EOTR - Audi A6 Allroad
Posted: Tue Apr 18, 2023 2:21 pm
After 49,500 miles and 20 months, I said goodbye today to my second Allroad. The first was ordered on a cheap two year lease deal back in 2016, to my colour and trim spec but with virtually no options because they dramatically increase the lease cost. It went back to the lease company the day after I got back from honeymoon in 2018 and it felt a real wrench even though it was replaced by a higher spec Volvo V90 Cross Country. I always felt I'd like another with more spec on it.
As my Merc CLS was approaching 100k miles in summer 2021 I idly looked at whether I might replace it or keep running it. And not far away in Shrewsbury popped up a 2018 model Allroad with only 17,000 miles on it, with a few options on it and in the same colour and trim as I specced myself. It wasn't even madly priced, so I bought it, haggling in 2yrs' approved used warranty, and was very happy.
And I remained very happy with it. It would have done everything I need for quite some time into the future; there are plenty of Allroads for sale with 150k+ miles so I contemplated keeping it to higher mileage again, and again I didn't. It wasn't unreliable - it didn't break down and there were no warranty claims. But there was a creeping feeling of the grass being greener, and (without wishing to make this a damning review), the following started to niggle me:
- The gearbox is an S-tronic dual clutch unit which is great, changes quickly and I think a bit more efficient than the torque converter ZF box used on the BiTDi. I remember in my previous Allroad the changes were imperceptible but they had become noticeable, and pulling off from rest it felt like the clutch was a bit sharp and the electronics didn't control it so well as it aged. I missed the smoothness of the CLS auto gearbox, basically.
- It always had a bit of a thrum at 58mph. Must have been in the transmission because it was there at the same speed irrespective of the wheels and tyres fitted. It wasn't particularly bad but my original Allroad didn't do it and therefore it niggled me as time went on.
- The directional stability on the motorway wasn't as good as the Merc. You could take your hands off the wheel and it stayed straight and true, but you could feel changes in camber through the steering and if you took your eyes off the road (e.g. when finding a new podcast on the screen) it was very easy to allow the car to drift if you naturally responded to the steering sensations. The CLS simply didn't do that and was more relaxing as a consequence. I think I'm complaining here about steering feel
I'm not sure if my original Allroad was any different at all because I didn't do long motorway trips every day and didn't have a CLS immediately before to compare.
- The interior, which in 2016 felt like a nice upgrade from the F11 5-series I had beforehand, felt a bit plasticcy after the CLS.
- Occasionally the engine fluffed a bit on the bend coming out of my village after a cold start; and I discovered that it stumbled a bit at 130 as well once. My original Allroad felt fitter, too; probably because I used to cane it all the time (well, it was a lease car) so the adaptations for the gearbox and so on would have been far more set for response. I managed to get 27mpg out of the original Allroad once on a particularly quick non-motorway journey; I managed about 53mpg out of the second at an average of about 65mph so I definitely drove them differently.
- The rear air suspension squeaked in Allroad (lifted) mode. I suspect the owner before me had never changed the settings to lift it so it was just a bit dry at that point on the travel, but it was irritating.
- The original brakes were only 40% worn at nearly 67k miles, but they squeaked too.
- I used to take the previous Allroad for fun drives just for the hell of it. I didn't really have the time to do so with this one but it didn't feel up for it in the same way; it felt a bit understeery and I don't remember the original feeling that way.
Basically it felt like a car which wasn't new any more. And that's fine, it wasn't, but it didn't make me want to take it round the clock. There's so much that's great about the Allroad: it's quick, economical, sounds pretty good (for a diesel), very practical, can go off road but can be chucked around in Dynamic mode - I'd have ordered a new Allroad if I could have had one with the more powerful engine but that was never available on the C8 Allroad and Audi stopped selling any A6 Allroads in the UK a year or two ago anyway.
Will I miss it? Not like I missed the first one, but yes, a bit. Would I recommend one? Yes, but I think there's variation between seemingly identical cars so I'd want a good test drive first. And it would have to have a lot of spec on it; the incredibly rare comfort seats option and some different interior trim would be the minimum I'd want now.
Immediate comparisons with the S6? There's no understeer in the S6, the ZF auto box is so much smoother away from rest and changing gear, and the ride is noticeably tauter though hardly bad. The S6 interior feels more plush with optional extended leather(ette) and more modern fascia. The self-steer active cruise on the S6 would solve any directional stability issues even if they existed. I think it will be exactly what I'm after; perform a similar job but a bit more sportily and with more relaxation when required. I never did take the second Allroad off road other than parking on verges anyway...
Oh, what did it cost? £10k in depreciation, about £1200 in servicing, about the same in tyres and probably about £9k in fuel (I have the receipts but I'm not going to add them up - estimate based on average 42mpg and 169p/litre). 43p/mile. Not too bad. The S6 won't be any cheaper to fuel and will depreciate more, and I bet there's an S-car tax on servicing, but fuck it; if I wanted the cheapest transport I'd get a C220 diesel.
As my Merc CLS was approaching 100k miles in summer 2021 I idly looked at whether I might replace it or keep running it. And not far away in Shrewsbury popped up a 2018 model Allroad with only 17,000 miles on it, with a few options on it and in the same colour and trim as I specced myself. It wasn't even madly priced, so I bought it, haggling in 2yrs' approved used warranty, and was very happy.
And I remained very happy with it. It would have done everything I need for quite some time into the future; there are plenty of Allroads for sale with 150k+ miles so I contemplated keeping it to higher mileage again, and again I didn't. It wasn't unreliable - it didn't break down and there were no warranty claims. But there was a creeping feeling of the grass being greener, and (without wishing to make this a damning review), the following started to niggle me:
- The gearbox is an S-tronic dual clutch unit which is great, changes quickly and I think a bit more efficient than the torque converter ZF box used on the BiTDi. I remember in my previous Allroad the changes were imperceptible but they had become noticeable, and pulling off from rest it felt like the clutch was a bit sharp and the electronics didn't control it so well as it aged. I missed the smoothness of the CLS auto gearbox, basically.
- It always had a bit of a thrum at 58mph. Must have been in the transmission because it was there at the same speed irrespective of the wheels and tyres fitted. It wasn't particularly bad but my original Allroad didn't do it and therefore it niggled me as time went on.
- The directional stability on the motorway wasn't as good as the Merc. You could take your hands off the wheel and it stayed straight and true, but you could feel changes in camber through the steering and if you took your eyes off the road (e.g. when finding a new podcast on the screen) it was very easy to allow the car to drift if you naturally responded to the steering sensations. The CLS simply didn't do that and was more relaxing as a consequence. I think I'm complaining here about steering feel
I'm not sure if my original Allroad was any different at all because I didn't do long motorway trips every day and didn't have a CLS immediately before to compare.- The interior, which in 2016 felt like a nice upgrade from the F11 5-series I had beforehand, felt a bit plasticcy after the CLS.
- Occasionally the engine fluffed a bit on the bend coming out of my village after a cold start; and I discovered that it stumbled a bit at 130 as well once. My original Allroad felt fitter, too; probably because I used to cane it all the time (well, it was a lease car) so the adaptations for the gearbox and so on would have been far more set for response. I managed to get 27mpg out of the original Allroad once on a particularly quick non-motorway journey; I managed about 53mpg out of the second at an average of about 65mph so I definitely drove them differently.
- The rear air suspension squeaked in Allroad (lifted) mode. I suspect the owner before me had never changed the settings to lift it so it was just a bit dry at that point on the travel, but it was irritating.
- The original brakes were only 40% worn at nearly 67k miles, but they squeaked too.
- I used to take the previous Allroad for fun drives just for the hell of it. I didn't really have the time to do so with this one but it didn't feel up for it in the same way; it felt a bit understeery and I don't remember the original feeling that way.
Basically it felt like a car which wasn't new any more. And that's fine, it wasn't, but it didn't make me want to take it round the clock. There's so much that's great about the Allroad: it's quick, economical, sounds pretty good (for a diesel), very practical, can go off road but can be chucked around in Dynamic mode - I'd have ordered a new Allroad if I could have had one with the more powerful engine but that was never available on the C8 Allroad and Audi stopped selling any A6 Allroads in the UK a year or two ago anyway.
Will I miss it? Not like I missed the first one, but yes, a bit. Would I recommend one? Yes, but I think there's variation between seemingly identical cars so I'd want a good test drive first. And it would have to have a lot of spec on it; the incredibly rare comfort seats option and some different interior trim would be the minimum I'd want now.
Immediate comparisons with the S6? There's no understeer in the S6, the ZF auto box is so much smoother away from rest and changing gear, and the ride is noticeably tauter though hardly bad. The S6 interior feels more plush with optional extended leather(ette) and more modern fascia. The self-steer active cruise on the S6 would solve any directional stability issues even if they existed. I think it will be exactly what I'm after; perform a similar job but a bit more sportily and with more relaxation when required. I never did take the second Allroad off road other than parking on verges anyway...
Oh, what did it cost? £10k in depreciation, about £1200 in servicing, about the same in tyres and probably about £9k in fuel (I have the receipts but I'm not going to add them up - estimate based on average 42mpg and 169p/litre). 43p/mile. Not too bad. The S6 won't be any cheaper to fuel and will depreciate more, and I bet there's an S-car tax on servicing, but fuck it; if I wanted the cheapest transport I'd get a C220 diesel.
