Traian
09-13-2006, 10:51 AM
I had a chance to drive the big Audi diesel this summer for about 600km, and I thought the comparo between the two cars was pretty interesting, since they're both mid-size German luxury sedans. The A6 was a 3.0 Tdi, meaning it had about 225hp and far more torque at 331 lb-ft (vs 282 and 295 I believe), but it had 15,000km on the clock and my car has 270,000 hehe.
The Audi picks up speed pretty quickly, and especially at high speeds it moves really well: like the BMW it likes cruising around 160-180 (km/h), but, surprisingly, it feels much more stable at even higher speeds. At 220 the A6 feels like a tank, wheareas in my BMW over 200 the front end starts to get a little light, and so does the steering, possibly because of the old suspension. It's quiet in the Audi at high speed, but not much more so than in the BMW, and the interior is beautifully put together and all the swithces feel wonderful, but again, so does the BMW (although, obviously, the A6 design is much more modern and it has far more features). Biggest difference is all the little squeaks that are absent in the new car.
Another surprise for me is how much stronger the old 540 feels than the turbodiesel. Even from a standing start the Audi doesnt feel nearly so fast, and at highway speeds it is in a totally different league. It picks up speed well, but nowhere near pushing you into the backrest like the V8, which makes the 540 seem like a muscle car in comparison. Also the sound of the turbodiesel is good and pretty muted (for a diesel), but it's a bit thrashy at high rpm, which is exactly the opposite of the smooth V8 roar
The steering and brakes in the A6 are also much lighter, which is nice, and the wheel is nice and small and chunky and not so dead as I expected (everyone seems to say that about Audis) and better on centre than the BMW, but not so good and feelsome off-centre. Another surprise was how firm the suspension was, even more so than the 540, although roll was about the same.
Obviously there's many things that the Audi does better, but the best part about this is that there's quite a few things the BMW does better, and I think it's incredibly to its credit that I can compare it to a 11 year newer car with no handicap.
http://img132.imageshack.us/img132/1395/audiwagonathomeit6.jpg
http://img135.imageshack.us/img135/3427/a6innrburgsj1.jpg
The Audi picks up speed pretty quickly, and especially at high speeds it moves really well: like the BMW it likes cruising around 160-180 (km/h), but, surprisingly, it feels much more stable at even higher speeds. At 220 the A6 feels like a tank, wheareas in my BMW over 200 the front end starts to get a little light, and so does the steering, possibly because of the old suspension. It's quiet in the Audi at high speed, but not much more so than in the BMW, and the interior is beautifully put together and all the swithces feel wonderful, but again, so does the BMW (although, obviously, the A6 design is much more modern and it has far more features). Biggest difference is all the little squeaks that are absent in the new car.
Another surprise for me is how much stronger the old 540 feels than the turbodiesel. Even from a standing start the Audi doesnt feel nearly so fast, and at highway speeds it is in a totally different league. It picks up speed well, but nowhere near pushing you into the backrest like the V8, which makes the 540 seem like a muscle car in comparison. Also the sound of the turbodiesel is good and pretty muted (for a diesel), but it's a bit thrashy at high rpm, which is exactly the opposite of the smooth V8 roar
The steering and brakes in the A6 are also much lighter, which is nice, and the wheel is nice and small and chunky and not so dead as I expected (everyone seems to say that about Audis) and better on centre than the BMW, but not so good and feelsome off-centre. Another surprise was how firm the suspension was, even more so than the 540, although roll was about the same.
Obviously there's many things that the Audi does better, but the best part about this is that there's quite a few things the BMW does better, and I think it's incredibly to its credit that I can compare it to a 11 year newer car with no handicap.
http://img132.imageshack.us/img132/1395/audiwagonathomeit6.jpg
http://img135.imageshack.us/img135/3427/a6innrburgsj1.jpg