1,500 miles with new '16 A6 2.0T w/ Sport
08-20-2015, 06:40 AM
#1
1,500 miles with new '16 A6 2.0T w/ Sport
Hi – first time poster here, and have appreciated the insight that reading this forum has provided. Even tho I’m am one of those guys who enjoys spending hours going thru the manuals and online tutorials after I get a new car, there has been a lot of information here about features and quirks I wouldn’t have known otherwise.
In June ’15 I acquired a MY16 A6 2.0T Premium Plus with the sport package (Florett Silver / black interior / black headliner). This was a swap-out for my MY13 A6 2.0 w/out sport (Oolong Gray / platinum gray interior / light headliner). With current Audi promotions I was able to accelerate my turn-in by a year and upgrade to a three-MY newer vehicle. (Long story long, my ’13 had less than 10K on it and it was a wash to get into the ’16, with no money down).
I just recently passed 1,500 miles on the odometer and wanted to post my impressions, as well as provide a comparison / contrast between my experiences with the MY13 and 16 cars, in case there is anyone who is currently debating the same sort of deal.
If I had to distill it down into a sentence or two: The non-sport ’13 (esp. in the color combination I had) was a more “elegant” iteration of the car, whereas the sport ’16 feels much more lively and dynamic in taste, temperament and style.
The latter is helped by the updated body styling (trapezoidal exhausts, more pronounced side skirts, sport styling on the front fenders, bright work on revised grill, &tc.). I rarely – if ever – got feedback or comments on the ‘13 (altho the guy at the car wash declared the Oolong the best looking color he had ever seen). In the past 1,500 miles on the ’16 I have had people literally stop me in parking lots to gush over the car, a valet who parked it in the “VIP section,” prominently on display, and A8 drivers on the highway honk and give me the thumbs-up. It is an attention-getter, and I notice other drivers crane their neck to get a good look. This never happened in my ’13.
For those considering Oolong – I really liked it, esp. how it changed color in different conditions … from almost-black to brown, green to brown, to even blue-purple inside parking garages with florescent lighting. That said, I think it’s a niche choice and tends the mute the lines of the car overall. The Florett is much brighter and really makes each detail pop. Colors are wholly subjective, of course, and there are cases to be made for both. It has taken me a while to adjust to the nearly cave-like sense of the ’16’s black interior with the headliner (and it does get noticeably hotter) – but I have come to like it. I think overall I preferred the lighter interior (again, felt more elegant to me).
I live in Denver so the quattro (I doubt you could get a non-quattro on any stock Audi in Colorado) and have a second home in one of the Beaver Creek ski resort’s villages. The extra power boost in the ’16 from the ’13 is very noticeable and really helps make this 4-cylindar fly up the mountains. The car is also quieter, with less noise intrusion into the cabin when you’re pushing it to get an extra power boost. It’s not whisper quiet and still sounds a little harsh when strained, but not nearly as so on my ’13.
It’s a great all-around car that performs well, gets great mileage for a gas engine, and looks good. I have had six Audis as my primary car in my lifetime, and 10 in our household and this is the best flavor yet.
Things I like about the ’16:
• Sport package styling
• Crisper handling; actually smoother ride than my ’13 w/out port pkg. Due to tires?
• LED lights; these really do illuminate the road at night better than the xenons I had on the ’13.
• Picture navigation: I have a couple loaded from AudiConnect: One for my primary residence and one for the place in the mountains. Great to just toggle to get a sense of arrival time / traffic conditions / &tc.
• Color combo. The silver and black/black really stands out and shows off the design of the car.
• Start / stop system; FWIW, my steering wheel does lock up when car stops but releases when I let up off of the brake. It’s not disruptive at all and fires up very smoothly.
• Once I got used to it, I don’t mind the car turning itself off when you open the door. You simply park the car, open the door and the car shuts down and the MMI screen retracts. Easy.
• Badging … my ’13 2.0q only had the “A6” badging on the lower left of the trunk, with nothing to balance it on the right. They changed that I believe in ’14 to denote “quattro” for the 2.0s (but w/out the engine designation) on the right – but the ‘16s have the full badging: “A6” on right, “2.0T quattro” on the right. Small thing, but I think it ties and balances the rear look of the car better.
• Hands-free trunk release, but finicky. I get it only about 50% of the time, and I feel stupid doing the chicken dance in order to try and make it open. From these forums I learned to do it dead center of the license plate which helped (I was doing it more to the right side).
• Styling update: Trunk lid / rear taillight integration, chrome strip on bottom of trunk, bright work on grill
• Additional power
• No need for phone adaptor
• Inclusion of power tilt / telescoping steering wheel on 2.0 trim (my ’13 had manual adjustment)
• Faster nav system … plus some additional features like enhanced traffic info, AudiConnect, the ability to read text messages on MMI, Siri integration (altho it’s somewhat janky)
Don’t like
• Reconfiguration of sunroof programming. The ‘16’s do not open to the “convenience / reduced noise” position on one-touch open; rather, they open fully and the sunroof retracts fully into the roof of the car. My service guy said a lot of people had been complaining that the roofs didn’t fully open, so for ’16 they reprogrammed it to do so. I really liked the comfort position as it did reduce wind noise considerably.
• Fit and finish seems at a slightly lower level than ’13; chrome strips on door handles seem janky / poorly adhered, and the upholstery in the passenger door pulled away and had to be re-glued. Also the upshift paddle on the steering wheel tended to stick for the first 1,000 miles, causing a couple of panic moments when I was in a very low gear and needed to upshift. This seems to have solved itself over time.
• LED lighting in the door panels … seems particularly muted versus in my ’13. I don’t know if that’s a function of the darker interior, but doesn’t illuminate nearly as bright, even tho I have it turned up to the max setting in MMI.
• Smaller gear shift lever; preferred the side release of the ’13 and the larger form factor; felt better in the hand.
Cool features but that I’m neutral on
• Nav system in instrument cluster. It’s a cool “look at me” kind of thing, but I don’t ever really use it as the MMI does a better job. In the rare cases when I do use it I have it in street view mode rather than map view. The most helpful item in the cluster and one I use almost exclusively is the digital speedometer.
• AudiConnect as an overall aide. I have the app on my phone and do occasionally use it for weather maps and picture nav, but it’s one of those sorts of things that once you get past the novelty of it it’s rarely used.
I really enjoy this car and think it strikes a balance between being a sensible four-door sedan and one you enjoy driving and putting thru its paces.
Thanks, guys; happy motoring.
In June ’15 I acquired a MY16 A6 2.0T Premium Plus with the sport package (Florett Silver / black interior / black headliner). This was a swap-out for my MY13 A6 2.0 w/out sport (Oolong Gray / platinum gray interior / light headliner). With current Audi promotions I was able to accelerate my turn-in by a year and upgrade to a three-MY newer vehicle. (Long story long, my ’13 had less than 10K on it and it was a wash to get into the ’16, with no money down).
I just recently passed 1,500 miles on the odometer and wanted to post my impressions, as well as provide a comparison / contrast between my experiences with the MY13 and 16 cars, in case there is anyone who is currently debating the same sort of deal.
If I had to distill it down into a sentence or two: The non-sport ’13 (esp. in the color combination I had) was a more “elegant” iteration of the car, whereas the sport ’16 feels much more lively and dynamic in taste, temperament and style.
The latter is helped by the updated body styling (trapezoidal exhausts, more pronounced side skirts, sport styling on the front fenders, bright work on revised grill, &tc.). I rarely – if ever – got feedback or comments on the ‘13 (altho the guy at the car wash declared the Oolong the best looking color he had ever seen). In the past 1,500 miles on the ’16 I have had people literally stop me in parking lots to gush over the car, a valet who parked it in the “VIP section,” prominently on display, and A8 drivers on the highway honk and give me the thumbs-up. It is an attention-getter, and I notice other drivers crane their neck to get a good look. This never happened in my ’13.
For those considering Oolong – I really liked it, esp. how it changed color in different conditions … from almost-black to brown, green to brown, to even blue-purple inside parking garages with florescent lighting. That said, I think it’s a niche choice and tends the mute the lines of the car overall. The Florett is much brighter and really makes each detail pop. Colors are wholly subjective, of course, and there are cases to be made for both. It has taken me a while to adjust to the nearly cave-like sense of the ’16’s black interior with the headliner (and it does get noticeably hotter) – but I have come to like it. I think overall I preferred the lighter interior (again, felt more elegant to me).
I live in Denver so the quattro (I doubt you could get a non-quattro on any stock Audi in Colorado) and have a second home in one of the Beaver Creek ski resort’s villages. The extra power boost in the ’16 from the ’13 is very noticeable and really helps make this 4-cylindar fly up the mountains. The car is also quieter, with less noise intrusion into the cabin when you’re pushing it to get an extra power boost. It’s not whisper quiet and still sounds a little harsh when strained, but not nearly as so on my ’13.
It’s a great all-around car that performs well, gets great mileage for a gas engine, and looks good. I have had six Audis as my primary car in my lifetime, and 10 in our household and this is the best flavor yet.
Things I like about the ’16:
• Sport package styling
• Crisper handling; actually smoother ride than my ’13 w/out port pkg. Due to tires?
• LED lights; these really do illuminate the road at night better than the xenons I had on the ’13.
• Picture navigation: I have a couple loaded from AudiConnect: One for my primary residence and one for the place in the mountains. Great to just toggle to get a sense of arrival time / traffic conditions / &tc.
• Color combo. The silver and black/black really stands out and shows off the design of the car.
• Start / stop system; FWIW, my steering wheel does lock up when car stops but releases when I let up off of the brake. It’s not disruptive at all and fires up very smoothly.
• Once I got used to it, I don’t mind the car turning itself off when you open the door. You simply park the car, open the door and the car shuts down and the MMI screen retracts. Easy.
• Badging … my ’13 2.0q only had the “A6” badging on the lower left of the trunk, with nothing to balance it on the right. They changed that I believe in ’14 to denote “quattro” for the 2.0s (but w/out the engine designation) on the right – but the ‘16s have the full badging: “A6” on right, “2.0T quattro” on the right. Small thing, but I think it ties and balances the rear look of the car better.
• Hands-free trunk release, but finicky. I get it only about 50% of the time, and I feel stupid doing the chicken dance in order to try and make it open. From these forums I learned to do it dead center of the license plate which helped (I was doing it more to the right side).
• Styling update: Trunk lid / rear taillight integration, chrome strip on bottom of trunk, bright work on grill
• Additional power
• No need for phone adaptor
• Inclusion of power tilt / telescoping steering wheel on 2.0 trim (my ’13 had manual adjustment)
• Faster nav system … plus some additional features like enhanced traffic info, AudiConnect, the ability to read text messages on MMI, Siri integration (altho it’s somewhat janky)
Don’t like
• Reconfiguration of sunroof programming. The ‘16’s do not open to the “convenience / reduced noise” position on one-touch open; rather, they open fully and the sunroof retracts fully into the roof of the car. My service guy said a lot of people had been complaining that the roofs didn’t fully open, so for ’16 they reprogrammed it to do so. I really liked the comfort position as it did reduce wind noise considerably.
• Fit and finish seems at a slightly lower level than ’13; chrome strips on door handles seem janky / poorly adhered, and the upholstery in the passenger door pulled away and had to be re-glued. Also the upshift paddle on the steering wheel tended to stick for the first 1,000 miles, causing a couple of panic moments when I was in a very low gear and needed to upshift. This seems to have solved itself over time.
• LED lighting in the door panels … seems particularly muted versus in my ’13. I don’t know if that’s a function of the darker interior, but doesn’t illuminate nearly as bright, even tho I have it turned up to the max setting in MMI.
• Smaller gear shift lever; preferred the side release of the ’13 and the larger form factor; felt better in the hand.
Cool features but that I’m neutral on
• Nav system in instrument cluster. It’s a cool “look at me” kind of thing, but I don’t ever really use it as the MMI does a better job. In the rare cases when I do use it I have it in street view mode rather than map view. The most helpful item in the cluster and one I use almost exclusively is the digital speedometer.
• AudiConnect as an overall aide. I have the app on my phone and do occasionally use it for weather maps and picture nav, but it’s one of those sorts of things that once you get past the novelty of it it’s rarely used.
I really enjoy this car and think it strikes a balance between being a sensible four-door sedan and one you enjoy driving and putting thru its paces.
Thanks, guys; happy motoring.
08-20-2015, 06:48 AM
#2
AudiWorld Super User
Bowdoin, welcome aboard! Nice write-up!
A co-worker picked up 10 days ago what seems to be the same car and he's really pleased with it so far. His is Oolong w/black. Enjoy!
A co-worker picked up 10 days ago what seems to be the same car and he's really pleased with it so far. His is Oolong w/black. Enjoy!
08-20-2015, 09:28 AM
#3
• Badging … my ’13 2.0q only had the “A6” badging on the lower left of the trunk, with nothing to balance it on the right. They changed that I believe in ’14 to denote “quattro” for the 2.0s (but w/out the engine designation) on the right – but the ‘16s have the full badging: “A6” on right, “2.0T quattro” on the right. Small thing, but I think it ties and balances the rear look of the car better.
In shopping for a new Audi for when my current lease ends in just under 4 months the dealer assured me that they would remove the 2.0 on the rear and it would not affect my lease. They said a lot of potential buyers are asking the same question. I guess a lot of us are “poseurs" at heart lol
09-12-2015, 06:21 AM
#4
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Thanks for your detailed feedback. I am new to the Audi brand, previously a BMW loyalist. I am finding the sport suspension in my A6 2.0 T to be unnecessarily stiff and downright harsh on potholes, and I regret buying it. Your thoughts?
09-12-2015, 08:09 PM
#5
How long have you driven your car so far? I have the 3.0T S-line with 20" wheels. At first I thought they were harsh. But after 3000. Miles I feel they are fine and enjoyable. Maybe give it some more miles to grea on the car...
09-13-2015, 03:59 AM
#6
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Good point, but... my 2016 2.0T Premium Plus has S Line with sport suspension and the awful 19" Goodyear Eagle RS-A2 tires. If Tire Rack ratings are to be believed, the RS-A2 tires are the cause of the rough ride, and they will get worse with mileage. The good news is that Tire Rack reviews noted rapid wear on these tires, so it looks like I will only have to wait until 15K to replace them. I have 7K now.
Point of reference - I always ordered sports suspension on my previous BMW 5 series typically with Dunlop summer tires. This combination never was as harsh as my 2016 A6 sport suspension with the Goodyear tires. Shame on me for not taking a longer test drive!!
Point of reference - I always ordered sports suspension on my previous BMW 5 series typically with Dunlop summer tires. This combination never was as harsh as my 2016 A6 sport suspension with the Goodyear tires. Shame on me for not taking a longer test drive!!
09-13-2015, 04:51 AM
#7
AudiWorld Super User
Good point, but... my 2016 2.0T Premium Plus has S Line with sport suspension and the awful 19" Goodyear Eagle RS-A2 tires. If Tire Rack ratings are to be believed, the RS-A2 tires are the cause of the rough ride, and they will get worse with mileage. The good news is that Tire Rack reviews noted rapid wear on these tires, so it looks like I will only have to wait until 15K to replace them. I have 7K now.
Point of reference - I always ordered sports suspension on my previous BMW 5 series typically with Dunlop summer tires. This combination never was as harsh as my 2016 A6 sport suspension with the Goodyear tires. Shame on me for not taking a longer test drive!!
Point of reference - I always ordered sports suspension on my previous BMW 5 series typically with Dunlop summer tires. This combination never was as harsh as my 2016 A6 sport suspension with the Goodyear tires. Shame on me for not taking a longer test drive!!
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09-13-2015, 04:59 AM
#8
AudiWorld Member
Also, double check the tire pressure; make sure it's set to the recommended and not the max (dealers are notorious for leaving pressures at max). That can make a big difference in rough road compliance.
09-13-2015, 02:41 PM
#9
Good point, but... my 2016 2.0T Premium Plus has S Line with sport suspension and the awful 19" Goodyear Eagle RS-A2 tires. If Tire Rack ratings are to be believed, the RS-A2 tires are the cause of the rough ride, and they will get worse with mileage. The good news is that Tire Rack reviews noted rapid wear on these tires, so it looks like I will only have to wait until 15K to replace them. I have 7K now.
Point of reference - I always ordered sports suspension on my previous BMW 5 series typically with Dunlop summer tires. This combination never was as harsh as my 2016 A6 sport suspension with the Goodyear tires. Shame on me for not taking a longer test drive!!
Point of reference - I always ordered sports suspension on my previous BMW 5 series typically with Dunlop summer tires. This combination never was as harsh as my 2016 A6 sport suspension with the Goodyear tires. Shame on me for not taking a longer test drive!!
09-14-2015, 06:20 AM
#10
I'll need to check what the actual tires are on my 16, but I have not experienced the issues you have with your auto. In fact the overall ride is more comfortable and composed on this new car with the sport package than it ever was on my "regular" 13. For the record, I drive in comfort mode, but always toggle the shifter to "sport" for more spirited shifting program.