So here we go!
The 2018 S6 Avant, which will be replaced by the actual new S6 Avant in 2019 (based on the A6 that has just come out), was collected last Tuesday from the dealer on a pure lease hire, 35months at £430 a month.
To sweeten the deal away from an online leasehire company, we were given 3 options to choose from and you only pay for the most expensive.
We spec'd:
Audi S6 Avant Black Edition in Ibis white (could only choose black or white)
Black Valcona Leather (std)
Red calipers
Pano roof
Parking pack (self park, cameras all around jobbie)
The drive:
Nicer than the M5. More supple and smooth, far less urgency and you don't feel like you have to give it the beans all the time. Part of that will be down to the 19" alloys Vs the 20" on the M5. The car soaks up bumps as if they genuinely are not there, again, thanks largely to the air suspension, which can occasionally give a sense of body roll, but quickly adapts to firm up as required. The 450bhp 4litre V8 is an incredibly good engine. Again, ultra smooth and very refined, it's less in your face than the M5 and sounds and feels more relaxed. You 100pc notice the power disadvantage in mid gear acceleration, however, some of that is down to the smoothness of the car and cabin and the delivery of the power. You do have to look twice before you realised you are actually going quite fast. You are also very aware of the 4wd system, in some ways good, some others bad. Good in that you can move away from a junction into any gap and the car will lock in and make it happen. In the M5, you actually had to pick your battles because sometimes the rear tyres would be grabbed by the brakes to stop slip, especially on damp or low temp mornings, or where the surface of the junction was lose. You definitely feel a sense of being pulled and pushed at the same time. That, however, does also make the front wheels skip when pushing on over drain covers or bumps in the road, where you notice a FWD car pulls the steering in your hand. That was never something you experienced in the BMW so can take a bit of getting used to.
The boot is huge, especially with the seats down. The perfect car is probably very much the RS6 Avant in that respect because BMW do not see an M5 Touring as a relative market (the last (and only?) M5 Touring being 2007 - E61), both Merc and Audi have offerings here which are good sellers.
The exhaust note is great. Much nicer than the M5 in a more subtle way. It also cracks easier on the downshift than the M5 did so it get's a lot of attention when sat idling or being a bit more spirited with it.
Interior:
Generally speaking, it's a very comfortable place to sit. Although not as much adjustment as the M5, the Audi Sports seats are very comfortable. It's a more claustrophobic interior to say, the F10 or G30, and feels much more like the E60 era of cabin space. Having said that, I don't suffer from claustrophobia and it's always nice to be able to easily put your hand up the other halfs skirt / dress. MMI is woeful however. It's a complete joke for a car that is circa £50k, even spec'd (which we didn't) it wouldn't have been a lot better. BMW update their iDrive through a cars lifecycle whereas it appears Audi do not. I have an SD card with maps on FFS. The last gen iDrive in the E60 (CIC) (2010) is better than this 2018 Audi MMI and that's really poor. We've got the BOSE sound system though which makes up for it.
Overall:
Really quite happy with this move to the dark side, but have had two weeks of post M5 depression because not a lot can hit that spot!
