Audi's A6 and A7, the first siblings to NOT have a rivalry

For 2012, Audi’s given its mid-size car customers two attractive alternatives.

For those who like Audi’s understated Teutonic appeal, the new A6 sedan will give them the classic German sedan — a car that never looks bad, but also never steps into the limelight. Or if beauty rocks your world, Audi offers what is perhaps its best-looking car design for a long time — the A7, a five-door sedan that looks like a stunning coupe.

Even if they’re not Audi fans, most people like the looks of the A7. It’s simply designed correctly, and that means its emotional appeal depends on nothing but its own aesthetics. This indefinable quality happens rarely, but in this case, Audi has a car that would meet even an Italian’s artistic sensibilities.

While beauty is in the eye of the beholder, good design requires that all this prettiness does its job effectively, too. The Audi A7 meets this criterion. The stylish looks of a coupe let people enter and sit with the efficiency of a reasonably spacious sedan. Yes, the roofline is low in back, but not so much so as to interfere with most people’s comfort. The rear doors are wide enough to make entering and exiting easy and dignified, something impossible with any true coupe.

TheA7 is the next evolution of Audi design. There’s a commonality with the A6 face, but the A7 stretches two inches longer at 195.6 inches, two inches wider at 84.2 inches and it’s 55.9 inches high. So the A7 is longer, wider and lower, which is why it’s so elegant.

Other than their looks, the A7 and the A6 offer the same capabilities, except the A6 offers a four-cylinder engine as its standard engine. The A7 only comes with the 3.0-liter supercharged V6 engine.

Both vehicles share the same interior look — a modern, yet spare design. When I first got into the car, I was less than impressed with its simplicity. But the interior works so well that soon I became an admirer of the seats as well as the appearance of the instrument panel. I like Audi’s new Google Earth-based navigation system, which can overlay a satellite image on the map. I don’t know what real value it has, but it’s certainly cool.

You also get Wi-Fi connectivity that allows up to eight devices to access the Internet. The cars come with nice audio systems — either the standard 14-speaker, 630-watt Bose system or the optional 15-speaker, 1,300-watt Bang & Olufsen, which produces truly excellent music. Although it uses Bluetooth streaming, it almost seems like a waste to use it, given the limited bandwidth Bluetooth has and the level of technical quality of the signal.

Both of the Audis tested were powered by the supercharged 3.0-liter V6 engine, which generates 310 hp. and 325 lb.-ft. of peak torque. That power flows through an eight-speed transmission to all four wheels using Audi’s Quattro.

This all-wheel drive system uses an asymmetric rear-biased torque distribution of 40 percent in front and 60 percent of the power in the rear.

In the A6, the standard engine is the small 2.0-liter four-cylinder turbocharged front-wheel-drive with Audi’s continuously variable transmission. This engine generates 211 hp. and 258 lb.-ft. of peak torque.

Audi says this should get 24 mpg in the city and 33 mpg on the highway. With the V6 engine, the mileage expectations change to 19 mpg in the city and 28 mpg on the highway. These numbers aren’t too bad for cars of this size and this class. And after all, if you’re spending more than $60,000 for a car, your concern about the cost of gasoline is probably theoretical.

These are both quite comfortable cars to drive. They’re stable, with decent electronic suspension assists for safety and comfort. The interior is quiet, even under hard acceleration. They both have good manners. In fact, that’s a good definition of these cars: they’re sophisticated and well behaved, and you become sure they’d never do anything embarrassingly impolite.

These cars are siblings, with the more similarities than differences, except when it comes to looks. Even then, there’s no sibling rivalry. The A6 is sensible looking; the A7 is a real stunner.

 

courtesy of heritage.com