s6

[David Eaton]

had the opportunity to spend a day with an s6 avant (2001 model).

impressions:
1)	love the v8.
2)	love the v8
3)	love the v8

nice car, good interior, comfortable ride, reasonable handling, auto works
pretty well, tiptronic does most of the things that you'd want it to,
although most of the time you leave it in auto mode.  however, the kickdown
is not as immediate or crisp as you'd like.  you push the loud pedal and say
"1 huckleberry, 2 huck.....whoa" acceleration is truly impressive, the equal
of the rs2 at the peak of it's power band, except that with the 340hp v8,
the power always seems to be there.  tip mode makes the power more available
than with the auto, no question.  the brakes are very good, crisp and sharp.

niggles are: seats are not great, too flat and being leather, not conducive
to handling tests.  bose sound system is crap (but what do you expect?).
a/c a little noisy (it was hot).  handling not as crisp as i'd expect, but
it is a big car - but it didn't have the nimbleness that i'd like, but a
nicer car for the motorway than the rs2, except that the rs2 does have this
nice jekyl and hyde feature in that it can tootle along below 3,000rpm
without worrying the turbo, whereas as with the s6, you are always aware
that the pedal on the right says "loud".

next week i spend a day with an rs4, so i'll report back.

dave
'95 rs2
'90 ur-q