Been taking the 2006 A6 Avant to the Mountain dirt roads
 

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Have been up the NC mountains with the A6 Avant twice last week. Went through the normal dirt roads/ non-paved ... but not really rough off-roads. (This was my first mountain trip week without the allroad).

I noticed that during very steep descending drives down the moutain, the automatic tranny of the Avant stays in the 2nd gear most of the time, avoiding too much braking. The programming of the tranny feels pretty good. The Avant performs powerfully on the incline too. And I thought I would have to shift to manual mode, like the allroad.

I was really surpised that the auto tranny took care of uphill and downhill driving pretty well.

It was sunny and I was able to snap some pics. You won't notice the dust in the pics, but it is there, especially around the back :)

Nice...did you notice the difference in ground clearance? That is what concerns me the
 

most in switching...not too worried about having a TIP, already do...but getting out of the driveway is another story...just wondered.

Re: Nice...did you notice the difference in ground clearance? That is what concerns me the
 

I've taken the allroad in a lot of dirt roads in the mountain (not really the rough rough ones).
The clearance of the A6 Avant can handle pretty steep and downhill driveing and some potholes in non-asphalted country roads. The ride is also soft and stable in the rough roads, so I could not feel the difference in clearance.

If you don't do 'real off-roading', then it's OK. But I would never have done real off-roading with the allroad either. I'd get a Hummer if I really want to off-road. My cousin has always challenged me to do real off-roading with the AR, but i loved my AR too much to really punish it to the max.

I don't "off road" per se but live in the country and getting out of the driveway can
 

sometimes be a challenge.

Re: I don't "off road" per se but live in the country and getting out of the driveway can
 

Oh ok ... that must be some driveway! Is it deep? steep ?

Gravel at the end that meets a plowed county road (read big drifts from
 

the snow plows) that sits at the top of the hill (making it a little bit "fun" even on non-snow days)...when my husband is in town he plows it but there were a few times when I had to put it in level 3 or 4 to get out onto the road. The reason I used to drive Suburbans, but now I have the do-it allroad:)