simulate a miniature black hole. The speed-sensitive power steering is light for my tastes, but its precision and tightness at high speeds won me over by weeks end. Its an easy car to live with, hitting just enough of the comfort and ease note for me, but always with a deep well of power and explosive traction available, accessed near instantaneously through a couple quick taps on the steering wheel paddles. The transmission is not Audis famed DSG, rather its a conventional albeit brilliant six-speed automatic with Tiptronic manual mode thats quick enough for my brain (quicker than, really). One thing I loved about the transmission is that it allows you to make a quick downshift right from Drive or Sport mode on the paddles without going into the manual gate, and after a minute or so it will revert back to its automatic shifting pattern. You can go loafing around town at your leisure, then when you find just the right turn or an appropriate tunnel you can drop a couple gears and get the full sound effects along with the furious acceleration that will separate you from traffic in a twitch, and your license if youre not careful.

Once again, theres nothing spectacular on the aesthetic side of things, with the same tasteful exterior lines, looking extremely professional in a dark silver, with some almost psychedelic rims providing a little pop and exclusivity beyond the extremely subtle and often invisible aerodynamic modifications. Aside from some S6 badging and more carbon fiber than at Mr. Carbon and Ms. Fibers wedding, the interior is classic A6 and a fair representation of why Audis are considered the global leaders in interior design and quality. The MMI navigation interface is clear and logical, although sometimes turning off points of interest on the nav system requires some patience and being parked for the sake of potential road rage (its all the way over in navigation setup, as opposed to one of the side menus springing up from the map).

I suppose more time with the owners manual would have cured me of that, and while the preponderance of buttons may seem incongruous with a central control interface, the glowing red light show bathed in soft, warm-red LED glow is worth the price of a few extra buttons. This car is justifiable to the very last modification of the suspension or exhaust note tuning for someone who has worked many years to achieve great security and comfort, or who is lucky enough to have cashed in on the technology boom or a winning lottery ticket. It maintains its place somewhere between the RS4, which is for those who love driving every minute of very commute or trip to the store and are willing to sacrifice a lot of comfort if they ever take to the interstate for more than a couple of hours, and the S8, which makes everything seem so incredibly easy and a little too comfortable and can lull you into total bliss.

The S6 can eclipse almost anything with four doors while still offering enough distance from the harsher realities of daily driving (noise, traffic, blasted roads) to not punish its owner. Its so good at balancing the simultaneously raw and refined power and over-the-edge performance with just enough luxury and sanity that I was left with a paradox of knotted emotions and hysterical evil-villain laughter ringing in my ears. It was funny enough to make me cry.