autoweek article: A6 for 2000

[LAMchop27@aol.com]

hi qlisters, 
here's an article i found on the web about the audi a6 2000 models 
if you want to go directly there - 
(http://www.cars.com/carsapp/national/?szc=91436&srv=parser&act=display&tf=/ne
ws/national/storytemplate1.tmpl), there's a picture on the site too.

hope you enjoy it - 
lydia marcus
'82 5ks

Audi A6: new luxury-sedan challenge

By Kevin A. Wilson
AutoWeek

AUTO REVIEW Blowing and drifting snow covered the roadways snaking between 
the farms in the countryside outside Munich, where hops will be grown for 
beer production come spring. That's when it will be possible, too, to 
experience the cool 300 horsepower available with a quick ankle flex when 
you're driving the latest Audi, a V8 model of the midrange A6 sedan.

Debuting at the Geneva show, the A6 4.2 goes on sale in Europe in April, but 
not until fall in America, when it will arrive as a year-2000 model. Far more 
than just an engine transplant, the A6 4.2 incorporates significant platform 
modifications and upgrades, and shares some improvements that will appear on 
other year-2000 Audis.

Given the conditions in which we drove the car, it was the combination of the 
latest quattro IV all-wheel-drive system (still using a Torsen center 
differential, unlike the Haldex-clutch version found in the TT) and a new 
electronic stability control program that made the biggest impression. The 
combination of all-wheel drive and electronic assist in keeping the car 
pointed where you want it to go makes a driver feel heroically talented.

In fact, it took us a few miles of driving to become aware that we were being 
helped, so seamlessly does the stability program contribute to your sense of 
control, even at a speed that would have sent most other cars off into a 
snowbank and that our passenger — who had yet to experience it — found a 
little nerve-racking. We were thinking the engine felt short of 300 hp, but 
turning off ESP demonstrated that it was just the traction control system 
keeping us out of trouble.

While we were unable to take full advantage of the 4.2-liter's fat-bellied 
power curve, it did haul the A6 out of the corners very nicely indeed, and 
made happy, torquey V8 sounds while it was doing so.

Audi is counting on the availability of the V8 to expand its presence in a 
market segment where BMW's 540 and Mercedes-Benz's E430 have had a definite 
advantage. In fact, says Audi spokesman Doug Clark, the company expects the 
V8 model to help bring the midsize car back to the fore. The company's 
comeback in the U.S. market has been achieved largely on the back of the A4 
model, but historically, from the 5000 through the 100, the marque's strength 
has been in the larger luxury cars. 

In marketeer-speak, the 4.2 is supposed to help make the A6 replace the A4 
and TT as the marque's "center of gravity."

We can't really evaluate the chances of that happening until we've had more 
wheel time in a U.S.-spec model, and seen how the pricing policy on the 
midsize range shakes out (it will run from a front-drive A6 2.8 through a 
still-to-come S6 — expect turbos — that will counter the M5 and E55).

We can say that, from a performance perspective, a 300-hp, 
five-valves-per-cylinder V8 coupled to a five-speed Tiptronic automanual 
transmission and quattro drive should put Audi back in the hunt against its 
German rivals, and provide a sufficient answer to the likes of the GS 400 and 
Seville STS.

Even if you've driven an A6 before, you'll find a lot more luxurious 
character in the A6 4.2 sedan coming to America, which will be slightly 
different from the cars we drove in Europe. Superficially, the big 
trans-Atlantic difference is that the doorsills and lower bumpers are painted 
black over there, but will be body color here. Europe also gets a 3.7-liter 
model and an Avant (wagon) with the V8, neither of which is slated for the 
U.S. market. Here, all V8-equipped A6s will be 4.2-liter quattro sedans — 
Audi plans to make exactly 5900 copies for North America in the 2000 model 
year.

Since the A6 platform was not originally designed for the V8, Audi had to 
revise the platform, widening the track (by 1.4 inches in front, 0.8 inch 
rear) and lengthening the front portion of the frame 1.6 inches. With those 
changes, the car needed new front quarter-panels, hood and grille, done in 
aluminum to save weight and make the connection with the bigger A8. The car 
has its own grille, with extra air intake area below the bumper to assist in 
cooling the engine.

>From the firewall forward, the A6 4.2 is an all-new car, distinct from the A6 
2.8 (which will continue with the present frame and bodywork, basically, 
though it shares a few upgrades for model year 2000). The rear fenders of the 
V8 model were widened, with flares to cover the widened track.

Ride height has been lowered and the suspension recalibrated, using forged 
aluminum wheel carriers and control arms to reduce unsprung weight (a 
significant worry for Audi, which has to route power to all four wheels and 
has always paid the penalty of drivetrain mass). We weren't able to drive the 
car hard, but did notice that the steering felt light but also livelier than 
we'd anticipated, given the luxurious ride quality; there's enough torque 
(295 lb-ft from 3000 to 4000 rpm) to give just a tug at the wheel coming out 
of tight corners with your foot down.

There are three inlet and two exhaust valves per cylinder, with aluminum 
pressure cast parts in the dual-overhead-cam system to keep inertial mass in 
line. There's variable timing on the intake cam, and, making the most of the 
improved intake breathing, a three-stage, variable-length intake manifold 
made of magnesium. The flap valves to change the length of the inlet tracts 
are operated by the engine management system, which also uses electronic 
throttle (drive-by-wire, incorporated in other 2000-model-year Audis in the 
shift to a new Motronic engine management system).

The integration of the car's electronic and engine management systems allows 
for the optional electronic stability control program, which incorporates 
both throttle reduction (a traction control measure) and the ability to brake 
one wheel (or a diagonally opposed pair) to adjust the car's attitude. Those 
brakes, by the way, sport four-pot calipers up front.

Audi claims 0 to 100 km/h (62.1 mph) in 6.9 seconds. Top speed is governed at 
250 km/h, per the agreement among German manufacturers. (The latest version 
of the V8 engine will appear also in the A8, of course, where it will make 
310 hp, with free-flowing exhaust accounting for the difference. ESP will 
also be optional on the A8. Lesser Audis will get it in later model years.)

Smooth, strong and thoroughly modern, the 4.2-liter easily took us to the 
210-km/h limit Audi imposed on our autobahn runs, due to the car wearing snow 
tires. These tires made for a sometimes noisy ride when we found the rare 
stretch of dry pavement, and of course made it impossible to evaluate the 
Dunlop 235/50 all-season tires that will be mounted to the standard 8x16-inch 
cast alloy wheels. An optional sports package — including recalibrated 
suspension and sport seats — will offer 225/40 performance tires on 17-inch 
forged and polished alloy wheels.

Of course, all these mechanical upgrades will come at an as-yet unspecified 
cost increment over the six-cylinder model (competitive with, and comparable 
to the difference between the GS 300 and GS 400, 528i and 540i, and E320 and 
E430, we were advised). So buyers will expect the attendant luxury touches 
inside. And they'll find them. 

Wood trim will vary with the interior color selection and standard equipment 
includes leather, a power-operated tilt/telescope steering column, a glass 
slide/tilt sunroof, three-position memory for the seats and outside mirrors 
(which also dim and defog automatically), a Bose stereo system with both CD 
and cassette in-dash and controls on the steering wheel, dual-zone climate 
control, power windows, cruise, 12-way power seats in front, central locking, 
remote locks, etc. etc. Add the now customary host of passive safety systems 
found in European luxury sedans, including front and rear side airbags and 
inflatable "side guard" curtain airbags.

European cars have a five-inch in-dash screen for use by the optional GPS 
navigation system (much like the one found in the Lexus RX 300 with 
navigation system). Audi of America, noting that in our country the accident 
rate for cars equipped with five-inch screens is roughly twice that of cars 
without such systems (4 percent vs. 2 percent), opted to use a simpler and 
far less expensive system with instrument panel direction arrows and voice 
commands.

Navigation info appears on a little screen between the tach and speedo, much 
like the one used in the driver information panel in A8s and A6s now, 
including the use of red lights. However, the red will have a greater 
contrast to its surroundings, since Audi will change in model year 2000 to 
more conventional white-lighted gauges with red needles, abandoning the 
orangeish-red instrument panel illumination it has used through 1999.

Other options include a cold-weather package (heated seats front and rear, 
and a heated steering wheel), a warm-weather package (solar sunroof with 
interior blowers, and sunshades for the rear windows) and the aforementioned 
sports package. You'll be able to order an acoustic parking system (it beeps 
before you make your own expensive "acoustics" with the bumpers or 
sheetmetal), the electronic stability program (Audi warns that it will be a 
"delayed introduction"), a hands-free phone in the center armrest, a six-disc 
trunk-mounted CD changer, and Xenon headlights.

Pricing will be critical, as will the car's ability to be as entertaining and 
impressive as its competitors when the roads aren't a mess. Audi has proven 
it knows how to work that formula with the A4, so it has reason to hope that 
success can be carried upmarket. 

>From AutoWeek. Displayed with permission of Crain Communications Inc. 
Copyright Crain Communications Inc. 1999.