2007 Audi S6

With its V-10 engine, luxury interior and lower price, the S6 should be strong competition for Mercedes and BMW

by Gary Witzenburg

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2007 Audi S6

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It surely rankles Audi execs, engineers, and marketers that their venerable four-ring German marque, despite its recent proliferation of highly desirable models and real quality improvement, still doesn't make much of a blip onU.S. luxury car shoppers' radar screens. Most seeking teutonic virtues think BMW or Mercedes-Benz. Others with broader scopes include Lexus, Infiniti, Jaguar, and Cadillac. Too few think of Audi as a player in this group.

Perhaps they see it as a mostly front-drive brand in a mostly rear-drive segment. Yet Audi's pioneering quattro all-wheel drive - rear-wheel-biased under normal conditions - is standard or available in nearly everything it builds. Maybe they consider it little more than parent Volkswagen's upscale sibling, though it shares little with VW above the compact A3.

But consider it they should, and this hot-blooded, taut-muscled, V-10-powered luxo-sport sedan is one excellent new reason. The mighty V-10 puts the S6 in the same exclusive class as BMW's M5, Dodge's Viper SRT10 sports car, Lamborghini's Gallardo supercar and its own big brother S8. In fact, Audi supplies the Gallardo's 513-hp V-10 to corporate cousin Lamborghini, and this somewhat tamer ten-holer is a close relative.

2007 Audi S6

The sophisticated 5.2-liter FSI (fuel straight injection) 40-valve aluminum V-10, the first in Audi's history, generates a scenery-blurring 435 hp and 398 lb-ft of torque in the S6, with 90 percent of the latter available as low as 2300 rpm. While the BMW, Viper, and Lambo V-10s deliver 500 or more horses, this one trades off some raw power for luxury-appropriate refinement. Its fuel is injected at high pressure directly into the cylinders, its two-stage magnesium variable intake manifold breathes through two separate air paths with twin air filters, and its four chain-driven overhead cams are continuously hydraulically adjusted.

Outrageous power

All this energy is fed to the pavement through a standard "Tiptronic" six-speed automatic and quattro permanent all-wheel drive. There's no available manual gearbox, but you can manually shift the automatic, surprisingly quickly and precisely, either by flicking the leather-wrapped shifter fore or aft or by thumbing the aluminum-look steering wheel paddles. The transmission's "S" (sport) mode holds its shifts to higher engine speeds, and the paddles work whether or not the lever is in its manual slot.

Audi's latest quattro system normally routes 60 percent of driving torque to the rear wheels and 40 percent to the fronts through a self-locking center differential. But when conditions warrant, it can instantaneously adjust that split between 85 percent rear and 65 percent front. When traction control is undesired or counterproductive, the standard stability control can be shut down in two stages: push the button to deactivate traction control only; push and hold for three seconds to disable everything but anti-lock braking and the electronic differential lock (EDL).

Transmissions, steering, chassis, and brakes are appropriately upgraded for such prodigious power. The mostly aluminum suspension is four-link front and self-tracking trapezoidal-link rear, which Audi says improves steering precision and directional stability by reducing rear bump toe-in as the springs move through their range of travel. Tires are aggressive three-season performance types on 19-inch alloy wheels.

Bold grille, calming cabin

The S6 leads with a big, bold eggcrate grille in Audi's new single-frame surround, and it advertises its cylinder count with LED daytime running lights (DRLs) lined up five to a side below its front bumper. Bi-xenon adaptive headlights and LED brake lights are standard. V-10 badges grace its flanks, a subtle integrated deck spoiler and quad-oval exhaust tips (somewhat smaller than we think they should be) enhance its derriere.

The instrument panel is a simple design elegantly executed with premium materials and quality craftsmanship throughout, and it uses Audi's Multi-Media-Interface (MMI) system to control most major and lesser functions.