Hijacked from Autoexpress:

<a href="http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/news/ae_news_story.php?id=44264">New A6 Shows Its Face</a>.

Yeah, we know that the allroad is being phased out (and that Audi has a history of sholdering on with model variants that do not necessarily match- Witness the cabirolet) but it makes one wonder exactly how Audi could ever apply that face to our allroads.

Enjoy.

-Rumble
01 allroad
98 VFR

 

. . .who knows, there sure could have been a "new look" allroad. There will be an A6 avant which I am confident will have the "new face."

As I read the subtext of the A6 announcement, it almost makes me wonder if ONE of the purposes of the allroad was as a "test mule" for the 4 position suspension which, as of this announcement, will add the A6 to the Audi A8 and VW Phaeton (and marching on through week 21 of 2005 in the "swan song" allroad.)

The allroad as a test mule -- hmmm. Sure, why not? They put the air suspension in a vehicle that they invite people to drive on "all" roads and offer dealer representative training that put the allroad up against the "true" SUV's from Jeep and Range Rover.

"Demonstrate" that while the allroad was not ever intended literally to spend its life at Jeep Jamborees, that it is/was possible for this "sports sedan" derivitive to go off road and not embarrass itself, etc. So the suspension was "put to a tough test" -- tougher than it should have to face in either an A8 or an A6. And, btw, pave the way for the suspension to be put into the possible "A7" or Pike's Peak should one grace Audi showrooms.

So, ladies and gentlemen, perhaps we all were just driving our fine allroads in a giant petri dish helping Audi perfect its 4 position air suspension for widespread use across the entire lineup.

Now, if it is not too expensive or fraught with technical issues, the next step might be juxtaposing the allroad suspension set up with the RS 6 suspension, perhaps further improving the dynamics and handling of the future "allroads" ("all-Audis," perhaps) from the pedestrian (if there are any such Audis) to the exotic (coming soon, apparently).

Finally, could all of this be but a step to a full-on "real-time" active suspension, Audi style (which certainly means different than the competition, one would think)?

The fact that a few thousand allroads were actually sold along the way, perhaps helped "fund" the great suspension experiments.

I, for one, have been happy to serve the cause.

I'm just hoping that the new A6 can be configured (with and without the air suspension option) with a "sporting" suspension, wheels, tires, seats and a crisp transmission (which, at this juncture still means -- to me -- a 6spd manual).

My concern is that we'll be still bemoaning tip-lag on our 3.2 and 4.2 North American Audis while we will read test reports in the European press praising the new slick Audi stick-shift.

 

Kinda like a big A4. Seems like less wood and more controls on the center consol!

 

There certainly some merit to this argument. Don't lose hope with the automatic. If the multronic transmission is as widely available as it appears it might be i.e. with quattro, it will be a much better choice than the tiptronic. I have an A6 3.0 CVT also. It has minimal lag and shifts great in the manual mode. It would be a great transmission with the diesel if it could handle the torque.