What’s hot
- Fourth generation A6 and best yet, improved driving experience
- Part-steel, part-aluminium body saves weight and helps fuel consumption
- Front-wheel-drive or quattro all-wheel-drive
- Engine choice includes 2.0 four-cylinder and 3.0 V6 diesels, or 2.0 V6 petrol
- More power from revised engines, but with CO2 better by up to 16 g/km
- Most popular two-litre TDI have CO2 improvements of up to 5 g/km
- All engines Euro 6 compliant, with emissions reduced by up to 22 per cent
- 2.0 TDI ultra on standard 17-inch tyres does 67 mpg with 109 g/km emissions
- 3.0 V6 TDI has been re-engineered for power and economy improvements
- New S tronic twin-clutch auto transmission, replaces old multitronic CVT in front-wheel-drive cars
- Excellent refinement across the range, including two-litre TDI
- Xenon headlights now standard on SE, LED lights standard on S Line
- Matrix LED headlights included on the options list
- High class cabin, with leather seats standard across the range
- Freshened styling gives stronger front-end look
- New infotainment system, and can view satnav map repeated between dials in dash panel
- Lots of technology, including active lane assist, side assist, night vision assistance
- New MMI Navigation Plus, with online mapping updates directly downloadable
- Napster subscription music service available
- 535-litre capacity boot, 10 litres more than BMW 5-Series, 10 less than Mercedes-Benz E-Class
- On the road from December, S6 and S6 Avant arrive in March
- RS6 Avant coming too, with 3.9 seconds 0-62 mph acceration
- New glass fibre-reinforced plastic spring available on top Avant models
What’s not?
- Steering not quite as pert as the best of its rivals
- Latest MMI controller not quite as smart as latest BMW iDrive
- Boot opening a bit smaller than rivals’
- Available to order now, but first deliveries not here until December, so canny buyers will want to delay registration until the New Year
- Offset pedals not ideal, especially for shorter-stature drivers who sit further forward than most
