Audi A6 45 TFSI Engine & Performance

For India, the fifth gen Audi A6 is available only in the 45 TFSI guise. It is powered by a BS VI compliant 2.0 litre four cylinder turbo charged petrol engine that makes 245 hp and 370 Nm of torque.  The engine is mated to Audi’s 7 speed S-Tronic dual clutch gearbox that sends power to the front wheels and does the 0 to 100 kph sprint in a claimed 6.8 seconds. And no, there is no quattro on offer. The A6 in India is a front wheel drive only.

First up, what impresses about the engine is the refinement. It’s extremely silent at idle and on the move has well. Power picks up in a very linear manner and the dual clutch gearbox has smooth shifts. The silence in the cabin while driving just relaxes you out. Even at higher rpms, you get a nice humm that doesn’t trouble the ears and is in fact a sweet engine note. The A6 feels best driven in a non-urgent manner. It pulls well from the lower end and the torque is spread nicely over the rev range. The Audi A6 feels great as a highway cruiser too and will munch on the kms without breaking into a sweat. Then there are the Drive Select driving modes as well. But here, even in Dynamic mode, only the engine and steering responses are affected. That is because the A6 does not come with adaptive dampers anymore. Comfort and Auto work best for city driving, and if fuel saving is on your mind, there’s always the Eco mode. The Auto Start/Stop does work overtime in this mode though.

Audi A6 45 TFSI Ride & Handling

The previous generations of the Audi A6 came with air suspension as standard but that does not feature on the this fifth gen model. Air suspension is expensive and pushes up the cost of the car, and its easy to see why Audi is not offering it to keep the price in check. It is also a pricey repair should something go wrong with it.  That said, the absence of air suspension hasn’t taken anything from the ride quality. It is surely one of the highlights of the A6. The suspension is well tuned and the Audi soaks in all the potholes and road undulations with ease. The high profile rubber also plays a major part in the excellent ride. Ground clearance is also adequate and speed bumps are well taken care of. The steering feels light in the city and makes manoeuvring easy.  There is noticeable understeer when going quickly around corners, and I would have liked better feedback from the steering as well.  And I so miss the quattro on the A6. High speed stability is great and brakes have excellent bite.

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