Taking another bite at the Audi A6 TDI

"Audi For Life" (audiforlife)
04/21/2014 at 11:40 • Filed to: Audi, A6, TDI, Review

This past Friday and Saturday, I had a chance to take an Audi A6 TDI for an extended test drive. Unlike some of the other extended test drives and loaners that I've had via one of the local Audi dealers, this one was by way of a voucher that I got winning a charity auction at !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! .

Anyway, I had the Audi A6 TDI from 9:00a on Friday and returned the keys at 5:00p on Saturday. Not quite as long as the time that !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , but it was long enough to get some additional impressions of the A6 TDI. The !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! was last year when my S5 was in for maintenance and the service loaner was relegated to being my commute vehicle.

This time, I wanted to make the most of out the A6 TDI and racked up as many miles as I was allowed (300 miles). My trek included a semi-annual run to Tillamook to raid the Cheese Factory of their curds and cut ends and the Country Smoked outlet of their jerky and pepperoni sticks. I also putted around Portland, outside of the urban growth boundary and anywhere in between.

The time with the A6 TDI has made me really consider getting one after my relationship with my S5 comes an end sometime in the future.

DISCUSSION (4)

Tom McParland > Audi For Life
04/21/2014 at 11:52

I would love an A7 TDI if they weren't so damn expensive. Even in the CPO market, I'm afraid they would be beyond my means.

Maddox Kay > Audi For Life
04/21/2014 at 11:52

Nice! When I recently took my 2012 A3 TDI in for the 25,000 mile service, I was given an A6 TDI as a loaner. I thought my car had torque! The A6 also doesn't feel nearly as big as it is. With the A3, I get 40 mpg in LA traffic with a lot of enthusiastic canyon driving thrown in there so I can't say enough about TDIs. Also, as a fellow Audi fanatic I checked out your blog. Great stuff, I bookmarked it.

Audi For Life > Maddox Kay
04/21/2014 at 12:01

I had the same feeling when I first drove an A7 3.0TFSI, as it felt like an A4 2.0T with a bit of tuning. Driving the A6 TDI blew that out of the water. Now that I've probably had closer to 12 hours of seat time in the A6 TDI, I have fallen in love with it. Since I'm a few years out until I'm ready to look at replacing the S5, it'll give me some time to see what Audi does with the next-gen S5 and the A6 family. If Audi would bring over the A5 3.0TDI Sportback, all I can say is: SHUT UP AND HERE'S MAH MONIES!!!1 :)

I haven't had too much seat time in the A3 TDI Sportback, but I loved the fact that it made so much torque to make the front wheels chirp almost every time I pulled away from a stop. Can't wait to see how they've tuned the TDI in the new A3 sedan and sportback.

Audi For Life > Tom McParland
04/21/2014 at 13:09

That's the problem with the A7 line altogether for me. It costs more than what an A6 Avant would be, it looks better from the side profile and I like the larger cargo space that it provides... but I cannot justify the extra $6-8K.