zekeman

I bought my S6 after driving the A7 for about a year. While the 7 is a great car, I found it tended to be "sloppy" handling-wise. It's considerably larger feeling (dimensions are only slightly larger than the 6), but it seemed much larger. The sloppy factor + the 3.0 engine were the reasons I switched to the S6. I'm quite pleased with my decision; the 6 is way more nimble. Mileage-wise, I completed a 700 mile trip recently and had pretty much 28mpg the entire time at speeds 85mph - the mileage calc was my own; I found the computer in the car to be off ~1.5 mpg.
Z

bradaudi

I should try the A7 as this had been a strong option when I started looking, however the price was over budget at the time (it would appear that has now changed - or maybe I haven't told my wife what the S6 goes for - ha!). The S6 is about $10k over the base A7, but with included options it might be a wash with respect to price. I've never driven the 3.0T, so I probably shouldn't be assuming that the power is insufficient (which is why I'm looking at the S6).

I did have an opportunity to test drive an S6 last night. The Audi sales manager is driving one and since they didn't have one on the lot with winter tires (very slippery here right now), he suggested driving his would be a better experience.

And it was!

I was impressed with the S6 performance (it was a 2013 with 11km on it). I tried to find the turbo / throttle lag that others had complained about, but wasn't able to. It pulled steadily from a standing start and no perceptible hesitation when slowing down followed by rapid acceleration. The dealer mentioned that he prefers to drive it in sport mode, so I switched to Drive/Auto and did find it less responsive (held onto the gears longer), but nothing significant.

As far as the 2016 S6 is concerned, I was told that the price is increasing by $3k. This takes the S6 price to $88k CDN from the $85k for a 2015. It was also mentioned that I could order now, but delivery would not be any sooner than August / September 2015. Based on their allocation, the build would start in the 10th week of 2015, with an average 3 month build time - making for Q4 delivery. Can I wait that long.........

Lots to think about.

amelen

Timing seems strange - see if any other local dealers have allocations. I'm still expecting mine in ~90 days, should get a build date assigned by the end of this week. 2016's Prestige package is no longer included, so I'm wondering if the price increase is an apples-to-apples comparison? Hopefully it's not a $3k increase of 2015 Prestige -> 2016 Premium Plus, since you'd still need to add the prestige package and sports package (sports package includes the sports differential that was standard pre-2016).

SamLV

That's very interesting. Thx for sharing. Just by chance, did that A7 have summer tires on it? I had the chance to push an A6 with the Conti contact all seasons around and it was a mess compared to mine. Part of that was the sport suspension difference, but the tires absolutely felt nearly dangerous when tossed around tight corners. The car plowed and the tires moaned. Sloppy would be a good way to describe it.

zekeman

No, I had all season on the 7. I feel the 7 is a cruiser, not meant for aggressive driving at all IMO...it's just too big "feeling" even though it's only slightly larger than the 6.
Z

SamLV

If you get an S6 I'm sure you'll be all smiles! Gorgeous sleeper car. Can't beat being underestimated. 😎

69Firebird400

I can offer a bit of perspective on all of the cars the OP is talking about. I used to own an automotive website (autosavant.com - hasn't been updated much over the past year since I sold it) and used to frequently test manufacturer-supplied press cars, so my driveway used to be an interesting rotation of various cars.

I own a 2013 S6 right now and it is the best car I have ever owned in every way. Now, this is largely because it was significantly more expensive than everything else I've owned before, but every car I've driven since getting my S6 has not compared well (at least based on my personal opinion and biases) against the S6.

B8 A4 - I have had one as a service loaner, and also rented one from Silvercar last month during a trip to San Francisco. I was happy to have an Audi rental car, but with less than half the power of the S6, it's not even close. I also missed the larger interior, improved infotainment, and adaptive cruise control.

B8 S4 - I had one as a service loaner for a day. It was fun, but vs. the S6, I missed the V8 sound and power and some of the comfort features. On the plus side, the S4 had a more sporty exhaust note (the S6's exhaust is too muffled by the turbos, IMO) and felt a little more lively in the curves. The same older-generation technology issues and small size that the A4 had also obviously affect the S4 as well, but not everyone wants to drive a big, heavy car.

Audi A7 Sportback - I spent a week with a 2012 A7 (first model year in the U.S.) and loved that car. My experience with the A7 press car led me to eventually get my first Audi. I thought it was pretty fast with the 3.0 supercharged V6 (I hadn't yet driven a 4.0T yet, though). Review: 2012 Audi A7 3.0 TFSI quattro, Take Two - Autosavant | Autosavant

Cadillac CTS-VSport - As you probably know, the VSport is the mid-performance variant of the CTS (the forthcoming CTS-V will have an awesome 6.2 liter 640 horsepower supercharged V8; the VSport gets a twin turbo 3.6 liter V6). With the 8-speed automatic, the VSport is a quick car, and it handles very well. To me, a few things eliminate the Cadillac from consideration: 1) pricing is too ambitious. They're overpriced by about $10k. Cadillac's reputation/prestige has not caught up to the reality of the cars, 2) RWD only stinks in the Northeast, especially with lots of power, 3) Cadillac's CUE infotainment system is nowhere near as good as MMI. First Drive: 2014 Cadillac CTS Vsport - Autosavant | Autosavant

I have a 2014 Cadillac ATS rental car right now (with the 2.5L four - ugh!) and CUE is driving me crazy.

I spent a few dozen miles in a 2015 S8. I found it funny how many interior parts were shared with the S6 - gauge cluster, some switches - and despite the much higher published horsepower (520 vs. 420), it actually felt slower to me than my S6. That may have been perception vs. reality, as I didn't have a way to run an instrumented test, but that's what the seat of my pants said.

I had my D3 S8 just prior to the S6. Had that car had newer technology and better mileage (and less than 166,000 miles) I would have kept it forever. Sadly, but it was killed by a hail storm.

Prior to the Audis, I had a 2008 Cadillac CTS (3.6L direct injection, RWD). The car was horrid in the snow with all seasons and didn't feel nearly as special to drive as my big Audi does. I don't miss my old Cadillac for a second when I'm behind the wheel of my S6.

I have driven several prior-generation Cadillac CTS-Vs (sedan and coupe), and while they are fun and fast as hell, as another poster noted, they are extremely fuel-thirsty. They also are just too pedestrian IMO.

I hope this helps.

bradaudi

Thanks for info on the S6 competition.

For me, the Cadillac vSport seemed like a strong competitor at least from a performance perspective. I agree that the lack of AWD eliminates it from the running particularly with the ice and snow we have here. I contacted GM and they confirmed there's no AWD model scheduled for 2015 - so the Caddy option is out for me.

Have you had any experience with the Infiniti Q70L? It's not quite the performer that the S6 is, but not the far off either (416hp, 0-60 5.2sec), but I'm not sure how well the longer vehicle would handle. However, I am looking for additional passenger room so this makes both the Q70L and S6 an improvement over the A4 I'm driving now. The Infiniti is about $15k less expensive, so that's attractive as well.

Thanks.

amelen

The A6 is going to run similar 0-60 numbers to the Q70L (and is in a similar price range). MotorTrend ran an A6 to 60 in 4.7 seconds and that's even before the HP & tranny upgrades for 2016. The same publication got 4.9 seconds out of the Q70S. I think the S6 is in a different league.

2015 Infiniti Q70S 5.6 First Test - Motor Trend

Six-Cylinder Midsize Luxury Sedan Comparison - Audi A6, BMW 535i, Lexus GS 350, Infiniti M37 - Motor Trend All Pages

69Firebird400

Happy to help! I have not driven a Q70 or Q70L; the closest I can offer is the pre-facelift 2011 M37. At one point I seriously considered an Infiniti G37, but was turned off by the lack of powertrain refinement.

Bear in mind that the review I'm linking below is four years old - so competitive vehicles have changed, and the M37 became the Q70, with additional updates, so take that for what it's worth.
Review: 2011 Infiniti M37 - Autosavant | Autosavant