Audi A6 Allroad driven: Executive long-distance motoring reimagined
Despite its raised ride height, the Allroad would also be the pick of the A6 range to drive even if it didn’t get the juicy engines. That’s because it receives air suspension and four-wheel steering as standard.
The engineers aimed for the spread between the drive modes to be quite broad, and that bears out in practice. It’s really rather cosseting in Comfort, while Balanced and Dynamic offer useful steps up in body control.
The 21in wheels can drum a bit over sharp intrusions, but that’s probably inevitable at this size. The standard 19s have a cool, early-2000s throwback design, so the solution is obvious here.
Despite having sought Corsica’s only dual carriageway and pushed the Allroad up to the consciousness-warping speed of 65mph, it’s hard for me to say how quiet it is, but a regular A6 was pretty good in this regard when we road tested it.
What my test route did have plenty of, though, was corners. Although a large, two-tonne estate wouldn’t have been my first choice to re-enact the Tour de Corse, I was impressed by the Allroad.
Variable ratio steering and four-wheel steering is sometimes a recipe for numb feel and nervous responses, but here it feels clean, progressive and very accurate, with the rear steer remaining in the background until it’s time to swivel around a tight hairpin.
The chassis engineer admitted that the 285-section tyres are a bit excessive and more for looks than anything, but they sure do make for big reserves of grip.
Having driven them back to back, I’d say the lighter V6 feels a tad keener than the PHEV. There’s not much in it, though.
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